Arlington Community Foundation
Arlington Community Foundation is a 501(c)(3) public charity founded in 1991 that provides charitable giving vehicles, grantmaking, and scholarships for Arlington County, Virginia. It manages 260+ funds with $49M+ in assets, serving individual donors, professional advisors, and local nonprofits.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1991
- HeadquartersArlington, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B and B2C
- OfferingServices
What Arlington Community Foundation does
Arlington Community Foundation is a 501(c)(3) public charity founded in 1991 and headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, that operates as the primary charitable giving vehicle and community partnership hub for Arlington County. The foundation runs a unified platform spanning donor-advised funds, scholarship funds, legacy giving, field-of-interest funds, designated funds, unrestricted funds, and nonprofit agency funds, collectively managing more than 260 individual fund vehicles with $49M+ in assets under management as of FY2025. It serves four principal customer segments — individual and family donors, professional advisors (financial advisors, accountants, estate planners), local nonprofits, and corporations — and acquires donors through community events, professional advisor referrals, and word-of-mouth within a tightly defined geographic market.
The foundation monetizes through small fund management fees (which it states are reinvested back into the community) and through charitable contributions from individuals, families, corporations, and organizations. Technology infrastructure is non-proprietary: the foundation uses third-party platforms including fcsuite.com for fund management and grantinterface.com for scholarship applications, with PNC Institutional Asset Management serving as Outsourced Chief Investment Officer (OCIO). Headcount is lean at 14 employees, and in FY2025 the foundation distributed $4.1M in grants to 419 nonprofits and $675K in scholarships to Arlington students. Leadership includes President/CEO Jennifer Owens, VP/Chief Philanthropy Officer Christy Cole, Director of Grants Brian Marroquín, and Communications Director Nick Knock.
Beyond fund administration, ACF runs a portfolio of community programs — Arlington Youth Philanthropy Initiative (AYPI), Arlington Women Community Builders (AWCB), and an LGBTQ+ Community Group — alongside a Nonprofit Holiday Wish Catalog and Nonprofit Directory. The foundation has expanded its strategic remit into economic mobility work, including a Deeply Affordable Housing Initiative, a Guaranteed Income Pilot, Benefits Cliff policy advocacy, and Humanitarian Assistance Funds, signaling an active role in shaping local policy around housing affordability, childcare, and workforce issues rather than functioning solely as a passive grantmaker.
Arlington Community Foundation firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Arlington Community Foundation
- Legal name
- Arlington Community Foundation
- Website
- https://arlcf.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1991
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Arlington Community Foundation is a 501(c)(3) public charity founded in 1991 that provides charitable giving vehicles, grantmaking, and scholarships for Arlington County, Virginia. It manages 260+ funds with $49M+ in assets, serving individual donors, professional advisors, and local nonprofits.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Arlington Community Foundation industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Community Foundation / Charitable Fund Management
- NAICS
- Grantmaking Foundations (813211), Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321)
- SIC
- Investment Advice (6282), Services-Social Services (8300)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Community Foundations (BPAGAKAB)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Philanthropy & Foundations Advisory (Donor-Advised Funds, Endowments) (FSAAABAH), Capacity Building & Nonprofit Infrastructure Funders (BPAGAKAO), Grantmaking & Philanthropic Funds (Institutional Donors) (BPADAOAB)
Keywords
Where Arlington Community Foundation is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Arlington
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices3 records
Markets served
Arlington Community Foundation business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B and B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Others, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D
Revenue model
- Fund Management Fees: Small fund management fee charged on donor funds, which is reinvested back into the Arlington community.
- Donations and Contributions: Receives charitable donations and contributions from individuals, families, corporations, and organizations that are managed through various fund vehicles.
