Scholarships

APPLICATIONS OPEN: Scholarship applications are currently being accepted through 5 p.m., Feb. 28, 2025. Apply here: 4-year/bachelor’s degree or 2-year/associate degree.

About VCF scholarships

The Directors of Vermeer Charitable Foundation (VCF) are pleased to continue the tradition of awarding scholarships to sons and daughters of Vermeer employees working at our US entities. It’s an annual tradition that dates to 1983, with more than 1,000 scholarships awarded over four decades. Current recipients receive $2,000 scholarships from the Vermeer Charitable Foundation.  

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Am I eligible to receive a VCF scholarship? 

Interested in applying for a Vermeer Charitable Foundation scholarship? Let’s review the guidelines. Applicants must be:

  • High school seniors, home school seniors or current undergraduate college students attending or planning to attend a 4-year or 2-year college and/or technical or trade school
  • A dependent child of a full-time or regular part-time Vermeer Pella, Des Moines, Ames, Griswold, Freeman or Vermeer MV Solutions team member
  • Unmarried and not planning to be married during the 2025/2026 academic year
  • Full-time students during both semesters of the 2025/2026 academic year

Key dates to remember

Application timeframe

Dec. 1, 2024 through
5 p.m., Feb. 28, 2025

Recipients announced

Early April 2025

2026 application timeframe

Check back soon

VCF application process: How to apply

Remember!

  1. The application submission timeframe is Dec. 1, 2024 – Feb. 28, 2025. Recipients will be announced in early April 2025
  2. Select the appropriate button below to begin your Vermeer Charitable Foundation scholarship application
Application for 4-year/bachelor's degree
Application for 2-year/associate degree

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

The application process is open from Dec. 1, 2024 through 5 p.m., Feb. 28, 2025. Applications not completed at that time will not be considered by the selection committee.

Our records show that there are over 1,200 Vermeer team member dependents that were in the age range of typical college students and could have applied in 2020. Of those, 103 dependents started the scholarship application and 74 completed the application that year. Needless to say, this is a very competitive scholarship with many qualified applicants.

The people who are on the selection committee are kept anonymous, but please know that they come from the surrounding communities, from a variety of religious or non-religious backgrounds, are not related to the Vermeer family, and are not related to any of the applicants.

The following directives are given to the selection committee:

The Vermeer Charitable Foundation Directors would like to highlight a few items for you to consider as you read the applications and make your decisions as a group. Please take time to read the applications and recommendations carefully and take each one at face value giving your recommendation of scholarship recipients to those who are most deserving in academics, service, involvement, and character. Please remember the following:

  • Vermeer Charitable Foundation does not base these scholarships on financial need. That information is not asked for anywhere in the application process.
  • Vermeer Charitable Foundation does not base these scholarships on school or location.
  • Vermeer Charitable Foundation provides scholarships yearly, which means applicants need to apply every year. Because an applicant did not receive a scholarship in previous years should have no bearing on their current opportunity to receive one. Likewise, if an applicant has received a scholarship in previous years, that should not hinder or help them in their application for a current scholarship.
  • Vermeer Charitable Foundation provides these scholarships to dependents of Vermeer Corporation – Pella, Des Moines, Ames, Griswold, Freeman and Vermeer MV Solutions – team members. The number of children from one family applying for the scholarship has no bearing on how many children receive the scholarship.
  • The scholarship is not specifically aimed toward students studying for degrees which are business or manufacturing oriented. All areas of academics, service, involvement, and character are considered. The scholarship selection committee does not know if applicants and parents are office or production staff at Vermeer. That information is not given on the application.

Although this information is helpful, we encourage you to apply for the scholarship even if you do not know these things now. As the process continues and if you become a recipient, we will eventually need to know the name and address of the college you decide to attend.

Please email us at vcfscholarship@vermeer.com if you are having trouble deciding which application to fill out: the 2-year one or the 4-year one. We will try to help you determine which would be best for your situation.

Up to four times.

When you click on the link for the scholarship, you will be directed to set up an account and create your own password. Please remember your password. There is a place for you to click if you have forgotten your password. Please follow the instructions there, if this happens.

If your login and password still do not work, please e-mail us at vcfscholarship@vermeer.com.

Each section of the scholarship application has a “Save and Finish later” button if you cannot complete your application immediately.

What is needed for my application?

What are all the materials I need to get to complete my application?

Here is the comprehensive list of materials you’ll need to gather and complete:

  • The application, which can be completed online
  • Complete official high school transcripts (high school seniors: this must be through the first semester of your senior year)
  • Official college transcripts through first semester of current year and all college transcripts of any college you have attended
  • Three character references
  • ACT/SAT scores for 4-year colleges (4-year degree programs)

All items, except for the college transcript, must be completed or uploaded online.

What you need to know about recommendation process

All recommendations will be submitted through an online process. Students will find instructions for submitting the names and e-mail addresses of the people they would like to fill out their recommendations on the application form. E-mails will automatically be sent to these people who will then be able to fill out and submit the form online from their own computer.

We suggest choosing three people from the following list:

  • Teacher
  • Guidance counselor/advisor
  • Employer
  • Professor
  • Coach
  • Youth leader/pastor
  • Someone who knows you well enough to answer the questions

Other key tips:

  • Do not have family members fill this out.
  • Avoid peers, close friends/neighbors.
  • It is highly recommended for college students to have at least one of these recommendations come from someone they interact with in college: a college professor, college coach, college music director, etc.

