Virginia · Nonprofit
The Arc of Northern Virginia
The Arc of Northern Virginia (Virginia) receives grants from 41 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,690,375 to it, the largest being METROPOLITAN WASHINGTON COUNCIL OF GOVERNMENTS ($1,490,755). 30 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $3.7M
- Funders on record
- 41
- Grants received
- $2.7M
- Net assets
- $3.0M
What The Arc of Northern Virginia does
Mission
The Arc of Northern Virginia promotes and protects the human rights of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and actively supports their full inclusion and participation in the community throughout their lifetimes.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Advocacy and Information and Referral: The Arc provides advocacy and information and referral services for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families. The Arc advocates at the state and local levels to ensure quality community-based services, including housing and employment programs, and expand laws and policies that protect civil rights. The Arc also provides information and referral services for families by phone, email, website, and in person. (Continued on Schedule O) In addition, The Arc helps youth and families with the transition from school to adult life in the community by offering access to professionals at workshops, seminars, and webinars, including the transition series on a wide variety of topics. The Arc also trains self-advocates in advocacy and public speaking skills through a "life like yours" toastmasters and people first programs. The Arc's resource program, transition points (providing opportunities, information, networking, and transition support), is a comprehensive program to help families with realistic, actionable information with which they can make a wide range of decisions over the life span of their loved one with…
$877,088 spentof which $65,751 as grants$1,398,692 earned by the program39% of program spendingGuardianship and Case Management/Support Coordination: The Arc provides case management and support coordination services for individuals with developmental disabilities and their families in the Northern Virginia area. The Arc contracts with the following community service boards: Fairfax Falls Church, Alexandria, Arlington, Loudoun, Prince William, and Rappahannock-Rapidan. The Arc coordinates services in the community through the Virginia Medicaid developmental disabilities waiver program. The Arc also educates families on how to be successful while navigating complicated systems of care. (Continued on Schedule O)In addition, The Arc provides decision making services and care oversight for those in need through the Virginia guardianship of last resort program through a contract with the Virginia Department of Aging and Rehabilitation Services. The Arc also serves as representative payee for guardian/conservator clients who require assistance managing their finances and paying their bills.
$990,998 spent44% of program spendingPersonal Support Trusts: The Arc provides financial support and planning options for individuals and families to ensure the needs of individuals with disabilities are adequately met. The Arc helps families plan for a secure financial future with the special needs trust program and provides professional management and support services.
$398,729 spent18% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,266,815.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2024 to 2025, from $2.5M to $3.4M (+37%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2017 30% · 2018 33% · 2019 25% · 2020 5% · 2021 22% · 2022 14% · 2023 19% · 2024 23% · 2025 14%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
Melissa Heifetz
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 7 funders to 19 funders, grant income rose $93k → $377k.
8 of 41 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 10% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $508k from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Foundation of the Arc of Northern Virginia). These are real filings, and they are not money The Arc of Northern Virginia raised.
From the IRS filings of The Arc of Northern Virginia’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 41 funders by total. Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
The Arc of Northern Virginia leans on a few funders — its largest provides 55% of grant income and the top three 66%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
77% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund The Arc of Northern Virginia.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 32% · 2018 41% · 2019 55% · 2020 51% · 2021 46% · 2022 61% · 2023 54% — growing more concentrated.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
43% of The Arc of Northern Virginia's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 73% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
The Arc of Northern Virginia draws 76% of its grant income from funders outside Virginia, across 11 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $265k arriving through sponsors registered in 6 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Organizations like The Arc of Northern Virginia
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Virginia
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
79% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
98%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Foundation of the Arc of Northern Virginia · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for The Arc of Northern Virginia: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds The Arc of Northern Virginia?
- The Arc of Northern Virginia (Virginia) receives grants from 41 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,690,375 to it, the largest being METROPOLITAN WASHINGTON COUNCIL OF GOVERNMENTS ($1,490,755). 30 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does The Arc of Northern Virginia have?
- IRS filings report 41 organizations giving $2,690,375 in grants to The Arc of Northern Virginia, 30 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of The Arc of Northern Virginia?
- METROPOLITAN WASHINGTON COUNCIL OF GOVERNMENTS is the largest funder on record, with $1,490,755 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like The Arc of Northern Virginia find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Virginia. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Arc of Northern Virginia →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 41 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing