Press Releases

November 25, 2020 (Oakton, VA) – The Community Foundation for Northern Virginia, the leader in philanthropy in the region and provider of donor advised funds and other philanthropic services reported a record year in grantmaking in 2020; awarding more than $13 million in grants and scholarships, including $3,041,868 in grants from discretionary funds.

As we approach the end of 2020, please consider supporting the Community Foundation’s Permanent Fund for Northern Virginia. Built entirely with gifts from donors like you, the Permanent Fund is a permanent community endowment for our region

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November 17, 2020 (Oakton, VA) – The COVID-19 pandemic has presented a host of new challenges to early childhood education and daycare services nationwide and across our region. Today the Community Foundation for Northern Virginia, in partnership with the Greater Washington Community Foundation, and PNC Foundation announced a $200,000 Build Back – Dream Forward COVID-19 Response Fund grant to support infant and toddler childcare and early childhood education programs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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October 7, 2020 (Oakton, VA) – On Friday, October 2, 2020, at 7 pm EST, the Community Foundation for Northern Virginia hosted its first virtual Raise the Region Gala. Business, philanthropic, and community leaders joined us from their own homes across the region and the nation to take part in this live-streamed event.

Hosted by NBC4’s Leon Harris, the 2020 Raise the Region gala is an annual mission-critical fundraiser that enables the Community Foundation to respond to need, seed innovation, and lead and convene the community. The theme for this year’s event was Building a Community that Works for Everyone.

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September 22, 2020 (Oakton, VA) – The Community Foundation for Northern Virginia is pleased to announce that it has awarded a total of $12,212 in Healthy Kids Grants to seven public Elementary, Middle, and High School programs in Northern Virginia. Grants up to $2,000 will be used to support programs that promote healthy lifestyles through increased exercise and physical activity or healthy nutrition. The grants are for the 2020-2021 school year.

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September 21, 2020 (Oakton, VA) – A crowd of more than 100 joined with the Community Foundation for Northern Virginia at its latest Innovation Breakfast Series: The Reinvention of Food virtual event on Thursday, September 17, 2020, to discuss the challenges facing the emergency food safety net since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the Greater Washington region in March including some persistent racial and social inequities that exist, and possible paths forward to address them.

“Our food system, like many other societal systems, isn’t broken, it’s working exactly the way it was designed by those who designed it,” said Dawn Hyman, Project Manager, One Fairfax, Fairfax County. “While our food system continues to work for many, barriers and inequities still exist for many others, through race, socially, particularly in our marginalized and communities of color.”

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September 16, 2020 (Oakton, VA) – The Community Foundation for Northern Virginia, the leader in local philanthropy in the region is pleased to announce that President and CEO Eileen Ellsworth is one of this year’s recipients of the Washington Business Journal's (WBJ) 2020 "Women Who Mean Business" award.

“This award is a wonderful honor. I am delighted to receive it and to be a part of yet another distinguished class of remarkably influential, powerful, and impressive women,” said Ellsworth. “But clearly, the award belongs to the entire staff, board, and family of friends and donors at the Community Foundation for Northern Virginia who makes possible all that we have accomplished.”

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September 10, 2020 (Oakton, VA) – The Community Foundation for Northern Virginia, the leader in local philanthropy in the region, welcomes Elizabeth Hughes as the new Senior Director of Insight Region^®, an independent research center at the Community Foundation launched earlier this year that analyzes local trends, convenes civic leaders, and promotes civic and social action.

Ms. Hughes has spent her career at the intersection of research and policy, helping decision-makers sort through the noise and find relevant, actionable insights to help guide operations, maximize productivity, and achieve strategic goals.

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September 8, 2020 (Oakton, VA) – On Friday, October 2, 2020, at 7 pm EST, the Community Foundation for Northern Virginia will host its 2020 Raise the Region, a virtual event that will be live-streamed, and allow you the opportunity to participate from the comfort of your home. The theme this year is Building a Community that Works for Everyone, and the event will highlight a record-level of giving from the Community Foundation throughout the region.

Hosted by NBC4’s Leon Harris, the 2020 Raise the Region virtual event is FREE to attend and will air live from 7:00 – 8:00 pm on October 2nd, available at www.cfnova.org/RaiseTheRegion.

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ARLINGTON, VA – Arlington Arts Center (AAC) and the Community Foundation for Northern Virginia are pleased to present Passage, a site-specific public artwork by artist Lynda Andrews-Barry. The work will be featured on AAC’s lawn at 3550 Wilson Boulevard in Arlington from August 22 through December 13, 2020.

Passage is the result of a unique partnership between AAC and the Community Foundation. The work was funded by the Foundation’s Ross-Roberts Fund for the Arts, and is undertaken in cooperation with Arlington Public Art.

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Oakton, VA (July 29, 2020) – The Community Foundation for Northern Virginia announced today that it has awarded over $250,000 in scholarships to more than one hundred area students to support their higher education goals beginning this fall. This year’s awards went to students pursuing either undergraduate or graduate degrees in areas like STEM, medicine, health, and education, as well as students planning to attend Northern Virginia Community College.

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