- Grants and Philanthropic Distributions: Deploys grants to local nonprofits and scholarships to Arlington students from donor-advised funds and other giving vehicles.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels8 records
Arlington Community Foundation product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Arlington Community Foundation is a 501(c)(3) community foundation that operates and manages a suite of professionally-managed charitable giving vehicles for individuals, families, corporations, and professional advisors—including donor-advised funds, scholarship funds, legacy/legacy-planning funds, field-of-interest, designated, and unrestricted funds, plus nonprofit agency funds. It pools donor assets under its management (more than 260 funds and $49M+ in total assets in FY2025), reinvests a small fund management fee back into the community, and deploys annual grants ($4.1M+ in FY2025) and scholarships ($675K+ in FY2025) to local nonprofits and Arlington students, while also running economic-mobility initiatives (affordable housing, guaranteed income pilot, benefits-cliff advocacy, after-school enrichment, humanitarian assistance).
Product overview
Arlington Community Foundation operates as a unified platform of charitable giving services and community impact programs, not a single software product. The core offerings include various fund vehicles (Donor Advised Funds, Scholarship Funds, Legacy Giving, Field-of-Interest Funds, Designated Funds, Unrestricted Funds, Nonprofit Agency Funds) that allow donors to personalize and maximize charitable giving. These are supplemented by community programs including Arlington Youth Philanthropy Initiative (AYPI), Arlington Women Community Builders (AWCB), and LGBTQ+ Community Group. The foundation also runs a Nonprofit Holiday Wish Catalog and Arlington Nonprofit Directory for community connection. On the initiatives side, the foundation drives economic mobility work including Deeply Affordable Housing, Guaranteed Income Pilot, Benefits Cliff Advocacy, and Humanitarian Assistance Funds. The organization partners with PNC Institutional Asset Management for investment oversight and uses fcsuite.com for fund management systems.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Donor Advised Funds (DAF) Charitable giving vehicle that lets donors make tax-deductible contributions of cash or marketable securities and then recommend grants to favored charities over time; suitable for individual donors, families, and corporations seeking a professionally-managed, locally-impactful DAF.
- Scholarship Funds Professionally-managed scholarship funds with custom eligibility criteria (e.g., area of study, high school, extracurricular activities), enabling donors to support Arlington students pursuing higher education; the foundation administers applications and awards via the Grant Interface scholarship portal.
- Legacy Giving Planned giving and endowment options that allow donors to include charitable intentions in their estate plans for lasting, multi-generational community impact; integrates with professional advisor and estate-planning workflows.
- Giving+ Platform Digital charitable giving platform that accepts various asset types and provides simplified record-keeping and tax benefits to donors using ACF giving vehicles.
- Nonprofit Agency Funds Investment and management services for nonprofit organizations' reserve and agency endowment funds, including perpetual management and oversight in partnership with PNC Institutional Asset Management.
Quantifiable outcome
- Distributed $4.1M+ in grants to nonprofits in FY2025
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use Arlington Community Foundation
Customer profileNamed customers5 records
Segments5 records
Ideal customer profiles5 records
Arlington Community Foundation technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Arlington Community Foundation partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- Mt. Olive Baptist ChurchcoreMt. Olive Baptist Church partnered with ACF to host the Benjamin H. Martin and Almeta H. Martin Scholarship Fund. The church sought a partner to invest their bequest funds for perpetuity and chose ACF due to its community presence and small fees reinvested locally. The scholarship supports students attending college or trade/vocational school who are members of the church.
- PNC Institutional Asset ManagementcorePNC serves as Outsourced Chief Investment Officer (OCIO), handling day-to-day management of investment pools. This relationship is monitored by the Board of Trustees Investment Committee.
- Arlington Sports FoundationcoreJoint fundraising partnership to support After School Enrichment Matters (ASEM) fund, providing equitable access to after-school programming for Title 1 elementary school students in Arlington County.
- Barcroft Elementary SchoolminorGrant recipient of ASEM funds, receiving support for after-school enrichment activities for 152 students.
- Randolph Elementary SchoolminorGrant recipient of ASEM funds, receiving $4,831 grant for scholarships to after-school programs including cartooning, magic, game design, coding, and science clubs.
- Arlington Women Community Builders (AWCB)coreACF-hosted community group for women learning, growing, and giving in Arlington. Hosts events discussing equity, affordable housing, and local giving opportunities.
Scale indicators10 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights4 records
Arlington Community Foundation competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- National Philanthropic Trust: Independent national DAF sponsor with significant AUM; another major alternative for donors evaluating community-based vs. national DAF providers.
