Building Communities Grants Programs: Regional Economic Development Grants Program

The State of Vermont Regional Economic Development Grants Program is administered through the Vermont Department of Buildings and General Services. The program supports regional economic development projects through matching grant assistance. The application is structured around a sponsoring organization or municipality, including an RDC/RPC, and includes a field for a company on whose behalf the project is being submitted. The application places particular emphasis on the economic and community value of the proposed project, including the number of new jobs expected to be created and/or existing jobs expected to be retained. Applicants must provide a completed three-page application that is signed and dated, together with a project description of no more than three pages. The project narrative must address the project's history, the services or activities the project will support, who supports the project, who will benefit, the proposed project timetable, the number of jobs to be created or retained, how grant funding will enhance the project, and the lowest acceptable award if the request is not fully funded. Applicants must also explain the effect on the project if grant funding is not awarded. A project breakdown identifying segments such as equipment, materials, labor, and other costs is also required. The program is authorized to make matching grants of up to $25,000 per project. A 1:1 financial funding match is required. State or Federal funds cannot be used toward this match, and in-kind contributions of labor, materials, or other services cannot satisfy the matching requirement. At the time the application is submitted, the applicant must provide documented proof that committed matching funds equal to the requested grant amount are in hand and are not otherwise pledged. The project budget sheet requires the Regional Economic Development Grant request plus existing committed project funding sources to equal the total capital expenditure for the project. Applicants must disclose project funding sources such as bank funds, commitment letters, donations or fundraising, bond votes or town budget line items, non-State/non-Federal grants, and other committed sources. Projects must be shovel-ready, and all required permits must already be in hand before the application is submitted. A business plan is not mandatory, but the State states that preference will be given to applicants who submit one. A Board of Directors list and terms of office must be supplied if applicable. Nonprofit organizations must include a copy of their IRS determination letter, or that of their fiscal agent, as applicable, and the first two pages of the organization's Form 990. Applicants may submit no more than three letters of support representing community support. The application specifically favors letters from local boards or citizens over letters from legislators or elected officials. Additional helpful supporting information, including colored pictures and sketches, may also be included. The application indicates that sponsoring applicants may include organizations or municipalities, including RDC/RPC entities, and it contains specific documentation provisions for nonprofit organizations. The form also provides an "On Behalf of" company field, indicating that a company may be the beneficiary of a sponsored application. Nonprofit applicants have additional IRS determination-letter and Form 990 requirements, while municipalities are specifically exempt from the IRS determination-letter requirement. The source does not provide a separate exhaustive statutory list of eligible entity types, so eligibility should be evaluated against these application categories and documentation requirements rather than expanded beyond what the form expressly supports. Applications are due September 30, 2026. Grant submissions must be postmarked by the deadline date, and if September 30 falls on a weekend, the deadline is extended to the following Monday. Only one application is required. Applications may be submitted electronically to BGS.BuildingCommunitiesGrants@vermont.gov or as one hard copy by U.S. Postal Service to the Department of Buildings and General Services, 133 State Street, 5th Floor, Montpelier, VT 05633-5801, Attn: Grants Administrator. The program telephone number provided is 802-828-3519. Hard-copy applications should not contain staples. For electronic submissions, PDF and Word files are preferred, image files should be used only for photos not contained in other files, files should be labeled to correspond with application sections, and one combined PDF is preferred but not required. The source does not state an award notification date, project performance period, or explicit recurring annual application schedule.

Have all required permits and documented matching funds in hand before submission; do not use State, Federal, or in-kind resources for the 1:1 match; submit a business plan if available because applicants providing one receive preference; use no more than three support letters and favor letters from local boards or citizens over legislators or elected officials; for electronic submissions properly label files by application section and consider one combined PDF, which is preferred; do not staple hard-copy submissions