Opportunities Grant

Overview

The FY 2027 Arlington County Opportunities Grant is intended to support nonprofits in implementing programs or projects which will create opportunities for Arlington residents to thrive, while reducing, eliminating, or preventing inequities in direct response to demonstrate community or human services needs.

Available funding: The County anticipates allocating $1.25 million for FY 2027 in support of this grant.

Request guidelines: The application package is linked below. Nonprofits are encouraged to consider collaborative approaches that maximize available funding. Proposals requesting more than $50,000 must respond to additional questions reflecting on scalability, sustainability, and readiness of the proposal. The County anticipates awarding up to four proposals requesting more than $50,000.

Timeline: Proposals are due Tuesday, January 13, 2026, at 11:59 pm. Awards are anticipated to be approved at the April 2026 County Board meeting.

Application Package(PDF, 659KB)

Submit Proposals Here

Any questions may be addressed to EquityGrant@arlingtonva.us.

As we look forward to the next grant cycle, we are interested in what needs you're seeing in our community! Complete this brief survey to share your experiences, observations, and what types of services you believe may best help our community thrive.

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Are you interested in learning about what local nonprofits are doing to serve your community? Do you have thoughts on what could help address the biggest needs in our community? Consider participating on the community focus groups - a 4-6 hour time commitment in late January/early February.

Sign up to participate in a community focus group

OVERVIEW

In the fall of 2023, Arlington County, in collaboration with United Way of the National Capital Area, launched a new equity-based funding program to support local organizations’ efforts to respond to community-defined needs.

Through this grant, Arlington County intends to eliminate, reduce, and prevent racial and social inequities and disparities to improve outcomes for those who have been historically marginalized.

This grant will provide grants to Arlington nonprofits to implement a program or project in direct response to a demonstrated community or human service need identified through their experiences. It also provides grants to support the day-to-day functions for organizations who demonstrate how their operations will be enhanced to meet the direct needs of residents in the communities they serve. In the FY 2026 grant cycle, Arlington County awarded $1.8 million to 23 nonprofits meeting a variety of community needs. Reflecting on that cycle, United Way produced a report evaluating the successes and challenges of the process, incorporating diverse perspectives and their unique feedback. That report may be accessed below.

United Way Process Evaluation(PDF, 2MB)

Background

In an effort to align funding decisions with values of transparency and racial equity, the County Board convened leaders in the BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) community in 2020 and 2021, facilitated by the United Way of the National Capital Area and supported by the national organization E Pluribus UNUM Fund.

In October 2021, as a part of Realizing Arlington’s Commitment to Equity’s (R.A.C.E.) focus on racial equity, a working group of community leaders and Arlington County representatives came together to develop a process to evaluate community needs through the lens of racial equity.

A series of discussions led to recommendations for a co-designed process to reform the County Board-awarded and discretionary funding process (outside of Arlington’s normal competitive procurement processes) to be more inclusive of root causes and shift to a community-needs model to support historical marginalized communities.

To move the process forward, the County Board adopted a resolution supporting a transition to a racial equity-based competitive process for Board-awarded community and human services funding that addresses inequities in Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) communities and systemic impacts for all.

Previous Meetings

Community Meeting - Transitioning to an Equity-Based Nonprofit Funding Process in Arlington. On Jan. 9, 2023, leaders of the Back, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) community convened to share more information about this co-created process for making equitable nonprofit funding decisions, and County Board members and representatives from Realizing Arlington’s Commitment to Equity (R.A.C.E.) effort discussed next steps for implementation. View a copy of the presentation shared during the meeting.
February County Board Recessed Meeting. At its Feb. 21, 2023, Recessed Meeting, the County Board adopted a Resolution supporting this transition to a racial-equity based competitive process. Read the resolution.
June County Board Recessed Meeting. At its June 13, 2023, Recessed Meeting, the County Board received a presentation from staff sharing information on the NOFA process, including information on the application, technical assistance available to applicants, background on the criteria for proposal evaluation, and the post-evaluation and funding award process. View the presentation.
Community Information Session - Race to Rebuilding Trust and Community NOFA. Watch the recorded presentation from July 31, 2023 for more details about the Equity-Based Notice of Funding Availability. View the PowerPoint.

