Best Westmoreland County Grants for Nonprofits in Virginia

About UNCF

Who We Are

For more than eight decades, this principle has remained at the heart of UNCF, enabling us to raise more than $6 billion and help more than 550,000 students and counting not just attend college, but thrive, graduate and become leaders.

We do this in three ways: By awarding more than 11,000 students scholarships, worth more than $62 million, each year. By providing financial support to 37 historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). And by serving as the nation’s leading advocate for the importance of minority education and community engagement.

This three-pronged approach is powerful: Since our founding in 1944, we’ve helped to more than double the number of minorities attending college. The six-year graduation rate for UNCF African American scholarship recipients is 70%. This is 11% higher than the national average and 31% higher than the national average for all African Americans.

2026-2027 Associates Scholars Empowerment Program

Daughters of Charity Inc., in partnership with UNCF, created the Associates Scholars Empowerment Program to assist students receiving certificates and two-year degrees.

The Associates Scholars Empowerment Program is a renewable need-based scholarship open to students receiving certificates and two-year degrees.

Students who do not meet the renewal criteria will be placed on probation and given a one semester grace period, while funded, to come into compliance.

Virginia Department of Health

The Virginia Department of Health (VDH) is dedicated to protecting and promoting the health of Virginians. VDH is made up of a statewide Central Office in Richmond and 35 local health districts. These entities work together to promote healthy lifestyle choices that can combat chronic disease, educate the public about emergency preparedness and threats to their health, and track disease outbreaks in Virginia.

Rescue Squads Assistance Fund (RSAF) 

The financial assistance for Emergency Medical Services Grants Program, known as the Rescue Squads Assistance Fund (RSAF) is a grant program for nonprofit licensed EMS agency or other Virginia emergency medical service organization operating on a nonprofit basis exclusively for the benefit of the general public pursuant to § 32.1-111.12 of the Code of Virginia.

Items eligible for funding include EMS equipment and vehicles, computers, EMS management programs, courses/classes and projects benefiting the recruitment and retention of EMS members.

About DHR

What is DHR?

The Virginia Department of Historic Resources is the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) in Virginia. As the SHPO, DHR administers a number of federal programs. DHR is also a state agency in the Natural and Historic Resources Secretariat. DHR fosters, encourages, and supports the stewardship and use of Virginia’s significant architectural, archaeological, and historic resources as valuable assets for the economic, educational, social, and cultural benefit of citizens and communities. Our programs include both the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places, Survey, Grants, Archaeology, Cemetery Preservation, African American and Tribal Outreach, the Historical Highway Marker program, 106 Review and Compliance, Conservation, Collections, Easements, and the Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit Program.

Virginia’s Black, Indigenous, And People of Color Historic Preservation Grant Program

Chapters 185 and 186 of the Acts of Assembly of the 2022 Session of the Virginia General Assembly established in Code the Virginia Black, Indigenous, and People of Color Historic Preservation Fund (BIPOC). The purpose of the legislation is to create a grant program to protect and support Virginia’s historically underserved and underrepresented communities and the cultural and historical sites associated with them. This fund will provide grants for the acquisition, protection, and rehabilitation of historic and archaeological sites of significance associated with Virginia’s Black, Indigenous, and People of Color.

The Virginia Department of Historic Resources is implementing a new online grant management system called WebGrants for all its grant programs. WebGrants will enable DHR to more efficiently publish grant opportunities, administer projects, and process claims. You will need to register in WebGrants to apply for this grant opportunity. To do so, click this link.

American Camp Association

The American Camp Association is a community of camp professionals who, for over 100 years, have joined together to share our knowledge and experience and to ensure the quality of camp programs. Because of our diverse 10,000 plus membership and our exceptional programs, we’re uniquely able to unleash the life-changing power of camp. Our work gives more children and adults the opportunity to learn powerful lessons in community, character-building, skill development, and healthy living — lessons that can be learned nowhere else.

Character at Camp Grant Program

The purpose of this program is to provide financial support, training, and technical assistance for selected day and overnight camps in the U.S. who are interested in starting, enhancing, expanding, or celebrating character development programs or projects. By the end of the Character at Camp initiative, we anticipate camps in the US will represent one of the largest and most potent contexts for character development in the learning and development ecosystem.

Eligible organizations can apply for a Planning Grant, an Implementation Grant, or a Network Implementation Grant.

