Impact Stories

Innovation

Future Kings and the Innovation Fund

June 26, 2023
There is a need in Northern Virginia for more professionals entering the Life Sciences field. One major barrier to fulfilling this need is the limited workplace experience for graduate students preparing to enter the Life Sciences field. Another challenge contributing to this lack of Life Science professionals is the availability of trained instructors who are familiar with advanced life science concepts and techniques who have mastered college-level life-sciences material that is specially formatted for students in secondary school. The Future Kings have developed an innovative approach that is designed to help solve these challenges. The innovation combines college-level course material specially designed for secondary students with an internship for the graduate students that includes both teaching adolescents and working in a professional lab.

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Smart City Works and the Innovation Fund

July 26, 2022
The Community Foundation for Northern Virginia’s Innovation Fund awarded a grant of $25,390 to Smart City Works to create a Mental Health Track for its 2022 Smart City Challenge- an innovative competition that convenes diverse, wide-ranging organizations and projects virtually in the sectors of housing, transportation, health, water, and others.

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Reston-based NOVA Labs Receives $52K Grant from Community Foundation for Northern Virginia’s Innovation Fund

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.

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Community Foundation’s Innovation Fund Awards $40K Grant to George Mason University’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship

August 20, 2021
In our ongoing mission to recognize and support innovation in our region, the Community Foundation for Northern Virginia is pleased to announce its 2021 Innovation Fund has awarded a $40,000 grant to the George Mason University Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) Food Depot.

This Innovation Fund grant to the Food Depot will provide the opportunity to further develop a community of innovators and entrepreneurs in Mason’s CIE. Specifically, Mason's students and faculty will create, develop, and staff the Food Depot.

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Community Foundation Innovation Fund Awards $75K in Grants

April 6, 2020

The Community Foundation for Northern Virginia, the leader in philanthropy in the region today announced its Innovation Fund has awarded $75,000 in grants ranging from $20,000 to $30,000 to three local foundations.

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Community Foundation Awards $25,000 Grant to PHILLIPS Programs

April 15, 2019

Urban Vertical Farming Program is 2019 Innovation Fund Grant Recipient

Oakton, VA – The Community Foundation for Northern Virginia awards a $25,000 grant to the PHILLIPS Programs for Children and Families, a Fairfax-based nonprofit that serves the needs of individuals ages 6-22 with behavioral health needs and developmental disabilities and their families through education, family support services, community education and advocacy.

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Innovation Fund 2018 Grant Recipients

May 1, 2018

2018 Awardees

Northern Virginia Community College - $25,000

Serving all of Northern Virginia
To support the Adult Career Pathways Program and its ability to defray the costs associated with certification testing for students in its program.

*Nova Maker Faire - $5,000

Serving all of Northern Virginia
To promote and spur innovation and creativity for the 3000+ attendees at the annual NoVa Mini Maker Faire held In Reston each March.

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Innovation Fund Grants $25,000 to Northern Virginia Community College

March 19, 2018

Grant to Support Adult Career Pathway Program

The Community Foundation for Northern Virginia announced today a $25,000 grant from the Innovation Fund endowment for the Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA) Adult Career Pathway Program (ACP). Northern Virginia Community College will use the grant to help defray the costs associated with certification testing for students in the ACP program.

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Community Foundation Funds Help Establish New Computer Immersion Schools in Loudoun County

September 12, 2017

Funds from Chin Family Charitable Fund Provide Support

The Loudoun County Public School System recently announced that three schools will serve as computer science immersion schools – Meadowland Elementary, Moorefield Station Elementary and Round Hill Elementary. Each school will each teach 30 minutes of coding activities to students each day.

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Grant for George Mason University Center Honey Bee Initiative

June 26, 2017

Grant supports partnership to develop innovative, multidisciplinary and entrepreneurial approaches to honey bee sustainability

The Community Foundation for Northern Virginia recently made a grant of $25,000 to the George Mason University Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and the Honey Bee Initiative. The goal of the grant is to accelerate the program and work of leveraging George Mason University innovators, educators, student teams and community partners to address the critical issues facing the honey bee.

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Innovation Fund 2017 Grant Recipients

May 1, 2017

2017 Awardees

George Mason University Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship - Honey Bee Initiative - $25,000
Serving all of Northern Virginia
To accelerate the program and its work of leveraging George Mason University innovators, educators, student teams and community partners to develop multidisciplinary and entrepreneurial approaches to honey bee sustainability.

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Northern Virginia Community Rallies for Innovation

June 13, 2016

Exceeds $30,000 Goal to Jumpstart Innovation Fund Endowment

The Northern Virginia community is well on its way to having a committed pool of funds investing in innovative programs that will help diversify the local economy, give local students a leg up as they navigate their education and future careers, and support complex social issues in new, creative ways.

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Local Giving to Support Children and Innovation

May 23, 2016
Tanya La Force is a member of the Business Women's Giving Circle and a recent donor to the Innovation Fund at the Community Foundation for Northern Virginia. We asked her a few questions her personal philanthropy and how she strives to make an impact in our region.

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Community Foundation Launches Cyber Security Program in Fairfax County Middle Schools

April 12, 2016

Challenge grant of $25,000 matched by the Foundation for Fairfax County Public Schools

The Community Foundation recently made a challenge grant of $25,000 to the Foundation for Fairfax County Public Schools, the philanthropic arm of the school system, to launch Cyber Patriot – an afterschool cybersecurity program – in FCPS middle schools. Funding will support programs in ten middle schools in the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 school years, with the goal of giving students earlier exposure to cybersecurity. FCPS is interested in encouraging more students to make room in their high school schedules for Cyber IT courses in order to gain exposure to these 21st Century Learning skills.

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Community Foundation Supports Cyber Security Program

April 28, 2015

Makes $25,000 Grant to Prince William County Public Schools

The Community Foundation for Northern Virginia recently made a challenge grant of $25,000 to SPARK, the Education Foundation of Prince William County Public Schools, to support its new Cyber Security Program at Potomac High School. The program is designed to train students and guide them toward a number of industry-recognized certifications.

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Entrepreneurship at the Mason Innovation Lab

January 20, 2015
Jade Garrett developed a startup company at the Mason Innovation Lab in George Mason University’s School of Business.  The Community Foundation’s Innovation Fund supported the launch of this program with a $25,000 grant in 2013.

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2014 Innovation Fund Grants Announced!

July 16, 2014

$50,000 Awarded to Seven Schools and Nonprofits Taking Innovative Approaches to STEM Education in Northern Virginia

Children's Science Center's Museum Without Walls ProgramThe Community Foundation for Northern Virginia has awarded a total of $50,000 to seven schools and nonprofit organizations through its Innovation Fund with grants of $5,000 or $10,000 each to support their innovative approaches to science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education across Northern Virginia.  This is the second grant cycle of the Innovation Fund, created to support programs that nurture inventiveness, creativity and new design, and brings total grants through the fund to $100,000.

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Community Foundation a Change Agent in Innovation

March 18, 2014
On Sunday, I attended a real happening – the inaugural Mini Maker Faire in Northern Virginia at both South Lakes High School and Langston Hughes Middle School (because the event was so big). Think of several thousand people at an adult Science Fair and you'd have a pretty good idea of what a Maker Faire is like. I particularly loved the “Blender Bike”

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Innovation Fund 2013 Grant Recipients

June 1, 2013

2013 Winners

Children’s Science Center-$5,000 - Museum without Walls - To support museum (MWOW) Mobil Labs and Family Science Night with supplies and equipment for up to two interactive exhibits and ten hands on activates to promote STEM learning.

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