Dear Friends,
Thank you for taking a moment to review our 2025 Annual Report. Despite all the challenges faced by our federal partner, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), I’m proud to offer this report that demonstrates deep community support, strong participation across all 14 counties, and excitement and optimism for the future of the cultural sector in Vermont.
At this point, you surely know that the biggest news (for us) in 2025 was the DOGE-led termination of over 1,400 grants from the NEH, including funding for all 56 state and jurisdictional humanities councils. I won’t belabor the point; the loss of federal funding was devastating. But more importantly, the attempted destruction of the democratic and humanistic values that the NEH represents are worth fighting for. You clearly agreed with us.
By the end of the year, Vermonters had stepped up to ensure that we could continue to offer almost all the programming that we ran before this challenge and, as you can see on our Donor Acknowledgement page, over 100 new donors stepped up to encourage us to keep going.
We are deeply grateful to the Federation of State Humanities Councils, which worked with the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to secure $15 Million in Emergency Funding for State Humanities Councils, making $250,000 in emergency support available to each Council. In the end, Vermont Humanities received such an outpouring of local support that we were able to save most of this national funding for use in the current year; this is critically important since our budget is still extremely tight.
As you peruse this report, I hope you will be inspired by the amazing work happening across Vermont, supported by us, but realized by you – our community. Whether it’s Vermont Reads, Community Grants, Humanities Camps, Early Literacy programs, or a myriad of other projects, you are the people that make it happen. We couldn’t be more grateful.
Thank you for your commitment! Your support helps make our communities more just, vibrant, and resilient through the humanities.
Yours,
Christopher Kaufman Ilstrup