All recommendations must be completed online. Instructions are in the application.

Sending in your transcripts

What do you mean by "official" transcript?

An “official” transcript is one that is printed on high school or college letterhead, has the school seal, and has the signature of a school official. Your high school guidance counselor or school secretary can upload your official transcript and other school records needed. Please follow the instructions in the scholarship application. At the college level, we will have to have you ask the college registrar to send the official document to our office here at Vermeer (address listed on application and on bottom of webpage). There will often be a fee to have these official transcripts sent.

Please note:

  • A photocopy or fax of an official document is not considered “official.”
  • A transcript sent by a student or parent is also not considered “official.”
  • Home school transcripts must be notarized.
All high school transcripts and other documents should be uploaded by high school personnel directly. Please identify the person to do this on your scholarship application form, and they will receive an e-mail directly giving them the information they need to be able to do this. Transcripts from your college should be sent from the registrar’s office directly to Vermeer Charitable Foundation. They should be on official college letterhead with a seal and in a sealed envelope. Do not send these in yourself. They should not be e-mailed or scanned. The college transcripts must be postmarked by the stated deadline or before.

If you are planning to attend a 2-year college and/or technical or trade school, the ACT/SAT scores are not required for your application.  If you have taken the ACT or SAT, you are welcome to share your scores on the application, but it is not required.

 

If you are planning to attend a 4-year college or university, you must submit your ACT or SAT scores on the application.  Often, these scores are attached to high school transcripts, but if not, we ask that you send an official record of these.  If your 4-year college or university does not require ACT or SAT scores, please let us know by emailing that information to vcfscholarship@vermeer.com.

Yes, you will need to ask your high school secretary or guidance counselor to submit these as we can no longer keep these from year-to-year with our online format. You will find a place in the online application to give the e-mail address of the secretary or guidance counselor so that they can upload this information directly online.

You should provide transcripts for all college classes you have taken. If you have had some classes in which you dual enrolled (ie. taken a class in high school that was also given college credit) you do not need a college transcript for that class. The grade should show on your high school transcript. All other college classes, whether taken in person or online, should be accounted for on a transcript. Also, if you have attended more than one college (such as transferring to a different college after your first year), you will need to provide a transcript from each college you have attended.

Please fill in that area on the application with NA (for Not Applicable).

Submitting final application

Please contact us as soon as possible at vcfscholarship@vermeer.com.

You will receive automated e-mails as different aspects of your application are received, including when you have submitted your application, when your character recommendations have been received, and when your high school transcripts have been uploaded and received.

Look for an e-mail stating that your application for the Vermeer Charitable Foundation has successfully been completed before the deadline. If you have not received this e-mail and you believe your application and all the requirements are complete, please contact our office before the deadline at vcfscholarship@vermeer.com.

Yes, the selection committee sees all completed applications.

VCF scholarship selection process and after

The selection committee meets in mid-to-late March. Letters will be sent out before the first week of April to all applicants letting them know the decision of the committee, and the list of recipients will be posted at Vermeer Pella, Des Moines, Ames, Griswold, Freeman, and Vermeer MV Solutions locations and on the Voice during the first week of April.

In late May or early June, all recipients will be invited to a reception hosted by the Vermeer family. In early June scholarship checks will be sent to the colleges listed on recipient’s application forms. Colleges usually apply half of the scholarship to your first semester and half of the scholarship to your second semester.
Please call or email us to inform us of that change as soon as you know so that we send the check to the correct place.
Please call or email us to inform us that you are no longer a student at the first college. Then call the first college and ask them to reimburse Vermeer Charitable Foundation for the remaining half of the scholarship. Once we receive a check from the college, we will send a new check for the remaining amount to your new college.

FAQs

History of VCF scholarships

Between 1983 and 2024, VCF has awarded 1,206 scholarships to the sons and daughters of Vermeer Corporation team members. The amount given has grown from $1,000 per scholarship to $2,000.

Through 2024, 112 universities, colleges and community colleges have had students receive this scholarship since 1983.

Through 2024, 63 high schools have had graduates receive this scholarship since 1983.

Can I apply?

Eligible VCF scholarship applicants must be:

  • High school seniors, home school seniors or current undergraduate college students attending or planning to attend a 4-year or 2-year college and/or technical or trade school
  • A dependent child of a full-time or regular part-time Vermeer Pella, Des Moines, Ames, Griswold, Freeman or Vermeer MV Solutions team member
  • Unmarried and not planning to be married during the 2025/2026 academic year
  • Full-time students during both semesters of the 2025/2026 academic year

VCF operates under restrictions imposed by U.S. Tax Law, Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3). As such, it must limit its benefits to charities, organizations or programs headquartered and conducted in the United States. As a result and while all team member families are very much valued by Vermeer, the only Vermeer team members whose dependent children may apply under the scholarship program administered by VCF are those employed by the US entities — Vermeer Corporation (Pella, Des Moines, Ames), Vermeer Freeman, Vermeer MV Solutions, and Vermeer Griswold.

You must still provide us with notarized high school transcripts.

“This most generous God who gives seed to the farmer that becomes bread for your meals is more than extravagant with you. He gives you something you can then give away, which grows into full-formed lives, robust in God, wealthy in every way, so that you can be generous in every way, producing with us great praise to God.”
2 Corinthians 9:10-11 (The Message)

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