Welcome to Southwest Community Foundation DC

The DC Southwest neighborhood is a living community that reflects the complex forces and cross-currents of 21st century urban American life.

We work to improve life in the Southwest quadrant of the District of Columbia

Religious institutions, schools, parks, playing fields and playgrounds flourish side-by-side with the largest concentration of public housing in the District. Southwest DC abounds in contradictions and succeeds in its inclusiveness.

Welcome to Southwest Community Foundation DC

The DC Southwest neighborhood is a living community that reflects the complex forces and cross-currents of 21st century urban American life.

We work to improve life in the Southwest quadrant of the District of Columbia

Religious institutions, schools, parks, playing fields and playgrounds flourish side-by-side with the largest concentration of public housing in the District. Southwest DC abounds in contradictions and succeeds in its inclusiveness.

The Southwest Community Foundation has announced the results of its second round of grants to local organizations. The Foundation awarded grants totaling $35,975 to eleven organizations in its 2022-23 round of grantmaking.
Click here to view the full report.

Our Mission

The SWCF facilitates innovative and sustaining projects, initiatives, programs, and events that enhance the quality of life in Southwest DC in collaboration with other civic organizations, community and government leaders, and the business community.”

Our Organization

About Us

The Southwest Community Foundation was established in 2015 by residents of near Southwest to provide a formal means for improving the quality of life in the quadrant through philanthropic giving.

The founders acted in response to the accelerating pace of real estate development and demographic change that had been sweeping through the quadrant for the past decade. They believed that the community needed a formal, impartial, nonpartisan vehicle for directing philanthropic monies to those areas where they were most needed and best deployed.

Established 7 Years Ago

Donations

Invest in Southwest DC

With your contribution, we can build thriving communities that are ripe with opportunity for everyone – good schools and enrichment programs for our kids, a sense of safety and security in our neighborhoods, well-paying jobs, affordable housing, vibrant cultural options, and a sense of fairness and justice for all.

Donate
to help!

What We do

Our Projects

The Southwest Community Foundation (SWCF) recently announced a grant of $250,000 to the Southwest Business Improvement District (SWBID). The grant funds, provided by Mill Creek Developers, will support a project that will assess and plan for renovation of the current Duck Pond Park. It will also create a vision for establishing a Greater Duck Pond Park stretching from 6th St. to Delaware Ave., SW—something planned in the original urban redevelopment effort of the 1950s but never fully implemented.

The need for preserving and enhancing greenspace in Southwest has become acute as widespread development reduces the community’s open space and increases the population.

Our Goals

The foundation looks forward to working with the SWBID, the community, local property developers, the DC Council, the Mayor’s office, District agencies, business enterprises and individual donors to raise funds for a beautiful, useful and necessary greenspace in Southwest DC.

Donor Resources

Info for Our Donors