Environment

Environment Fund: $1 Million Endowment Mark

August 27, 2024

Each year, thousands of individual donors passionately support causes close to their hearts through the Community Foundation. Although we may never meet some of those individuals, we know how much of an impact they can make. For instance, we recently received an anonymous gift that pushed our Environment Fund past the $1 million endowment mark. This is the first issue area focused fund to reach this milestone! Given that such funding enables critical opportunities for our region, we are ecstatic over this milestone and the generosity required to reach it.

The Escalating Climate Change Impacts Throughout Virginia: How the Philanthropic Sector is Responding, and What You Can Do To Help

August 23, 2024

Mary-Carson Stiff, Executive Director of Wetlands Watch, presented “The Escalating Climate Change Impacts Throughout Virginia: How the Philanthropic Sector is Responding, and What You Can Do To Help” on the afternoon of August 21. Participants gathered over Zoom to learn about the growing climate concerns Virginians face in the years ahead.

The Community Foundation Awards Over $800,000 in Grants to Advance Equity Throughout NOVA

April 17, 2024

The Community Foundation for Northern Virginia is awarding $805,940 in grants to 49 local organizations through its 2024 Community Investment Funds (CIF), Environment Fund, and Ross-Roberts Fund for the Arts competitive cycles. These grants, supported by charitable endowments and managed by the Community Foundation, will address current and emerging needs in the region.
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Fairfax County Park Foundation Goes Mobile

June 15, 2023

“It’s such a poignant moment when a student tells me ‘Oh, I’ve never seen a worm before,’” says Tammy Schwab, the Manager, Education & Outreach, Resource Management Division at the Fairfax County Park Authority. “Being a better steward of the environment takes that kind of spark, where a child or even one of their parents notices the bugs and the birds for the first time.” The Fairfax County Park Authority hopes to bring more of those moments across Northern Virginia, as they will use the 2023 Environment Fund Grant awarded to the Fairfax County Park Foundation to fund a Mobile Nature Center, which will be able to provide programs like this to neighborhoods across Fairfax County.

Sustainability Matters' Next Big Thing

January 10, 2023

Sustainability Matters and the Community Foundation have not known each other for very long- a couple of years ago, the Shenandoah-based organization attended a First Tuesdays conversation, an informal half an hour chat that nonprofits can have with members of the Community Foundation staff about development goals, communications, or just for networking with a public sector partner.

2023 CIF, Arts and Environment Grant Cycles Open Through 2/2

January 4, 2023

Today, our largest annual discretionary grant application process opens with funding available through our Community Investment Funds (CIF), Environment Fund, and Ross-Roberts Fund for the Arts. As the Community Foundation works with intentionality to ensure funding is available and accessible to all nonprofits across our region, our team has updated the CIF process this year to provide general operating support, with the flexibility to use that funding where it is most needed.

Learn more about the updates and priority focus areas in the following webinar presented by Sari Raskin, VP of Grants and Community Leadership, and Jennifer Cochran, Manager of Grants and Scholarships.

$45,000 in Grants Awarded to Local Environmental Organizations

May 4, 2022

In honor of Earth Day 2022, the Community Foundation announced that the fifth annual Environment Fund grant of $30,000 has been awarded to Sustainability Matters, an organization that supports environmental awareness and programming in the Northern Virginia area. Another $15,000 will go to the Prince William Environmental Excellence Foundation.

Community Foundation Awards $613,725 in Community Investment Fund Grants

April 27, 2022

The Community Foundation for Northern Virginia has awarded $613,725 in grants to 50 local organizations through its 2022 Community Investment Funds (CIF), Environment Fund, and Ross-Roberts Fund for the Arts, helping respond to need and seed innovative solutions to complex social problems across the region.

As the Community Foundation’s core grants program, funds are invested in organizations serving the northern virginia community in the areas of Aging, Arts, Child and Youth Development, Education, Environment, Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, Mental Health, Military Personnel and Families, and Safety Net to Support Basic Needs. This represents the largest ever discretionary grants cycle in the Community Foundation’s history.

Community Foundation Awards $548,450 in Community Investment, Environment, Arts Grants for 2021

April 28, 2021

The Community Foundation for Northern Virginia, a trusted leader in philanthropy in the region announced today it has awarded $548,450 in grants through its Community Investment Funds (CIF), Environment Fund, and the Ross-Roberts Fund for the Arts to 39 local nonprofit organizations. The Community Foundation conducts several discretionary grant cycles each year that help meet critical needs and seed innovative solutions to complex social problems across the region.

Community Foundation Opens Three 2021 Grant Cycles

January 7, 2021

The Community Foundation for Northern Virginia, a trusted leader in philanthropy in the region announced today the opening of the 2021 grant cycles for its Community Investment Funds (CIF), The Environment Fund, and The Ross-Roberts Fund for the Arts. The Community Foundation conducts several discretionary grant cycles each year that help meet critical needs and seed innovative solutions to complex social problems across the region.

Community Foundation mark’s Earth Day’s 50th Anniversary by Naming 2020 Environment Fund Grant Recipients

April 22, 2020

As the world observes the 50th anniversary of Earth Day today, the Community Foundation for Northern Virginia announces it has awarded two $25,000 Environment Fund grants to local organizations working to protect, restore, and improve the natural environment of Northern Virginia.

Investing in a Sustainable Environmental Future for Fairfax and Northern Virginia

June 7, 2019

In 2017, The Community Foundation for Northern Virginia (CFNOVA) launched our Environment Fund, with a mission “to protect, restore and improve the natural environment of Northern Virginia, thereby enhancing the health and quality of life of its citizens and the economy of the region.” The fund’s goals include supporting collaboration, public awareness, and public engagement to improve and protect the natural environment.

Get2Green Program

June 4, 2018

Ali Culhane, Get2Green Program Specialist and Donna Volkmann, Get2Green Resource Teacher, talk about the Get2Green Program

Environment Fund Established

May 10, 2018

$25,000 Grant Awarded to Fairfax County Public Schools Get2Green Initiative

The Community Foundation for Northern Virginia today announced the establishment of The Environment Fund. This fund is made possible by a $500,000 gift to The Community Foundation from an anonymous donor.