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Vermont Humanities asks legislature for 3% increase, cites rising health-care costs and expanded grantmaking
Summary
Christopher Kaufman, director of Vermont Humanities, told the committee the nonprofit seeks a 3% increase in its base state appropriation, described rapid growth in its grantmaking, rising health-care costs, and partnerships with state agencies.
Christopher Kaufman, director of Vermont Humanities, asked the legislative committee for a 3% increase to the organization's base state appropriation, saying the request aligns with the governor's recommendation and is intended to help cover rising operating costs.
Kaufman told the committee the organization is relatively small but has expanded its grantmaking substantially in recent years. "When I started 7 years ago, we granted out about $50,000 a year. This past year, about $500,000," he said, describing a roughly tenfold increase in annual project grants, rapid-response grants and partnership grants. He said Vermont Humanities serves all 14 counties and has supported projects in roughly 20 communities connected to a statewide book program.
Kaufman said the nonprofit will seek a 3% increase in its base appropriation "in line with the governor's recommendation." He highlighted cost pressures: "for our small organization, our health care costs are going up from about a hundred and $10,000 to a hundred and $60,000 next year," he said.
He provided budget figures to the committee: the organization has a total budget of about $2.2 million for 2025; it receives approximately $870,000 a year in federal funding (about 42 percent of its budget), and the state appropriation is about $320,000 for 2025, with the remainder coming from private fundraising.
Kaufman also described program reach and partners: Vermont Humanities has distributed about 7,000 copies of a nationally recognized book tied to statewide programming, supports 23 libraries through an early literacy initiative, and reported serving roughly 70,000 Vermonters in 2024. He cited partnerships with the Department of Corrections, the attorney general's office and the secretary of state's office on civic programs.
Why it matters: the request would modestly raise state operating support for a nonprofit that leverages federal and private funds for statewide cultural and literacy programming; rising health-care and personnel costs are presented as the primary financial pressure.
Ending: Committee members asked few additional questions in the time allotted and thanked Kaufman for the presentation; the transcript records no committee action on the request in the provided excerpt.
