Vermont Interfaith Power and Light (VTIPL)

Vermont Interfaith Power and Light (VTIPL) offers Christian Churches in Vermont, and in select towns of New Hampshire, matching grants for energy efficiency improvements in church-owned buildings. VTIPL now has two programs that provide matching grants to Vermont faith communities to help them fund projects which will reduce the pollution that contributes to climate change. This program, supported exclusively by the Katy Gerke Memorial Fund, helps Christian churches. A second program, supported by the Ellie Cressey Webster Memorial Fund (described separately in this response to Form 990, Part III, line 4c), offers grants to all non-Christian faith communities. The two programs, which together serve all Vermont faith communities, are now managed under one name, the VTIPL Climate Action Grant Program. In 2023 VTIPL awarded four matching grants to Vermont Christian churches and one grant to New Hampshire Interfaith Power and Light (NHIPL). The four grants to churches, which totaled $40,027, supported church building improvements that will reduce the climate pollution produced by heating and cooling these church facilities. VTIPL also granted NHIPL, an independent 501c3 organization serving faith communities in New Hampshire, $27,981 to fund a similar grant program for New Hampshire churches. This Vermont program is funded primarily by restricted donations, a large proportion of which are "unusual grants" from a generous donor. Additional income comes from dividends received from financial securities purchased with the funds donated for this program. The asset value of this Katy Gerke Memorial Fund varies with the changing market value of the securities purchased with the donor restricted funds earmarked for this program.

In 2022 VTIPL launched the Ellie Cressey Webster Memorial Fund (ECWMF), modeled on the VTIPL program serving Christian churches (see item 4a). This new program is designed to provide matching grant funding for carbon emission reducing improvements buildings in the buildings of faith communities not served by the Katy Gerke Memorial Fund, which is restricted to serving Christian churches. Together these two programs enable VTIPL to serve all Vermont faith communities and are now managed under one name, the VTIPL Climate Action Grant Program. In 2023, the second year of this new program, VTIPL provided matching grants, which totaled $750, to two Unitarian Universalist congregations to help pay the cost to conduct energy audits of their congregations' buildings. The ECWMF is comprised primarily of "unusual grants" from two major donors and several small donors who have contributed restricted donations to enable VTIPL to extend matching Climate Action Grant Program support to all Vermont faith communities. Additional income comes from interest earned on the program funds which are invested in an interest earning bank account and certificates of deposit at a local community-serving credit union.

The principal VTIPL mission is to help members of all Vermont's faith and spiritual communities understand and address the climate crisis. Almost all volunteer and staff hours are committed to conducting education and providing a variety of resources for faith communities, while also facilitating communication among Vermont's diverse faith communities to take action to address the climate crisis. This work is funded with unrestricted donations from scores of individuals and congregations. VTIPL emphasizes the need to act locally to support state, regional, and global action to reduce the pace of climate change and to prepare communities for the unavoidable consequences of a changing global climate. Accomplishments: VTIPL produces a monthly newsletter to update faith communities on publications, activities in Vermont, the U.S. and beyond, and on new program initiatives that support faith and spirit communities' efforts to address climate change, while also keeping VTIPL's community apprised of climate and related environmental events and news more broadly. VTIPL monitors and shares news of faith community action elsewhere in the nation and around the globe, partnering with the national Interfaith Power and Light organization. VTIPL convened the Equinox Lament & Celebration of Earth in a day-long outdoor retreat where participants from diverse faith traditions shared grief for all that is being lost in the climate crisis and hope and intention for creating a better world. VTIPL provided a statewide screening, followed by a group discussion, of the film The Letter: A message for our Earth, about Pope Francis' meeting with people on the frontlines of the climate crisis. VTIPL conducted two climate action technology webinars for participants from Vermont congregations, (1) Weatherization for Faith Communities, and (2) Heat Pumps for Faith Communities, to explain the how cold-climate heat pump technology and building weatherization may help reduce climate emissions and improve building heating and cooling. VTIPL helped congregations speak out on key climate legislation and policy issues, i.e., addressing the importance of divesting fossil fuel support from public investment portfolios, promotion of federal farm support policy that addresses climate impacts of farm production, support Vermont public action to reduce climate emissions from all sources, and support passage of Vermont legislation to help low and middle-income Vermonters to switch from fossil fuel heating to heating options that will climate pollution. And, VTIPL collaborated with Vermont Interfaith Action to convene Climate Action Day at the Vermont Legislature, which brought about 30 representative volunteers from Vermont congregations to advocate for action by the Legislature on key proposals to address the climate crisis.