Planning Grants

Planning Grants are designed for organizations that need a year of planning, training, and capacity building before they can develop and implement a full character program or project.

American Camp Association

The American Camp Association is a community of camp professionals who, for over 100 years, have joined together to share our knowledge and experience and to ensure the quality of camp programs. Because of our diverse 10,000 plus membership and our exceptional programs, we’re uniquely able to unleash the life-changing power of camp. Our work gives more children and adults the opportunity to learn powerful lessons in community, character-building, skill development, and healthy living — lessons that can be learned nowhere else.

Character at Camp Grant Program

The purpose of this program is to provide financial support, training, and technical assistance for selected day and overnight camps in the U.S. who are interested in starting, enhancing, expanding, or celebrating character development programs or projects. By the end of the Character at Camp initiative, we anticipate camps in the US will represent one of the largest and most potent contexts for character development in the learning and development ecosystem.

Eligible organizations can apply for a Planning Grant, an Implementation Grant, or a Network Implementation Grant.

Implementation Grants

Implementation Grants are designed for organizations that have a specific character program or project in mind and sufficient capacity to successfully implement that program or project starting in 2027. 

We welcome both individual and joint applications to the Implementation Grant Program.

Individual Applications 

Individual applications are for programs and projects that will be implemented by and for a single organization. Single organizations can propose programs and projects to be implemented across multiple sites — this would be considered an individual application as there is a single coordinating entity, and the small number of sites (less than six) operate more or less the same within this organization.

Joint Applications

Joint applications are for programs and projects that will be implemented by up to five organizations that will receive one grant award to implement programs and projects across each of the organizations. In this case, the organizations are either distinct and functionally independent from each other or are sites that operate more or less independently or with different programmatic foci from one another. One organization will submit the application and serve as the primary point of contact. Applicants submitting a joint application will be asked to identify the additional organizations in the application and to reflect budgetary allocations to these organizations

Accessibility Microgrants

Purpose

To make the arts accessible to all Virginians by supporting improvements in an organization’s space, facilities, or programming.

Description

The Accessibility Microgrant provides funding up to $2,000, with a 10% (1:10) cash match requirement, for projects that meet a specific accessibility need in an organization’s arts offerings. In-kind or federal matches will not be accepted. Funds will be distributed on a rolling basis in two cycles throughout the fiscal year; once funds are depleted for a given cycle, no more projects will be approved.

This grant supports a wide variety of projects, including minor, non-transformational facilities improvements. While it does not fund construction or installation, it may fund supplies, like signage, that would later be installed

American Camp Association

The American Camp Association is a community of camp professionals who, for over 100 years, have joined together to share our knowledge and experience and to ensure the quality of camp programs. Because of our diverse 10,000 plus membership and our exceptional programs, we’re uniquely able to unleash the life-changing power of camp. Our work gives more children and adults the opportunity to learn powerful lessons in community, character-building, skill development, and healthy living — lessons that can be learned nowhere else.

Character at Camp Grant Program

The purpose of this program is to provide financial support, training, and technical assistance for selected day and overnight camps in the U.S. who are interested in starting, enhancing, expanding, or celebrating character development programs or projects. By the end of the Character at Camp initiative, we anticipate camps in the US will represent one of the largest and most potent contexts for character development in the learning and development ecosystem.

Eligible organizations can apply for a Planning Grant, an Implementation Grant, or a Network Implementation Grant.

Network Implementation Grants

Network Implentation Grants are designed for organizations that serve as the coordinating entity for 6+ camps that are eager to implement a character program or project with their on-site program teams. 

Proteus Fund

Proteus Fund partners with foundations, individual donors, activists, and other allies to work strategically towards racial, gender, queer, and disability justice and an inclusive, fully-representative democracy. We curate an ecosystem of mutually reinforcing, aligned donor collaboratives and fiscally sponsored projects that deploy a creative array of strategies and tactics to further this vision.

RISE Together Fund: Small Grants

Call For Application

RISE Together Fund (RTF), an initiative of Proteus Fund, is announcing an open call for inquiries for our 2026 Small Grants Fund for U.S. public charity organizations or fiscally sponsored projects of such organizations, that support Black, African, Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim and South Asian (BAMEMSA) communities.

As part of RTF’s commitment to prioritizing the needs and sustainability of the fields we collectively support, RTF will provide organizations with general operating grants to allow for organizational flexibility when possible. 

