The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors is considering tightening rules around funding awarded to nonprofit and regional organizations.
Each year, supervisors distribute about $26 million to the organizations through what is known as the Contributory Fund.
Many of the grants continue year after year without extensive oversight or a determination of their effectiveness, county officials acknowledged at a Sept. 1 meeting of the board’s Budget Policy Committee.
The goal going forward should be “real, defined, clear deliverables and defined outcomes,” Dranesville District Supervisor Jimmy Bierman said at the meeting.
While the full $25.9 million is under control of the Board of Supervisors, a majority — about 72% — is considered to be obligated to Visit Fairfax, the Office of the Public Defender and other agencies.
The remaining $7.2 million is considered discretionary funding. Among the organizations that received money from the county’s fiscal year 2027 budget are:
- Fairfax Symphony
- Northern Virginia Conservation Trust
- Women’s Center of Northern Virginia
- Fort Belvoir Army Museum
- Greater Reston Incubator
- Fairfax ReLeaf
- ArtsFairfax
- Volunteer Fairfax Workhouse Arts Foundation
- Tysons Community Alliance
Organizations receiving discretionary funding typically get it without a competitive procurement process or a memorandum of understanding with the county government. Recipients are required to submit regular reports to the county executive’s office with details on the services they provide and their financial stability.
That process was established 25 years ago. County Director of Management and Budget Philip Hagen said the question currently facing the local government is whether it could “get a better product” by instituting process reforms.
Hagen said one potential outcome could be to “narrow down this field” to a smaller group of recipients, but he acknowledged that was not a staff decision to make.
“This fund does belong to the Board,” he said.
While praising the work of organizations that receive the funding, Board Chair Jeff McKay said better oversight is needed to ensure taxpayers are getting value for their money in an era of significant county budget challenges.
“We’ve been through tough times, we’ve got tough times ahead,” he said.
The Contributory Fund is distinct from the county’s Consolidated Community Funding Pool (CCFP), a competitive process for funding human services programs administered by nonprofits and service organizations.
The latest round of CCFP funding was recently announced, with the next competition slated for 2028.
When asked by Braddock District Supervisor Rachna Sizemore Heizer, county staff stated that there’s no significant overlap in services supported by the Contributory Fund and beneficiaries of the CCPF.
The overlap was “minimal,” said Christina Jackson, the county’s chief financial officer.
When organizations request financial support from the county, they are steered toward the CCFP process, she said.