Technical Assistance Sessions

Technical Assistance Session: FY 27 Grant Overview, December 4, 2025
Presentation(PDF, 1MB)
Recording

If you have additional questions, please reach out to Elizabeth Matlock, ematlock@arlingtonva.us.

FY 2026 technical assistance session recordings may be found here:

Technical Assistance Session 1: Grant Overview [Hybrid]
Session 1 slides(PDF, 3MB)
Session 1 recording
Technical Assistance Session 2: RACE Equity Module Training [Virtual]
Leading with RACE Online Learning Series
Session 2 recording
Technical Assistance Session 3: Logic Models and SMART Goals [Virtual]
Session 3 slides(PDF, 3MB)
Session 3 recording
Technical Assistance Session 4: Evaluation and the Rubric [Virtual]
Session 4 slides(PDF, 1MB)
Session 4 recording
Technical Assistance Session 5: Wrap-Up [Virtual]
Session 5 recording

Arlington County Government provides reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities as described in the Americans with Disabilities Act; and language interpretation upon request. To arrange for a reasonable accommodation or language translation, please email EquityGrant@arlingtonva.us to provide as much advance notice as possible.

Requests for sign language and/or language interpreters must be made at least five (5) full business days in advance.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q&A through 12/8/25

General

Does the County have a target number of grant proposals they would like to award through this grant program?
The County does not have a number of anticipated grant awards. As a point of comparison, the FY25 grant cycle had 22 awards, and the FY26 grant cycle had 23 awards. We are relying on the applicant organizations to identify the biggest community needs to show how the limited grant funding can have the most effective community impact rather than having the County pre-determine a specific number of grant awards.

If there is no cap on award requests, is there anything that would be considered too high?
There is no advertised cap on requests. FY25 requests ranged from roughly $15,000 to $500,000, with over two thirds being below $150,000; awards were up to $225,000. FY26 awards ranged from $26,000 to the cap of $150,000. Given the limited total funding available of $1.25 million, the County encourages applicants to limit individual request to no more than $50,000. The County does not anticipate awarding many requests above $50,000.

How did the County determine that only four (4) larger requests would be awarded? Will they represent different identified need categories (economic security, education quality & access, health care quality & access, safety, and social connection & community)?
The County anticipates awarding a maximum of four (4) larger requests given the reduced amount of total funding available compared to prior grant cycles. The County anticipates that awarding four (4) larger requests would amount to approximately one half of the available total funding, leaving the remaining funding to be spread amongst smaller requests to support multiple areas of need. The County is not requiring that the four larger requests represent different identified need categories, although it is expected that the different categories will be represented across all awards.

Application Package

Are different questions/sections weighted differently?
Each question is worth 5 points. There is no weighting.

What needs to be included in the budget narrative?
The budget narrative only needs to describe the budget being requested from the Opportunities Grant. There is no word limit on this question.

In the sample grant agreement, there is a discrepancy in the amount of the award that needs to be spent by the end of the second quarter. Which is correct?
Similar to the FY26 process, applicants will be expected to have spent 50% of the funding they'd received in the first two quarters in order to receive upfront quarterly tranches after the second quarter.

Review

Who will be the staff reviewers, and how will it be determined who reads which application?
Staff reviewers will be recruited from a variety of County departments. There will be some targeted recruitment of staff with expertise in human services, community development, and grants management. Assignments of applications to staff reviewers are randomly, although conflicts of interest will be avoided. All staff reviewers will be trained on objective scoring and using the rubric. All staff reviewers will participate in group discussions on the proposals, scoring, and funding recommendations.

How will the Community Focus Groups be recruited?
The County continues to refine the recruitment plan. Participants will likely be recruited from community members who have served as grant reviewers in other County grant programs and those who have served in other County focus groups. Additionally, recruitment efforts will take place in public spaces (libraries, community rec centers, etc.) through fliers, e-boards, etc.

Will the applicants get reviewer feedback?
Yes, applicants will receive their scores and narrative feedback from County staff review/discussion and focus group comments. This feedback will be given after awards have been approved.

Q&A update 12/18/25

General

When will the final Q&A be posted?
Any remaining questions/answers will be posted on Friday, January 9, 2026.

Can new organizations apply?
New organizations are welcome to apply. If you have any questions about what may be required for the proposal, please reach out to Elizabeth Matlock, ematlock@arlingtonva.us.