About RTF's Small Grants Fund

BAMEMSA movements have a strong history of organizing and collaboration, and are well poised with the knowledge, learning and experience to build an inclusive, multiracial democratic future and respond to the current unconstitutional threats facing the country. Through this fund, RTF aims to resource community power building organizations that use a multiplicity of approaches to create change rooted in the strength and leadership of BAMEMSA movements.

RTF supports groups that build community power, strengthen movement bases, defend civil and human rights including freedom of protest, speech, religion, and association, end the criminalization and surveillance of our communities, and respond to the rise in xenophobia, Islamophobia, and hate. RTF values groups that are intersectional in their approach and have or are developing sustainable long-term strategies to support BAMEMSA communities and movements.

Priority Issue Areas

• Protecting and advancing the rights of immigrant and refugee BAMEMSA communities by responding to harmful policies and practices, and strengthening community-led advocacy at the local, state, or federal level.

• Mobilizing BAMEMSA communities for nonpartisan civic engagement and election protection by increasing nonpartisan voter participation, combating voter suppression, and building sustained civic infrastructure ahead of, during, and between elections.

• Advocating for U.S. policy changes that end violence in Gaza and the West Bank by elevating Palestinian voices, influencing public discourse, and engaging in advocacy that shifts U.S. political, diplomatic, or funding decisions.

• Challenging harmful national security frameworks and their impacts on BAMEMSA communities by documenting, exposing, and organizing against surveillance, Islamophobia, and policies rooted in the War on Terror, particularly in the context of 9/11’s 25-year legacy.

• Responding to emerging opportunities and threats affecting BAMESMA communities such as influencing policy developments, addressing civic issues in the U.S., or developing narratives to change public discourse. This includes work addressing weaponizing issues around bodily autonomy and LGBTQ+ identity to fracture movements and communities.

Priority Strategies

RTF values organizations that take an intersectional approach and are intentionally building long-term community power. We prioritize support for groups that strengthen movement ecosystems, deepen their base, and defend the rights of BAMEMSA communities through the following strategies:

• Convening, Collaboration, and Movement Coordination: Bringing together organizations, leaders, and coalitions to align shared goals, coordinate strategies to advance shared visions, and reduce fragmentation across the field. This includes facilitating strategic convenings, developing platforms for collaboration, building cross-issue or cross-regional partnerships, developing shared agendas or issue campaigns, and strengthening trust and alignment among movement actors.
• Community Power-Building, Base Building, Civic Engagement, and Organizing: Expanding and activating a grassroots base within BAMEMSA communities to drive collective action and policy change. This includes community leadership development, public education campaigns, community organizing, nonpartisan voter engagement and election protection, and ongoing nonpartisan civic participation efforts that build sustained community power.
• Legal and Policy Advocacy Infrastructure: Advancing legal strategies and policy advocacy that expand and protect the rights of BAMEMSA communities. This includes impact litigation, legal advocacy, know-your-rights efforts, policy development, and advocacy at a local, state, or federal level.
• Communications and Narrative Strategy: Shaping public discourse and advancing narratives that reflect the experiences, dignity, and demands of BAMEMSA communities. This includes developing messaging strategies, producing and amplifying media, countering harmful or divisive narratives (including those targeting immigrants, religious minorities, LGBTQ+ communities, and reproductive rights), and increasing the voice share of BAMEMSA community members.
• Bolstering Movement Infrastructure: Strengthening the internal capacity and long-term sustainability of organizations and the broader movement ecosystem. This includes organizations supporting leadership development and pipelines, data and technology infrastructure, security and safety, and other core functions that enable groups to operate effectively and respond to evolving challenges.

Limited funding may be available for requests above $25,000.

U.S. Civil Society Microgrants

We seek to support projects that engage Pulitzer Center journalism to amplify the voices of affected communities, foster public debate, and drive meaningful audience engagement with our focus areas.

Audience engagement has been at the core of the Pulitzer Center’s work since its founding in 2006. In addition to grants and fellowships that facilitate breakthrough journalism, we support initiatives that connect the reporting to the audiences that need it the most. Our goal is pursuing real-world impact: engaging and mobilizing communities, increasing understanding and connection, and influencing decisions locally and globally. 

This microgrant aims to support civil society organizations and groups in the United States to utilize Pulitzer Center-supported reporting as part of projects that contribute to a more informed and empowered community.

