Madison County Annual Grant

The following represents the Eligibility Principles that the Madison County Annual Grant creators believe best represent their goals for the grant. These grant guidelines are specific to the Madison County Annual Grant. Northern Piedmont Community Foundation has a set of grant guidelines for all the grant cycles we run throughout the year.

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 The Madison County Annual Grant invites proposals for projects that strengthen the fabric of Madison County by addressing community challenges or creating new opportunities. Applicants must be a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and based in Madison County or primarily serve Madison County. The grant awards range from $1,000-$5,000. The Madison County Annual Grant invites proposals for projects from 501(c)(3) nonprofits that have been in operation for at least three years, and who deliver services within Madison County Virginia.

Nonprofit organizations considering applying are strongly encouraged to speak with a staff member at the Northern Piedmont Community Foundation prior to submitting an application.

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Eligibility and Funding Principles

Grants are allocated for program services as well as general operating support. This grant award provides unrestricted funding to help organizations with on-going or emergent needs. By emergent, we mean that the grant awards may fund a specific program or project in which needs are immediate in nature and address or alleviate hardship. We encourage collaborative proposals that build and develop community resources and partnerships.

Generally speaking, most successful funding requests do one or more of the following:

·       help sustain successful existing programs;

·       scale-up existing programs in the number/areas served;

·       make quality improvements to existing programs;

·       start new programs; or

·       make purchases for needed equipment, supplies, or training

Priority consideration will be given to nonprofits demonstrating strong management and a proven track record of accomplishments.

Youth In Philanthropy Grant Funding

Youth in Philanthropy (YIP) is a youth leadership program that gives area teenagers hands-on experience with philanthropic giving. 

YIP provides young people guidance, money, and mentorship to directly fund, through a grant application process, a local nonprofit organization. The YIP program challenges our young participants in demonstrating leadership, solving problems, studying proposals, managing budgets, working collaboratively, and presenting their views to an audience of peers and adults. 

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Who is Eligible for YIP Grant Funding?

Any 501(c)(3) project that resides or serves a majority in our four counties is eligible for program funding if it fulfills one of YIP’s three requirements. These three requirements are:

Youth must be involved in the development of the program, or Youth must be involved in the execution of the program, or Youth must be served by the program.

“Youth” is defined as any school-aged person up to and including undergraduate students.
YIP will choose two finalist candidates from the pool of applicants, one of which will be awarded a grant of exactly $10,000.
Timeline

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YIP Grant Application Timeline

June 2, 2025: Online grant application opens.
July 24, 2025: Completed online application with all necessary information due.
August 2025: The senior board will choose the final two candidates, and grantees will be notified no later than August 30th, 5 p.m.

September – October 2025: Students review grant applications and make site visits with the final two candidates.
October 2025: YIP members deliberate and make final decisions for grantmaking.
October 14, 2025: YIP presents its decision to the Community Foundation’s Board of Directors for final approval.

Grant Amount: $10,000.00

For more information or assistance in completing the grant application, please get in touch with us.

Liz Rose: 
(540) 349-0631 lrose@npcf.org
Renard Carlos: (540) 349-0631 rcarlos@npcf.org

M. Meade Palmer Memorial Fund

The following represents the Eligibility Principles that the M. Meade Palmer Memorial Fund creators believe best represent their goals for the grant. These grant guidelines are specific to this grant. Northern Piedmont Community Foundation has a set of grant guidelines for all the grant cycles we run throughout the year.

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The M. Meade Palmer Memorial Fund conducts a broad based grant-making program which provides vital funding for all aspects of community well being. Resources are concentrated geographically to preserve and enhance the quality of life to residents of Culpeper, Fauquier, Madison and Rappahannock.

M. Meade Palmer Biography

Mr. Meade Palmer was born in Washington and raised in Arlington, where he graduated from Washington-Lee High School. After graduating from Cornell University, he worked on a master plan for Arlington County's planning department. He also worked for a landscape architect in Richmond.

He served as a naval intelligence officer in the South Pacific during World War and remained there after the war as a civilian to work on housing reconstruction.

He opened his office in Warrenton in 1948. For a time, he was a part-time county zoning administrator in Fauquier County.

His honors included the 1991 American Society of Landscape Architects Medal, that organization's highest award. He also won honorable mention in the design competition for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and participated in the competition for the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial.

The 17-acre LBJ Memorial Grove, that Mr. Palmer designed, was built in the mid-1960s with funds raised privately across the nation, is in Lady Bird Johnson Park and features a 19-foot-tall granite monolith. The grove's serpentine trails are shaded by hundreds of white pine and dogwood trees and edged with azalea and rhododendron bushes. There are thousands of daffodils in bloom there in the spring.

