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The Lawson’s Finest Taproom was designed as a community gathering space to enjoy the best of local beer, food, people and music. In lieu of tips in our Taproom, we invite our guests to donate to the Sunshine Fund to benefit local nonprofits. Our staff receives living wages and generous benefits that don’t require tips to supplement their income, making hospitality included in your guest experience. The Sunshine Fund allows us to harness the generosity of guest donations with the goal of advancing thriving local communities.

The Sunshine Fund is the heart of the Lawson’s Finest Social Impact Program to assist local organizations that support the people and environment of the Mad River Valley, Washington County and the state of Vermont.

2024 Sunshine Fund Recipients

The application for our Sunshine Fund calendar is currently closed. If you’d like to be notified when the Sunshine Fund application goes live, please fill out the form below.

Sunshine Fund Application Notification Form

We select local 501c3 nonprofits to be recognized with a Sunshine Award. Each Sunshine Awardee becomes the partner “On Tap” in the taproom for a period of time during the year and receives 100% of donations received to the Sunshine Fund during that period.

For Sunshine Awards, priority is given to Mad River Valley, Washington County and Vermont non-profit organizations that focus on:

  • healthy communities
  • food and economic security
  • natural resource protection
  • sustainable recreation in our beloved Green Mountains

Please note we do not fund individuals, scholarships, higher educational institutions, religious organizations, labor or fraternal groups or organizations that discriminate in any way on the basis of race, religion, gender, age, national origin, disability or sexual orientation.

Past Sunshine Fund On Tap Partners

SIPSunshine Fund

Yestermorrow

 Yestermorrow: Donated funds will support the construction and furnishing costs of the new Yestermorrow dormitory.…
December 16, 2019

There are five Social Impact Program (SIP) initiatives:

Great Place to Work

providing a living wage and generous benefits to all employees

Sunshine Fund

helping local communities thrive

Good Brews For A Cause

collaborative batches for worthwhile causes

Green is Grand

greening up for the planet’s health

Sip of Support

providing donations for charitable fundraisers and events