 For this grant cycle, we are seeking grant proposals for civic engagement projects to be completed by early December 2026 that focus on one of the following issues:

• Climate and the environment, with a focus on U.S fisheries and fishing communities or climate and labor
• Information and Artificial Intelligence
• Global health, with specific focus on mental well-being or connections to the Global South

The objective is to use Pulitzer Center-supported journalism as the inspiration for the projects supported by this civil society microgrant. By leveraging this reporting, we expect to build projects that amplify the voices of affected communities, foster public debate, and drive meaningful audience engagement that will lead to impactful conversations in communities in the U.S. and beyond.

Grants range from US$2,000 to US$4,000. Project proposals can support existing activities or support the launch of new activities. 

What is DHR?

The Virginia Department of Historic Resources is the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) in Virginia. As the SHPO, DHR administers a number of federal programs. DHR is also a state agency in the Natural and Historic Resources Secretariat. DHR fosters, encourages, and supports the stewardship and use of Virginia’s significant architectural, archaeological, and historic resources as valuable assets for the economic, educational, social, and cultural benefit of citizens and communities.

Our programs include both the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places, Survey, Grants, Archaeology, Cemetery Preservation, African American and Tribal Outreach, the Historical Highway Marker program, 106 Review and Compliance, Conservation, Collections, Easements, and the Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit Program.

Background

Archaeological sites are some of Virginia’s most fragile resources. Threatened Sites grants offer emergency funding for archaeological sites endangered by erosion, impending development, or vandalism. The program has saved archaeological remnants at sites across Virginia, providing important information about our past that would have been lost.

Since 1985, the Department of Historic Resources (DHR) has administered a program for threatened archaeological sites in Virginia. 

Potential sites are evaluated by department teams and a Threatened Sites Committee composed of members of the archaeological community. Funds are committed for assessment, excavation, laboratory processing and analysis, and reporting. If a site cannot be saved, the funds are used to gather the information it contains before it is lost forever. 

Unlikely Collaborators Inc

We exist to help people RESOLVE CONFLICT. What kind of conflict are we talking about? The inside kind.

It's our perspective that most of the EXTERNAL conflict in the world is the result of unconscious, unresolved INTERNAL conflict in each and every one of us.

Unlikely Collaborators is an organization that exists to help people resolve conflict by making them aware of and helping them work with their Perception Box.

RFP To Fund Transformative Projects Rooted in the Perception Box™ Framework

This RFP is designed for organizations creating meaningful shifts in how people interpret their experiences, beliefs, and perspectives.

All requests must be project-specific and aligned with the Perception Box framework.

At Unlikely Collaborators, we support people and organizations who are helping others see something about themselves they couldn’t see before. Our work is grounded in the Perception Box, a framework developed by our founder, Elizabeth R. Koch.

The Perception Box is the internal lens through which each of us experiences the world. It is shaped by our beliefs, our past experiences, our identity, and the stories we carry, often without realizing it.

Most of the time, we don’t see this lens. We experience our perspective as reality. But when people begin to notice it, something shifts. There is often more curiosity, less certainty, and more openness to others and new possibilities.

We are not a fit for projects focused primarily on advocacy, external blame, or telling people what to think. We support work that helps people examine how they think.

What this looks like in practice

We are most interested in projects where participants are actively engaged in noticing and questioning their own assumptions. This might include:

• Structured experiences where people reflect on their beliefs and how those beliefs were formed
• Encounters with perspectives that challenge their existing worldview
• Moments of realization where someone recognizes their interpretation may not be the only one
• Practices that build curiosity, self-awareness, and the ability to stay open in the face of difference

Before you get started on your RFP grant application, here’s what to expect:

• At Unlikely Collaborators, we support people and organizations that create meaningful shifts in how individuals see themselves.
• We are not looking for surface-level awareness. We are looking for work that leads to a real moment of recognition, when someone begins to question their own assumptions, reconsider their perspective, or see others differently.
• We prioritize leaders working from lived experience, not distance—people who understand the challenge from the inside and are translating that insight into something others can directly experience.
• The strongest projects are designed to create these moments of reflection in a tangible way. They bring people together in environments that are thoughtful, human, and often unexpected, where insight is felt, not just discussed.