Mr. Palmer did landscape design at Washington National Cathedral and St. Albans School, Bull Run National Park in Manassas, Mason Neck State Park in Fairfax County and the Organization of American States. Other projects included the U-Va. president's residence, Boars Head Inn in Charlottesville, Carters Grove at Williamsburg and the Colonial Highway between Jamestown and Yorktown, the Fauquier Veterans Memorial and James Madison University.

Mr. Palmer, who practiced for more than 60 years, was a founding member of the Partnership for Warrenton. He did design work in the Old Town section, including the street lamps the partnership installed on Main Street and around the courthouse and jail.

Meade was professor emeritus of landscape architecture at the University of Virginia, where he taught courses in plant identification and planting design for more than 30 years.

When U-Va. honored him for his teaching career by planting a tree in his name, he chose a dove tree, which has white flowers that look like birds. He said in an interview with the ThirdAge Daily News Letter that having a tree named in his honor pleased him because his father, a contractor, hauled memorial trees for planting on the Mall in Washington.

He was chairman of the council of fellows of the American Society of Landscape Architects and first vice president of the society. He was an adviser to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, American Horticultural Society and National Park Service, and a member of St. James Episcopal Church in Warrenton.

Mr. Palmer was married to Isabelle Palmer, with whom he raised one daughter, Sarah. He died July 16, 2001.

Community Assistance Grant

The following represents the Eligibility Principles that the Community Assistance Grant creators believe best represent their goals for the grant. These grant guidelines are specific to the CAG Grant. Northern Piedmont Community Foundation has a set of grant guidelines for all the grant cycles we run throughout the year.

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The Community Assistance Grants begin with an LOI (letter of inquiry). This is the only grant cycle that NPCF runs that has an LOI component. NPCF grant evaluators read your LOIs and then make the difficult decision on whether to invite your organization to continue and submit a full application. The LOI is submitted online just as you would a grant application.

Letter of Inquiry

Please know that this narrative below is to let you know the questions to expect once you log in to the grants portal to apply. We do not accept actual Letters or Emails as LOIs. We want you to go to the grant portal to apply. The grant portal may be accessed through NPCF.org, Grant menu dropdown, Grants Login.

To all of you creating an LOI - we ask for brevity. This is not meant to be an application. Although we are asking a number of question, we do ask that you find ways to summarize - both for your own mental health and for our evaluators.

Please include the following in your 1-2 page letter of inquiry:

1. a brief overview of your organization's history and mission,

2. a description of the proposed project,

3. how your project addresses an emergent community need,

4. statement of need: describe your project's target population and impacted geographic area--including how many individuals/groups will be reached,

5. the expected outcome of your project, and how you plan to evaluate the progress of your project if it is funded

Eligibility and Funding Principles

The Community Assistance Grant program invites proposals for projects from 501(c)(3) nonprofits that have been in operation for at least three years, and who deliver services within Fauquier, Rappahannock and Culpeper counties.

Grants are allocated for program services as well as general operating support. This grant award provides unrestricted funding to help organizations with on-going or emergent needs. By emergent, we mean that the grant awards may fund a specific program or project in which needs are immediate in nature and address or alleviate hardship. We encourage collaborative proposals that build and develop community resources and partnerships.

Award amounts generally range from $5,000 to $25,000.

Generally speaking, most successful funding requests do one or more of the following:

• help sustain successful existing programs;

• scale-up existing programs in the number/areas served;

• make quality improvements to existing programs;

• start new programs; or

• make purchases for needed equipment, supplies, or training

Priority consideration will be given to nonprofits demonstrating strong management and a proven track record of accomplishments.

The Culpeper Foundation Fund

The following represents the Eligibility Principles that the Culpeper Foundation Fund creators believe best represent their goals for the grant. These grant guidelines are specific to this grant. Northern Piedmont Community Foundation also has a set of grant guidelines for all the grant cycles we run throughout the year.

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The Culpeper Foundation Fund invites proposals for projects that strengthen the fabric of Culpeper County by addressing community challenges or creating new opportunities. Applicants must be a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and based in Culpeper County or primarily serve Culpeper County. The grant awards range from $500-2,500

Patricia and Nicolaas Kortlandt Memorial Fund

The following represents the Eligibility Principles that the Patricia and Nicolaas Kortlandt Memorial Fund creators believe best represent their goals for the grant. These grant guidelines are specific to this grant. Northern Piedmont Community Foundation also has a set of grant guidelines for all the grant cycles we run throughout the year.

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 This Kortlandt Fund invites proposals for projects that serve Fauquier County in order to strengthen the fabric of Fauquier County.

