This year we awarded 30 Green Grants totaling $25,500 to groups across the Commonwealth dedicated to improving their communities and our shared environment.
For 2026, we created the new project category of Environmental Education as a way to grow the reach of the Green Grants Program. We were thrilled to see that Environmental Education received the highest number of proposals and over 50 percent of submissions were from first-time applicants!
To learn more about the 2026 awardees and their projects, please click here.
Keep Virginia Beautiful accepts grant applications in the Spring, and funds thirty awards in amounts of $500, $750, or $1,000. The applications are evaluated and scored by a panel of experts in their fields. In June, a Green Grant award is announced each day. The grants are awarded to schools, parks, counties and towns, environmental groups, civic associations, nonprofits, and service organizations.
You should choose the category that is most appropriate for your proposed project: Litter Prevention, Cigarette Litter Prevention & Recycling, Community Beautification, Recycling and Waste Reduction, or Environmental Education. You may submit an application in more than one category, but only one award will be given to your group.
For questions about the Green Grants Program or the application, please contact Malissa Watterson, Development Director.
DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT CATEGORIES:
Litter Prevention
Grants are awarded to groups that aim to clean up, prevent, or reduce litter. Studies show that an area that does not contain litter is less likely to become littered in the future. Funding will support cleanup supplies, cleanup events, including water cleanups. Read more about litter facts and resources.
Cigarette Litter Prevention & Recycling
Cigarette butts account for over 30% of all U.S. roadway litter and storm drain litter. Grants are awarded for projects that include public education and awareness of the issue of cigarette litter, placing cigarette butt receptacles at transition points (such as entrances to public buildings), recycling cigarette butts through the TerraCycle, and/or distributing pocket or portable ashtrays to adult smokers. Learn more about our Cigarette Litter Prevention and Recycling Program here.
Community Beautification
The purpose of this grant is to support beautification efforts within Virginia’s communities. Grants are awarded to groups who create projects or programs that beautify and benefit the community, such as community gardens, renovating vacant lots, removing or repainting graffiti, creating green public spaces, and community revitalization projects. Here’s a booklet about placemaking for inspiration!
Recycling & Waste Reduction
Grants in the Recycling category are awarded to groups that implement or expand programs to increase recycling, as well as other inventive ways to reuse or repurpose recyclable/non-recyclable items, or other ways to reduce waste in Virginia. Funding will support recycling receptacles, fix-it fairs, re-usable produce and shopping bags, water refilling stations, and other efforts to eliminate the dependence on single-use plastics. Learn about TerraCycle’s free recycling programs for many household items such as toothpaste and shampoo bottles.
Environmental education
Grants in this category fund projects or programs for youth, teens, or adults where the primary objective is public education related to our mission areas of Litter, Recycling and Waste Reduction, and Community Beautification. Examples of projects and programs include outdoor field trips, demonstrating how to install a native plant garden, or facilitating a rain barrel workshop.
Since 2011, Keep Virginia Beautiful has awarded $416,750 for 505 projects and programs throughout the state.
We are grateful to the sponsors of our Green Grants Program!