Who We Are

Saginaw County is home. It is a beautiful community you’d be foolish to underestimate. We may have our challenges, but seeing its cities, villages and townships continue to grow and flourish gives us a sense of satisfaction and pride like none other.

Back in 1984, The Saginaw Community Foundation was founded to enhance the quality of life in our county by providing leadership, education, and support for philanthropy. Today, we still continue this mission of supporting the needs of our community through targeted grants, investments, and scholarships.

In addition to our grantmaking and scholarship programs, the Foundation also offers donor advised funds, which allow donors to recommend charitable grants to organizations of their choice. We also manage several endowed funds, which provide ongoing support for specific causes or organizations.

Saginaw Community Foundation is governed by a Board of Directors composed of community leaders and volunteers. A staff of professionals oversee our day-to-day operations and work with donors and community organizations to identify and address community needs.

CTE Scholarships

Dreaming of a career in welding? Maybe managing your own auto mechanics garage fuels your thoughts or you would love to become an electrician. Perhaps studying to become a chef in a culinary arts program suits your tastes.

No matter what your career path may be, there is little doubt that in recent years interest in Career and Technical Education (CTE) has grown. The increased need for workers skilled in the trades has resulted in larger numbers of students seeking out CTE programs.

Schools offering CTE encompass a wide variety of hands-on education, from HVAC to carpentry to cosmetology. In the past, financial assistance has been hard to come by for these areas of study, but that is no longer the case. Saginaw Community Foundation has several scholarship opportunities for those who have the desire to pursue CTE.

According to leading economists, not everyone needs a four-year degree. In fact, millions of good-paying jobs are opening up in the trades. And some pay better than what the average college graduate makes.

For aspiring welders, electricians, carpenters, and other valued skilled trade workers, there is great opportunity to take advantage of tailored CTE programs. The demand is massive as an estimated 3 million trade jobs in the United States remain vacant.

Our CTE scholarship awards range between $500 – $4,000 typically.

The Patricia and William Hendrick Memorial Scholarship

Long-time Saginaw residents Pat and Bill Hendrick were graduates of St. Mary’s High School in Saginaw. They supported Catholic education their entire lives at the primary, secondary, and higher education level. Pat and Bill believed in and helped further the cause of Catholic education with enthusiasm and financial support all their lives.

To honor Pat and Bill, their family and many friends established this scholarship to help Saginaw County residents who are going on to attend Catholic higher education. Special preference will be given to graduates of Nouvel Catholic Central High School and/or those attending the University of Notre Dame – two organizations which held a special place in their hearts.

What is DHR?

The Virginia Department of Historic Resources is the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) in Virginia. As the SHPO, DHR administers a number of federal programs. DHR is also a state agency in the Natural and Historic Resources Secretariat. DHR fosters, encourages, and supports the stewardship and use of Virginia’s significant architectural, archaeological, and historic resources as valuable assets for the economic, educational, social, and cultural benefit of citizens and communities. Our programs include both the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places, Survey, Grants, Archaeology, Cemetery Preservation, African American and Tribal Outreach, the Historical Highway Marker program, 106 Review and Compliance, Conservation, Collections, Easements, and the Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit Program.

African American Cemetery & Graves Fund

The African American Cemeteries and Graves Fund (AACGF) provide grants to support the ongoing care and maintenance of historic burial grounds established on or before January 1, 1948, specifically for the interment of African Americans. At the start of each state fiscal year (July 1), the Department of Historic Resources (DHR) announces the availability of funding for these cemeteries, which are defined under the Code of Virginia §10.1-2211.2. Entities listed in this Code section, as well as all other qualified organizations, are required to submit an annual application to the Department by May 30 to receive funding for cemetery maintenance. 

Grant Opportunities

The fund offers two grant opportunities: the Basic Maintenance Grant and the Extraordinary Block Grant. New applicants must first apply for and receive a Basic Maintenance Grant—awarded at a rate of $5 per eligible grave—before qualifying for a block grant to support “extraordinary maintenance” projects. Some examples of each grant are as follows:

Basic Maintenance Grant: vegetation management, care of existing markers and monuments, and in-kind repair of existing roads, paths and parking areas.

Extraordinary Block Grant: installation of replacement markers, preservation planning and pre-approved Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) survey.

About

The Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) is committed to creating safe, affordable and prosperous communities to live, work and do business in Virginia. Find out more about DHCD, including locations, mission and about our director.