Is there a priority for new programming versus ongoing programming?
There is no preference. In either case, a strong application will highlight the impact that their proposed programming has/will have. If requesting funding for current programming, the application should highlight the impact of this funding - ex: will this funding improve the quality of programming, help it expand, or ensure that it will be able to continue?

Is there a preference for larger or smaller requests?
The County intends to only award a small number of larger requests. However, applicants may request larger amounts. The strongest applications which include larger requests (above $50,000) will detail thoughtful and creative ways to scale their proposal or will demonstrate the significant need for the larger request.

Is this funding opportunity tied to federal funding and related reporting requirements?
No, this funding comes from the Arlington County General Fund and is not related to federal reporting requirements.

Application Questions

How could a newer organization adequately respond to question 20?
Newer organizations should highlight their staff's/volunteers' experience, in addition to the experience of any potential staff and partners.

How should we distinguish questions 14, 15, and 16?
Question 14 deals with outputs. This typically refers to actions taken towards your goal. These are easily quantifiable (ex: hours, meetings, clients, trainings), and you have direct control over them. Outputs work towards outcomes, the topic of question 15. Outcomes are also measurable, but the measures may be qualitative or quantitative. Outcomes demonstrate bigger picture impact. However, you have less control over them - in other words, you can provide wonderful programming (good outputs), but there may be confounding variables (ex: other things going on in peoples' lives) that influence the overall outcomes. However, the hope is that your proposal will accomplish good outcomes. Question 16 builds off of outcomes and looks at how those outcomes, if accomplished, will reduce, eliminate, or prevent inequities. To answer this question, you may consider using your own organization's data and experience and/or data and research from other organizations and publications to support why you believe your outcomes will result in the described impact on inequities.

Could you describe what you're looking for in question 17 more?
Applicants should consider what might be keeping people from participating in their programming. Are there individuals or families who may benefit from the proposed services, but they are not able to participate for some reason. Is there something you could do to overcome that limitation and help the individual or family participate? Some examples may include, but are not limited to, language, transportation, accessibility, childcare, etc.

Any other tips we should consider when writing this proposal?
Make a strong case for your impact - how will this funding result in a positive impact for individuals and families in the Arlington community.
Use local and current data to the greatest extent possible. This data can come from your own experience (qualitative or quantitative) and/or other published sources.
The strongest proposals tell a big story - making strong connections between the need, the people being served, the services provided, and the impact.
Write for programming that you're passionate about - your excitement will shine through your words.
If relevant, connect your proposal to current events and emergent needs - this can be used to strengthen your proposal and the need it is addressing.

Award Information

If awarded, the quarterly report asks for Client Impact Points. What does that refer to?
Grantees will define their own client impact points. Since this grant funds a variety of services, each grantee is asked to define what a client impact point is (ex: one meal served to one client, one week of summer camp for one youth, one doctor visit, one emergency rent payment, one case management meeting, etc.).

How will SMART goals be determined for the quarterly report?
SMART goals will be determined in collaboration between the County and grantees, building off of their proposal's outcomes and outputs (questions 14-15).

Q&A update 1/5/26

How are focus group participants selected to ensure there are no conflicts of interest?
Focus group participants and reviewers are required to submit conflict of interest forms and are instructed on the importance of understanding their own biases. They are instructed to excuse themselves from discussions involving organizations for which they may have a conflict of interest.

How should the budget narrative describe personnel expenses?
There are numerous ways it could be displayed while fully answering the question. One way could be as follows:
$xx,xxx for salaries:
$x,xxx for Position A (xx% of their time or salary), who supports the proposal in this way (very briefly)
$x,xxx for Position B (xx% of their time or salary), who supports the proposal in this way (very briefly)
etc.
$xx,xxx for benefits, calculated at xx% of salaries, which includes the following benefits: ....

Q&A update 1/9/25

Note: This is the final update before proposals are due!

Questions 14 and 15 ask for up to five outputs and outcomes. Is there a minimum that we should include?
Follow the rubric - it does not specify a minimum number of outputs or outcomes. The questions will be scored on whether the outputs and outcomes are clear, detailed, and aligned with the identified needs and proposed services. To get a high score of 5, you also need to include a thoughtful way of measuring the outputs and outcomes. If you have the available space, including a few outputs and outcomes could increase the probability that you will include good examples. However, there is no minimum number of outputs or outcomes required to receive a perfect score.