Patricia and Nicolaas Kortlandt Biographies

Nicolaas A. (Nic) Kortlandt was born in Zeist, The Netherlands. Nic immigrated to the United States in 1949 and was employed as the riding instructor for Dana Hall Schools in Wellesley, Massachusetts where he met his future wife, Patricia Beach. Patty and Nic were married on September 23, 1950 in her home town of Glen Rock, New Jersey.

In 1954, Patty and Nic purchased Sunnyside Farm in Rectortown where they operated a farming operation until Patty’s death in October 1999. Nic continued the farming operation until he sold and moved to his house in Marshall.

The Kortlandts were known for their extensive community service and commitment. Working tirelessly for the improvement of the education of our youth, the improvement of agricultural production practices and the preservation of our natural resources.

Mr Kortlandt was active in several local Ruritan clubs serving as an officer, Zone or District official. He was especially proud of his efforts to establish the “Reading Is Fundamental” program which was funded by these Ruritan Clubs and provided books at no cost to the students at Thompson and Coleman Elementary Schools. For many years, he served on the Fauquier County Farm Bureau Board of Directors, serving as President and Vice-President. Nic was a long time Director of the John Marshall Soil and Water Conservation District and served as a Director for the NOVA 4-H Center in Front Royal.

Mr. Kortlandt died January 7, 2011.

Richard Lykes Rappahannock Community Fund

The following represents the Eligibility Principles that the Richard Lykes Rappahannock Community Fund creators believe best represent their goals for the grant. These grant guidelines are specific to this grant. Northern Piedmont Community Foundation also has a set of grant guidelines for all the grant cycles we run throughout the year.

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Applicants must be a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit serving or primarily benefiting residents of Rappahannock County.

Richard Lykes Biography

Richard Lykes was a freelance photojournalist whose work most often appeared in the Rappahannock News (Washington, Virginia). He was active in a number of county civic organizations including the Ki Theatre, the Rappahannock Association for the Arts and the Community (RAAC), the Rappahannock Historical Society, and the Rappahannock League for Environmental Protection (RLEP). Lykes lived at Vista Hermosa Farm on Fogg Mountain near Flint Hill which he and his partner, Buddy Darden, purchased in 1992. He was an avid photographer since the mid-1950s but turned professional upon coming to Rappahannock County.

Before retiring in 2000 as an economist and research director for the Manufacturers Alliance, Lykes wrote extensively on international trade and authored several studies, including A Handbook on Financing U.S. Exports and Are You Ready for Disaster? A Corporate Guide for Preparedness and Response. He lived permanently in Rappahannock County since 2000. Born in Laredo, Texas, Lykes attended college at George Washington University (B.A. and M.A. in International Affairs/Economics). Growing up bilingual in Spanish and English, Lykes also studied abroad at Mexico City College (Mexico) and did graduate work in international law at the University of Buenos Aires (Argentina) as a Rotary Foundation Fellow. Lykes has an identical twin brother, Roy, of Silver Spring, Maryland and brother, Dr. Frederick Lykes of Victoria, Texas. Richard Lykes died February 25, 2009.

In his obituary, Jim Gannon said of Richard Lykes, “He was a soft-spoken man of refined taste, delicate constitution and sensitive talent, both a gentleman and a gentle man. Though he was a native of Texas, he was the polar opposite of the stereotypical Texan–nothing about him suggested toughness, loudness or swagger.”

Richard Lykes was a giving man — of his time, talent and, ultimately, from his estate after his death. By all accounts he loved Rappahannock County and was beloved by many who came to know him. The Richard Lykes Rappahannock Community Fund invites proposals for projects that strengthen the fabric of Rappahannock County by addressing community challenges or creating new opportunities.

Gordon Thornhill Excellence in Youth Foundation

The following represents the Eligibility Principles that the Gordon Thornhill Excellence in Youth Foundation creators believe best represent their goals for the grant. These grant guidelines are specific to this grant. Northern Piedmont Community Foundation also has a set of grant guidelines for all the grant cycles we run throughout the year.

Grant Guidelines and Policies

While preserving the Foundation’s flexibility to meet the changing needs and new opportunities in Rappahannock County, the following principles serve as a guide to the Foundation’s Board of Directors in all its grant award decisions.

Eligibility and Funding Principles

A Foundation has been set up to honor the memory of C. Gordon Thornhill, Sr. Gordon had a long history in Rappahannock County as the Manager of the Rappahannock County Co-op for forty years of service. The Gordon Thornhill Excellence in Youth Foundation will provide much needed support to nonprofit organizations for sports and agriculture related enrichment projects for the youth of Rappahannock County.

