Loudoun Impact Fund Grants $105,000 to Local Nonprofit Organizations

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.

The Loudoun Impact Fund is a giving circle, bringing together individuals and businesses interested in collective grantmaking. It is administered by the Community Foundation for Loudoun and Northern Fauquier Counties and supported by the Community Foundation for Northern Virginia.

Participants make a gift of $1,000 per individual or $5,000 per business to join the giving circle. Members review proposals submitted from local nonprofits and decide together which charities to grant. More than $555,000 in grant requests were submitted from 51 organizations, highlighting significant community needs.

Lucky Wadehra, Chair of the Board for the Community Foundation for Loudoun and Northern Fauquier Counties, noted the long-term impact of the giving circle’s grantmaking. “Since 2014, the Loudoun Impact Fund has granted nearly $800,000 into the community,” she said. “The power of local giving and donor involvement is both rewarding and highly impactful, as the name of the fund indicates.”

In addition to individual members, this year’s corporate donors to the Loudoun Impact Fund included Backflow Technology, ILM Capital, Integrus Holdings, , Madison Wealth Management and Tony Nerantzis and Associates of Raymond James.

“We give through the Loudoun Impact Fund to collaborate with the other members, to learn and help address some of the needs in our community,” said Tony Nerantzis. “We also like seeing how our collective funds can make a difference in the Loudoun County community in a way we may not achieve as a single donor.”

This year, participants voted to focus on funding initiatives serving at-risk children and youth, older adults, and people with disabilities, through the following grants:

• $13,100 to LAWS to support trauma-informed counseling/advocacy services for child victims of domestic violence, physical abuse, and/or sexual assault

• $8,000 to Loudoun Hunger Relief to support emergency grocery program for low-income senior adults in Loudoun County

• $10,000 to Loudoun Volunteer Caregivers to support services for older and disabled adults living in Loudoun County

• $8,000 to All Ages Read Together to support for a free pop-up preschool serving under-resourced families with children ages four and under, in Loudoun County

• $7,500 to A Farm Less Ordinary to support the expansion of employment skill development programs for people with ID/DD in the Loudoun County area

• $7,500 to Women Giving Back to support for emergency food and essentials for Loudoun County children and youth ages 2-18

• $5,000 to Dulles South Food Pantry to support services seniors in Loudoun County who are facing food insecurity and other needs

• $7,500 to ECHO to support for building a transportation shelter for adults with disabilities that utilize ECHO’s transportation services

• $8,400 to Friends of Loudoun Mental Health Inc. to support individuals in a housing crisis due to their mental illness and financial shortages through the A Place to Call Home program

• $15,000 to Ryan Bartel Foundation to support FORTitude Teen Workshops to help teens with mental health guideposts to find their purpose, and embrace their true value

• $10,000 to Insight Memory Care Center to support the expansion of the Insight Early Stage Center in Loudoun County, helping people with mild cognitive impairment or early-stage dementia through socialization, peer support, and education

• $5,000 to Crossroads Jobs to support employment retention of intellectually disabled clients through job coaching