Safety Net Fund

To provide basic needs support in Northern Virginia.

Two-thirds of Northern Virginians with lower incomes (less than $50,000 per year for a family of four) are “severely burdened” by the cost of housing, spending over half of their income on rent, mortgage, taxes, fees, and basic utilities. Individuals and families with moderate incomes ($50,000 to $100,000 for a family of four) fare slightly better, but still over half (59 percent) cannot afford their homes and 19% spend over half of their income on housing. When compared to other large metropolitan areas, Northern Virginia has the highest rate of severe housing burden among low-income households and the sixth highest rate among moderate-income households in the country. Source: Community Foundation for Northern Virginia

To provide basic needs support, including housing and shelter needs, eviction and foreclosure assistance, and other emergency assistance needs, the Community Foundation for Northern Virginia makes grants with a focus on Safety Net assistance annually through the Community Investment Funds grant cycle.

The Safety Net Fund is a component fund of The Permanent Fund for Northern Virginia, an unrestricted endowment at the Community Foundation that makes grants to help build a community that works for everyone.
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In 2018, Second Story received a grant to provide housing and shelter assistance to homeless youth in our region. Thanks to the grant, Second Story was able to provide client Brayan not only with housing, but also with a case manager and access to opportunities like getting his drivers’ license, food and clothes, and the freedom to focus on what mattered most to him -- his education. With this freedom, Brayan was even able to create his own Tesla coil, fulfilling a dream he’d had ever since he was a child! Now, Brayan is now attending Shenandoah University on almost a full-ride scholarship. He’s studying entrepreneurship and hopes to get his master’s in mechanical engineering so he can start a technology company. He wants to change the world with clean energy. But he wasn’t able to do it alone. “Everything that I was able to do was because of the support of a lot of people in my community,” says Brayan.

— Testimonial provided by 2018 Poverty Relief Grantee, Second Story for Homeless Youth

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Nonprofits: Learn More & Apply

For 2025, the Community Foundation will consider grant applications that meet the following criteria:

• Multiple grants of $30,000 will be awarded to organizations that provide direct service and/or navigation to access safety net services. Organizations of $4.5 million or above are eligible to apply.
• Multiple grants of $15,000 will be awarded to organizations providing direct service or navigation to access safety net services related to non-food related emergency assistance. Organizations with budget sizes of $150,000-$4.5M are eligible to apply.

Criteria

• Applicants must be 501(c)(3) organizations providing charitable or educational services. Local, state and federal government entities are not eligible to apply.
• This year, grant requests will only be considered for general organizational support. Applications for capital improvements, endowments, or scholarship awards will not be considered.
• Grants will be made to organizations providing services in Northern Virginia (Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William counties, plus the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax, Falls Church and Manassas/Manassas Park).
• Applications that are late or incomplete will not be considered.
• Only one application per organization will be considered.

Grant Application Portal

To apply or update a grant application, access the grants portal here:
Submit Applications or Review Past Grants Here

You will be instructed to set up an organizational profile before applying. If your organization has applied in the past, check with other staff members to get access to the organization profile already established. It contains grant history and past applications. Please do not set up a new profile unless you are sure your organization has not applied previously.

Please make sure you're subscribed to our Nonprofit News and Resources list to stay up-to-date on funding opportunities. 

Grant Cycle Timeline

January 8, 2025	Applications Open
January 8, 2025	2025 Grants Webinar
February 1, 2025	Grant Reports Due from 2024 Grantees
February 5, 2025	Applications Due
April 2025	Applicants notified of funding status
February 1, 2026	Grant Reports Due from 2025 Grantees