- Schwab Charitable: Major national DAF sponsor linked to Schwab's brokerage platform; competes for the same HNW Arlington donors with stream-lined digital giving, particularly tech and government employee households.
- Fidelity Charitable: Largest national sponsor of donor-advised funds with a digital-first platform; represents the primary competitive threat to ACF's DAF business from donors seeking lower-fee or higher-tech alternatives.
- The Cleveland Foundation: Established century-old community foundation operating a similar donor-services, scholarship, and grantmaking model; relevant strategic precedent for how ACF could scale programs and AUM over decades.
Direct peers
- Seattle Foundation: Mid-sized community foundation with comparable model of DAFs, scholarships, and regional grantmaking for a single metro; a useful benchmark for ACF's potential trajectory as AUM grows.
- Greater Washington Community Foundation: Regionally adjacent community foundation serving the broader DC area, offering DAFs, scholarship funds, and grantmaking to local nonprofits — directly competing for the same HNW donor base in the DMV.
- The Community Foundation for Northern Virginia: Direct regional peer operating as a community foundation serving Northern Virginia with overlapping donor-advised fund, scholarship, and grantmaking services across a similar affluent suburban geography anchored to the DC metro.
Regional players
- United Way of the National Capital Area: Regional philanthropy intermediary operating workplace giving campaigns and grantmaking in the same DC-metro geography; partially overlapping donor base and nonprofit funding role.
Others
- Arlington Free Clinic: Local Arlington nonprofit grant recipient and community partner of ACF; not a competitor but a representative downstream beneficiary illustrating the foundation's grant deployment ecosystem.
Emerging players
- DonorsTrust: Donor-advised fund and giving-vehicle provider focused on conservative and liberty-aligned philanthropists; a niche alternative that targets a specific donor ideology segment rather than ACF's community-wide approach.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Arlington Community Foundation social profiles
Digital presenceArlington Community Foundation financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Arlington Community Foundation leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles4 records
Arlington Community Foundation funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Arlington Community Foundation M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Arlington Community Foundation
What does Arlington Community Foundation do?
Arlington Community Foundation is a 501(c)(3) community foundation that operates and manages a suite of professionally-managed charitable giving vehicles for individuals, families, corporations, and professional advisors—including donor-advised funds, scholarship funds, legacy/legacy-planning funds, field-of-interest, designated, and unrestricted funds, plus nonprofit agency funds. It pools donor assets under its management (more than 260 funds and $49M+ in total assets in FY2025), reinvests a small fund management fee back into the community, and deploys annual grants ($4.1M+ in FY2025) and scholarships ($675K+ in FY2025) to local nonprofits and Arlington students, while also running economic-mobility initiatives (affordable housing, guaranteed income pilot, benefits-cliff advocacy, after-school enrichment, humanitarian assistance).
Is Arlington Community Foundation a public or private company?
Arlington Community Foundation is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Arlington Community Foundation founded?
Arlington Community Foundation was founded in 1991. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Arlington Community Foundation based?
Arlington Community Foundation is headquartered in Arlington, United States, in the North America region.
How does Arlington Community Foundation make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Fund Management Fees are the primary driver. The others are donations and Contributions and grants and Philanthropic Distributions.
Who are Arlington Community Foundation's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are National Philanthropic Trust, Schwab Charitable, Fidelity Charitable and The Cleveland Foundation. Direct peers are Seattle Foundation, Greater Washington Community Foundation and The Community Foundation for Northern Virginia. United Way of the National Capital Area is listed as a regional player. Arlington Free Clinic is listed as an others. DonorsTrust is listed as an emerging player.
Does Arlington Community Foundation have an API?
No public API is recorded for Arlington Community Foundation.
What industry is Arlington Community Foundation in?
Arlington Community Foundation's product category is Community Foundation / Charitable Fund Management. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAGAKAB, Community Foundations, with a secondary code of FSAAABAH, Philanthropy & Foundations Advisory (Donor-Advised Funds, Endowments). Its NAICS code is 813211 and its SIC code is 6282.