The Community Foundation hopes that over time The Gordon Thornhill Excellence in Youth Foundation will grow with support from others who have a special place in their heart for those who live and work in Rappahannock County. The Gordon Thornhill Excellence in Youth Foundation invites proposals for projects directed toward improving the quality of life of the youth in Rappahannock. Proposals from nonprofits shall include wide-ranging programs that:

• improve the quality of life for youth in Rappahannock County, preferably through athletic and agricultural enrichment programs;

• promote broad-based participation in athletic and agricultural related activities;

• champion programs in sports and agricultural activities with traditional values such as honesty, good manners, discipline, and focus in order to achieve good grades and success;

• improve educational opportunities for youth in athletic, agricultural, wellness, and cultural endeavors;

• enhance health and wellness for youth through community-based organizations;

• encourage the creation, support and preservation of agricultural and athletic programs to benefit youth.

What We Generally Don’t Fund

• Organizations not tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code

• Individuals

• Fundraising events (such as tickets, raffles, auctions or tournaments), annual fundraising appeals, or agency celebrations

• Ongoing operating support

• Political, fraternal or religious activities

• Endowment

• Existing obligations, debts/liabilities or costs that the agency has already incurred

• Scholarly research

• Scholarships, camper fees, fellowships or travel National or international organizations, unless the grant benefits Rappahannock County

• Projects normally the responsibility of government

• Private primary or secondary schools or academies

• Capital campaign requests

Grants are made on an equal opportunity basis without regard to race, color, religion, sex, marital status, disability, national origin or age. Funds are to be used solely for the purposes stated in your application. Any portion of the grant not used by you in accordance with your proposal must be returned to the Foundation.

How to Apply

This is a paper-only application process. The Foundation requires interested applicants to submit a Grant Application to the Gordon Thornhill Excellence in Youth Foundation. When sending a grant proposal, please enclose one unbound copies of the proposal and one copy of all supporting documents. The attached cover sheet must accompany a grant proposal. Proposals must be in a font of at least 12-point size, have reasonable margins and be no longer than 2 pages in length.

All grant applications must include the following information about the project:

• A description of the specific need and how the need will be met

• Specific information on the number and demographics of those served

• Why the organization is the one to carry out the proposal

• Qualifications of staff members who will work with the grant funds

• Describe the purpose of your request, i.e. operating expense, program, capital campaign, etc.

• Timetable for project

• How the implementation of the project will be evaluated

• Plans for financial support for effective continuation of the project

• Future budgets or pro forma financial statements indicating the future financial impact of the project on the organization

• List of other organizations that provide similar services in your service area

All applicants must include the following supporting documents about the organization:

• Number and composition of full and part-time staff and volunteers

• Identification of board members with affiliations or a brief (one paragraph maximum) bio

• Copy of the most recent financial statement--including income statement and balance sheet—prepared by an outside accounting firm, if available

• Copy of the current operating budget

• Copy of the tax-exempt determination letter for the Internal Revenue Service • Most Current Tax Return 990

Proposals should be mailed to:

The Gordon Thornhill Excellence in Youth Foundation

P. O. Box 91, 45 Thornridge Lane

Boston, VA 22713

What is the Deadline?

The Gordon Thornhill Excellence in Youth Foundation Fund considers grant requests once per year. The deadline is a 4:00 p.m. receipt deadline, not postmark deadline. If this date falls on a weekend or holiday, the deadline will be 4:00 p.m. on the first working day following the published deadline. We cannot accept grant applications sent by facsimile or email.

Proposal Deadline: October 15

Grant Decision: December 1

Notification Date: December 31

The Foundation’s Response

Grant applications will be reviewed and organizations will be contacted if further information is needed. Grant decisions will be finalized and organizations notified by December 31st.

Grant Reporting:

All recipients are required to send a one page follow up report(s), detailing how dollars were expended, any significant difficulty encountered, what the project achieved, and any significant change to the goal of the project upon completion or one year after grant is awarded, whichever occurs first. Reports should be submitted via e-mail to melanie.tkexports@gmail.com.

An unsuccessful application does not reflect the worthiness of a particular project. The Gordon Thornhill Excellence in Youth Foundation Fund receives more requests than it can fund. Any agency whose request has been declined is encouraged to contact the Foundation to discuss specifics.

The Gordon Thornhill Foundation for Youth Excellence generally issues a press release about grants immediately after the awards are announced. Organizations are also asked to also provide publicity, which acknowledges The Gordon Thornhill Excellence in Youth Foundation Fund support, after receiving a grant. The Foundation would appreciate a notification of your press releases.