Impact Stories

Advancing Equity in Northern Virginia

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.
January 6, 2022
The Community Foundation for Northern Virginia, a leader in philanthropy in the region announced today it has awarded $119,900 in grants to 11 local organizations in the third round of grants from its Afghan Relief and Resettlement Fund for Northern Virginia. Each organization received a grant between $9,900 and $20,000. The grants will support Afghans who fled their country and who either pass through or are resettled here in Northern Virginia.

January 5, 2022
The Community Foundation for Northern Virginia, a trusted leader in philanthropy in the region announced today the opening of the 2022 grant cycles for its Community Investment Funds (CIF)The Environment Fund, and The Ross-Roberts Fund for the Arts. The Community Foundation conducts several discretionary grant cycles each year that help meet critical needs and seed innovative solutions to complex social problems across the region.

December 22, 2021
The Community Foundation for Northern Virginia’s Business Women's Giving Circle (BWGC) today announced the winners of its annual grant cycle. A total of $55,000 in grants has been awarded to three local nonprofit organizations and schools that provide STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math), Leadership, Entrepreneurship, and Mentorship programs to girls and young women in Northern Virginia. To date, BWGC has awarded more than $415,000 in grants that have impacted the lives of over 3,250 girls and young women in the region.

December 21, 2021
The Community Foundation for Northern Virginia has awarded a grant of $52,076.23 from its Innovation Fund to Reston-based NOVA Labs. The Innovation Fund uses a venture philanthropy model of grant-making in which donors to the Innovation Fund, in partnership with the Community Foundation find investment opportunities in Northern Virginia.

December 15, 2021
The Loudoun Impact Fund recently awarded $105,000 in grants to 12 nonprofit organizations serving Loudoun County. Grant awards were made possible through the generosity of 50 individuals and businesses that pooled charitable gifts.

December 9, 2021
The Community Foundation for Northern Virginia has awarded $60,000 in grants to six local organizations in the second round of grants from its Afghan Relief and Resettlement Fund for Northern Virginia. The grantees include FACETS, FAMIL – Potomac Rotary Charities, Herndon-Reston FISH Inc., Homes Not Borders Inc., Literacy Council of Northern Virginia, and Western Fairfax Christian Ministries. Each organization is receiving a $10,000 grant. The grants will support Afghans fleeing their country who either pass through or are resettled here in Northern Virginia.

November 16, 2021
by James Philip Head, Attorney and Shareholder, Williams Mullen, Tysons, VA 

When you are developing a charitable giving plan for your clients, field-of-interest funds and designated funds may not always be top of mind, but they are extremely valuable tools in certain circumstances, especially as recipients of Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs), which are otherwise taxable distributions from an IRA (other than an ongoing SEP or SIMPLE IRA) owned by an individual who is age 70½ or over that are paid directly from the IRA to a qualified charity.

November 9, 2021
The Community Foundation for Northern Virginia announced today it is the recipient of a $50,000 grant to support Child Tax Credit application outreach in Northern Virginia. The grant is from the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) Funders Network partnership with Community Foundation Opportunity Network (CFON) and CFLeads initiative designed to rapidly respond to the federal government’s effort to quickly stand up the Community Outreach and Opportunity Fund (CO-OP Fund).

October 28, 2021

Report Examines Northern Virginia’s Disparities in Preschool Enrollment


Northern Virginia's children at or near poverty have the second lowest rate of preschool enrollment in the country; just 29 percent of three-and four-year-olds in this income bracket are in school, compared with 41 percent nationally. It also has the largest gap in enrollment rates between these children and their counterparts in higher-income families.

On October 28th, the Community Foundation for Northern Virginia's Insight Region® released a new brief that explores these disparities in preschool enrollment and disentangles how access, cost, and consumer preferences play into our findings: Ready for Kindergarten, Ready for Life: The causes and consequences of Northern Virginia's preschool enrollment disparity: The causes and consequences of Northern Virginia's preschool enrollment disparity.

October 27, 2021

Inclusive Prosperity means that every child is prepared for success  

by Elizabeth Hughes, Senior Director of Insight RegionTM

This past spring, Insight Region issued a seminal report on economic mobility in Northern Virginia—specifically, the odds that a child born in poverty will achieve wealth as an adult. As it turns out, Northern Virginia is one of the best places in the country to raise a child; an astounding 19 percent of our kids who grew up poor made it to the top as adults, the highest rate of any metro area. Our report identified several neighborhood “opportunity factors” that contribute to this outcome, with one of the strongest being early academic achievement. The connection is so obvious and well-documented by the research literature that I think it should be considered fact: early academic success tends to beget later financial success.