Learn about our impact on the local community and beyond. Since its inception in 1978, the Community Foundation has awarded more than $90 million in cumulative grants and scholarships. Here’s how we are putting philanthropy to work.
If you would like to contribute to an impact story please contact Tara Nadel, Vice President of Marketing and Events.
The Community Foundation for Northern Virginia has awarded $763,696 in grants to 44 local organizations through its 2023 Community Investment Funds (CIF), Environment Fund, and Ross-Roberts Fund for the Arts, helping support broad-based needs and address complex social issues across the region. This work addresses two of the core pillars of the Community Foundation’s strategic work— to build community resilience and advance social and economic mobility for all of Northern Virginia’s residents.
"Several years ago, my wife Laura and I heard Eileen Ellsworth talk about a new fund with the Community Foundation that could help our region for generations to come. It was a permanent endowment that would help fund the wide variety of community needs that the Community Foundation supports.
One of the Community Foundation’s pillars in our revised mission is “resilience,” the ability to build on and endure. As the past three years have shown us, there is no set formula to endure and prevail but there are many good ways to do so. The Community Foundation recently spoke with Yolonda Earl-Thompson, the founder and leader of the LAZERA Ministries. She has been a Rt 1 Corridor resident for 14 years, and is formerly the Community Impact Officer of United Community.
The Community Foundation for Northern Virginia is delighted to further partner with United Community by partially funding the COMMUN1TY+ Initiative, a project that aligns resources and efforts to support communities based on the needs expressed by residents of Mount Vernon and along the Route 1 Corridor.
On March 23, 2023, Elizabeth Hughes, Senior Director of Insight Region®, the Community Foundation for Northern Virginia's Center of Community Research, presented the findings from the report Growing Old Together in Northern Virginia at the annual Shape of the Region Conference. The report and the conference highlighted the complex challenges older Northern Virginians face, focusing on three questions that leaders across government, business, and non-profit can ask themselves in addressing these needs:
How do we make it easier to be a caregiver?
How do we increase the supply and affordability of senior housing?
How do we help individuals afford to age in place?
Over 350 people attended the conference online and in person, from a near complete cross section of civil society, including government officials, non-profit and foundation staff, social changemakers, business leaders, and representatives at the local, state, and federal level. The conference featured multiple panels of national and local experts for candid discussions of the challenges older Northern Virginians face, and what innovative ideas and opportunities may exist in addressing this critical issue that impacts everyone.
Research and Investments to support those 65 and older
Northern Virginia is home to more than 310,000 adults over 65, of which 82 percent are living in a condo or house that they own. These aging homeowners have high rates of disability (28 percent) and poverty (13 percent are living below 200 percent of federal poverty). Source: American Community Survey, 2015-19; Insight Region® 2023 Growing Old Together in Northern Virginia Report
To address the needs of our aging population, the Community Foundation has produced data-driven reports, developed a permanent endowment, and makes grants annually to support non-profit partners working to support our neighbors 65 and older each year - having awarded $225,000 since 2011 in this field.
In May of 2017, the Community Foundation held an Innovation Breakfast at which the Democracy Collaborative presented on the burgeoning concept of community wealth building. In short, the discussion was around “using the economic leverage of local anchor organizations like local government, hospitals, universities, housing associations, or large local private sector employers, to tackle longstanding systematic challenges and structural inequities within communities,” as defined here. In the United States, that might look like employee ownership of a small business, or community-run funds for mutual aid.
The Community Foundation for Northern Virginia released its 2021-2022 Annual Report, "Renewal," which highlights the surge of entrepreneurial ventures in the region during the past year, as well as the Community Foundation's work mental health, and adopting a new four pillar strategic plan that focuses on advancing equity.
On February 1 2023, The Community Foundation for Northern Virginia’s Insight Region® Center for Community Research released the Shape of Youth Mental Health report with a presentation and discussion at George Mason University. The report discusses the mental health needs of Northern Virginia's youth, which have only increased since the onset of the pandemic in 2020.
The Community Foundation for Northern Virginia launched the Afghan Relief and Resettlement Fund in September 2021 to support Afghans fleeing their home country who either pass through or are resettled in Northern Virginia. To date, grants from the Fund total $282,490, and have focused on critical needs such as food, shelter, healthcare and mental health services, as well as longer-term efforts such as legal services, housing, transportation, education, and English language skills.
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