Grants and Scholarships

Loudoun Impact Fund Grants $116,000 in 2023, and $1 Million Over All Time

December 18, 2023

The Loudoun Impact Fund recently awarded $116,000 in grants to 15 nonprofit organizations serving Loudoun County, reaching a milestone of surpassing $1 million in grants distributed since 2014. This year’s grant awards were made possible through the generosity of 64 individuals and businesses that pooled charitable gifts.

The Loudoun Impact Fund brings together individuals and businesses interested in grantmaking administered through a joint effort of the Community Foundation for Northern Virginia and the Community Foundation for Loudoun and Northern Fauquier Counties. Grants from the Loudoun Impact Fund support services for at-risk youth, seniors, and people with disabilities in Loudoun County. Since 2014, the Loudoun Impact Fund has granted a cumulative $1,027,725.

What a Community Foundation Scholarship Means

November 22, 2023

Success doesn’t always come in a straight line. For Vivian Cao-Dao, her senior year of high school was upended by the COVID-19 pandemic. She told the Community Foundation that she was motivated to apply by a communicative school administration, and her guidance counselors. She said, “filling out these applications is kind of like exercising. It’s hard to do, but you know it’s important, and it feels so rewarding when you get it done.”

Over $28,000 Awarded for Healthy Kids Grantees

August 25, 2023

Healthy Kids Grants are awarded each year to individual public schools in Northern Virginia that implement a program or strategy to encourage better nutrition/ more physical activity, or better mental health among their student body during the school year. In its thirteenth year, the 2023 grants review committee has awarded $28,535 to fourteen school programs. Healthy Kids Grants are made possible by the Avalon Charitable Fund, the Chin Family Charitable Fund, the Minton Family Charitable Fund, and the JOY Charitable Fund, all of which are component funds at the Community Foundation.

Levelling the Field for College Graduates

August 15, 2023

Often, philanthropy and the nonprofit sector at large may lose sight of just how much even small, incremental investment can make a meaningful change in people’s lives. The real impact of a couple of hundred dollars on some people can be literally life changing.

Karen Lipsey and Christie Worrell became lifelong friends through their children’s friendship, and over the past few years launched the Level the Field Fund, which they moved to the Community Foundation in April 2023. This fund helps Black college seniors graduate college by paying off the relatively small account balances that may be left when commencement season arrives. In the most stark terms, the Level the Field Fund embodies the spirit of large impact with small investment: most of the awards it gives college students are a few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars. These gifts enable a student to get their degree and set their lives in positive motion. Level the Field’s goal is to help as many deserving students as possible graduate.

Six Years of PHILLIPS Programs Impact

February 14, 2023

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 Story of the Virginia and Cameron Dye Scholarship

June 8, 2022


Virginia Carder Dye (1913-1982)	Cameron Randolph Dye (1908-1994)

The Virginia and Cameron and Virginia Dye Fund was created in 1994 through a $500,000 bequest to the Community Foundation for Northern Virginia to establish a scholarship fund. Its purpose is to provide scholarships to deserving students graduating form Arlington public schools and serve as a memorial to Virginia and Cameron Dye.

Cameron Randolph Dye was born and raised in the Cherrydale area of Arlington, Virginia. His immediate family consisted of his mother, father, and sister. Cameron’s father was a DC police officer and his mother spent her lifetime as a loving wife and mother. Cameron frequently reminisced about his childhood and the many individuals who worked with him at Old Dominion Bank, then First Virginia Bank. His childhood was a very happy one. He loved his parents deeply and respected them greatly. As a young boy he had a paper route and delivered newspapers daily. Additionally, he demonstrated at an early age that he would be a very industrious person by shoveling show, cutting grass and performing odd jobs for neighbors.

The Community Foundation Awards $11,500 through the Kaiser Permanente Northern Virginia Social Health Impact Fund

March 1, 2022

Northern Virginia as a region is not a monolith- the communities we serve range from the inner suburbs and edge cities of the Nation's Capital, to the rural shadow of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and everywhere inbetween. Recently, the Community Foundation awarded two organizations from two very different parts of the region, two separate grants totalling more than $10,000. Though distance may separate them, they are two organizations driven by their mission and values- to fulfill a critical need for those most vulnerable.

Honoring Black History Month: Highlighting Community Foundation for Northern Virginia’s Investments in the Northern Virginia Black Chamber of Commerce

February 28, 2022

In 2021, the Community Foundation launched Build Back- Dream Forward, an initiative to achieve economic mobility, promote racial justice and equity, and catalyze more inclusive means of economic growth in Northern Virginia, particularly in local communities of color that were disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 and its myriad of consequences.

Community Foundation Receives $100,000 Gift to Support Critical Needs in Northern Virginia

February 23, 2022

The Community Foundation for Northern Virginia’s Community Investment Funds (CIF) announced today the receipt of a $100,000 donation made by Reston-based company Verisign, Inc. to help respond to the critical needs of the residents in Northern Virginia.

Community Foundation Scholarships Open for High School Seniors and College Students

January 19, 2021

If you’re a high school senior or current college student looking for funds to help cover the cost of college, the Community Foundation for Northern Virginia is accepting applications for college scholarships for the 2021 – 2022 school year. Eligible students include high school seniors, undergraduates, and graduate students in Northern Virginia.

Community Foundation manages twelve scholarships and administers the funds for 18 other scholarships that support Northern Virginia students pursuing undergraduate and graduate degrees.