CDBG Project Grants

CDBG Project Grants are awarded competitively to aid eligible localities in implementing projects that will most directly impact the greatest needs of the community. There are four primary project types under this funding source: Housing Rehabilitation, Infrastructure, Economic Development, and Public Services.

Localities with potential projects that have activities applicable to more than one of these project types should contact DHCD for technical assistance

Who We Are

Our Mission

UNCF envisions a nation where all Americans have equal access to a college education that prepares them for rich intellectual lives, competitive and fulfilling careers, engaged citizenship and service to our nation.

UNCF’s mission is to build a robust and nationally-recognized pipeline of under-represented students who, because of UNCF support, become highly-qualified college graduates and to ensure that our network of member institutions is a respected model of best practice in moving students to and through college.

UNCF’s North Star is to increase the total annual number of African American college graduates by focusing on activities that ensure more students are college-ready, enroll in college and persist to graduation. This is done through a three-pillar strategy. Positioning member institutions as a viable college option for students and investing in institutional capacity to improve student outcomes; creating transformational support programs to ensure students are enrolling and persisting through college completion; building awareness of educational attainment and cultivating college-going behaviors within the African American community.

For Students

UNCF is more than just scholarships. We’re the nation’s leading minority education organization and our goal is to help you get to and through college.

Our support takes many different forms. From merit scholarships to financial assistance, on-campus assistance to professional development, emergency financial aid to community support, UNCF is committed to getting more students like you to and through college.

2026-2027 The Edward and Sandra Meyer Family Scholarship

The Edward and Sandra Meyer Family Scholarship is directed towards current talented high school seniors within the Class of 2026 from the state of New York, who will be enrolling at any accredited UNCF member institution or other accredited Historically Black College/University.

The Edward and Sandra Meyer Family Scholarship is directed towards academically achieving high school seniors, who are seeking enrollment at any accredited UNCF member institution or other Historically Black College/University. 

The Edward and Sandra Meyer Foundation, Inc. is a social impactful philanthropic organization based in New York. The foundation actively focuses on funding critical initiatives in the arts and culture, education, health and religion.

The Edward and Sandra Meyer Foundation, Inc. has partnered with UNCF to establish the Edward and Sandra Meyer Family Scholarship. This scholarship is focused on providing vital financial assistance to ensure that high school seniors within the state of New York have access to a quality college education.

The candidates will have the opportunity to enroll in any accredited field of study at their selected institution. The candidates must be enrolled as first-time freshman within the 2026-27 Academic year. The eligible candidates must have maintained a cumulative grade point average of 2.50 throughout the entire application process. 

The selected recipients will be eligible for renewal awards upon their continual adherence to the program guidelines and have established financial need by their institution each year.

The Virginia Department of Historic Resources

The Virginia Department of Historic Resources is the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) in Virginia. As the SHPO, DHR administers a number of federal programs. DHR is also a state agency in the Natural and Historic Resources Secretariat. DHR fosters, encourages, and supports the stewardship and use of Virginia’s significant architectural, archaeological, and historic resources as valuable assets for the economic, educational, social, and cultural benefit of citizens and communities. Our programs include both the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places, Survey, Grants, Archaeology, Cemetery Preservation, African American and Tribal Outreach, the Historical Highway Marker program, 106 Review and Compliance, Conservation, Collections, Easements, and the Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit Program.

Virginia Battlefield Preservation Fund

The Virginia Battlefield Preservation Fund (the “Fund” or “VBPF”) was established under Virginia Code § 10.1-2202.4. This section stipulates that the Department of Historic Resources shall establish, administer, and make allocations from the Fund for the purpose of making grants to private nonprofit organizations for the permanent protection of Virginia battlefield lands.

Grants from the Fund shall be made solely for (i) the fee simple purchase of, or (ii) purchase of protective interests (i.e. easements) in any Virginia battlefield property listed in the following reports issued by the National Park Service’s American Battlefield Protection Program:

• Report on the Nation’s Civil War Battlefields (1993, as amended); or
• Report to Congress on the Historic Preservation of Revolutionary War and War of 1812 Sites in the United States (2007, as amended).

Projects funded by the VBPF do not have a minimum or maximum dollar amount requirement.

About Virginia Energy

Virginia Energy is the state agency charged with advancing Virginia's energy, mining, and mineral policies and initiatives. Our mission is to lead the Commonwealth to a safe, reliable and responsible energy future by:

• Providing for safe and environmentally sound stewardship of Virginia's mineral and energy resources;
• Encouraging economic development through the sound stewardship of Virginia's energy, mineral, land and water resources; and
• Successfully pursuing federal funding and implement the Virginia Energy Plan to ensure the Commonwealth has abundant, reliable, affordable and increasingly clean energy.

Virginia Clean Energy Innovation Bank (“VCEIB”) Direct Funding

Accelerating the Deployment of Clean Energy Infrastructure Statewide

The Virginia Clean Energy Innovation Bank (VCEIB) accelerates the deployment of clean power generation and energy infrastructure across the Commonwealth. VCEIB mobilizes public and private capital to address critical financing gaps in the clean power generation and infrastructure sectors.

VCEIB serves as a hub for financing cleaner, more reliable energy infrastructure throughout the commonwealth. It connects projects and companies with capital from federal, state, and private funding sources. The bank partners with a range of other state agencies and programs to identify investment opportunities and is currently seeded with $10 million through the amounts as allocated in the 2024 State Budget. By housing it within the Department of Energy, only $750,000 of the $2 million set aside for administrative purposes is slated for use due to economies of scale, leaving the remaining $9.25 million used for investments into clean energy infrastructure projects.

What types of projects are be eligible for funding under VCEIB?

Projects that support the goals of Virginia's Energy Plan, such as clean power generation and energy infrastructure, are eligible for funding. For example, projects may include advanced nuclear energy innovations, solar supply chain investments, microgrid installations, grid modernization, battery storage deployments, and more.

What forms of funding does VCEIB provide to projects?

VCEIB will provide loans, credit enhancements, and other forms of support, with a focus on financial instruments that recycle such that the bank can continuously reinvest the funds in additional projects across the Commonwealth.

About Virginia Energy

Virginia Energy is the state agency charged with advancing Virginia's energy, mining, and mineral policies and initiatives. Our mission is to lead the Commonwealth to a safe, reliable and responsible energy future by:

• Providing for safe and environmentally sound stewardship of Virginia's mineral and energy resources;
• Encouraging economic development through the sound stewardship of Virginia's energy, mineral, land and water resources; and
• Successfully pursuing federal funding and implement the Virginia Energy Plan to ensure the Commonwealth has abundant, reliable, affordable and increasingly clean energy.

Virginia Power Innovation Program

The Virginia Power Innovation Fund and Program is for the purposes of research and development of innovative energy technologies, including nuclear, hydrogen, carbon capture and utilization, and energy storage; and to award grants on a competitive basis from the Fund to support energy innovation in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

The Virginia Power Innovation Program (the Program) is hereby established for the purpose of (i) establishing a Virginia nuclear innovation hub from such funds as may be available from the Fund and (ii) awarding grants on a competitive basis from such funds as may be available from the Fund to support energy innovation. The Program shall be administered by the Department. In administering the Program, the Department shall, in collaboration with the Virginia Nuclear Energy Consortium, establish and publish guidelines and criteria for disbursement of funds pursuant to clause (i), including providing grants to support higher education research on advanced nuclear technologies and advanced reactor technologies, to fund nuclear energy workforce development programming, and to assist with site selection for future small modular reactor projects in Virginia. In administering the Program, the Department shall, in collaboration with the Secretary of Commerce and Trade, establish and publish guidelines and criteria for disbursement of funds pursuant to clause (ii). The Department shall oversee each grant awarded through the Program and ensure thorough reporting on each such grant.

Overview For This Round of Grants

The Virginia Department of Energy invites proposals to address the emerging regional and local needs and opportunities for nuclear power, innovation, and research, to 1. Bring nuclear and nuclear supply chains to the Commonwealth based on technology and supply chain needs and 2. Identify gaps that need to be addressed, including projects and programs to further enable development and demonstration of nuclear in the Commonwealth.

Total Amount Available

Up to $2.5 million

Total Amount Available

$100,000-$2,000,000, pending available funds for up to 2 grants.

Grant awards are made at the discretion of the Virginia Department of Energy and in determining grant amounts, the following criteria will be considered:

• return on investment
• impact on energy affordability, reliability, and impact on the energy supply chain in the Commonwealth
• new jobs
• capital investment
• utilization of research-based technologies

Grants may be made for more than one project for a single company, entity, or locality, but the projects must clearly represent separate investments for separate projects.