Virginia Nonprofit Security Grant Program for Churches: VDEM + DCJS Guide

A Virginia congregation searching for "nonprofit security grant" runs into a structural quirk that other states' programs don't share: the state-funded track doesn't always let a church apply on its own. The Virginia Department of Emergency Management (VDEM) is Virginia's State Administering Agency for the federal Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP), the same role every state's SAA plays. Separately, the Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) runs the Combating Hate Crimes Grant Program, funded through state general funds and reviewed by Virginia's Criminal Justice Services Board — historically an award to local governments partnering with at-risk institutions, not a direct nonprofit-to-state grant.

That distinction changes how a congregation should approach the state track. Applying for the federal NSGP is a task your church handles on its own. Applying for DCJS's grant has, in most published rounds, meant getting your local government to act as the applicant on your behalf — which means the real first step is often a conversation with your county or city, not a state agency. For the federal program's forms, timeline, and scoring, see our 2026 NSGP complete guide and our NSGP eligible expenses breakdown.

Virginia's Two Security Funding Tracks

Every other state on this site's list — New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio — lets the congregation apply for its state security program directly. Virginia's DCJS-run track has been the exception, and that's worth knowing before you spend time building an application your church can't actually submit on its own for a given round.

Who Actually Applies — It's Not Always the Church

DCJS's program materials for the most recently closed round described the applicant pool as "local governments within the Commonwealth that have established partnerships with non-profit organizations or institutions" at risk of bias-motivated violence. Later published guidance for the following round broadened that description to include nonprofits directly, alongside the local-government-partnership model. Both structures have shown up in DCJS's own materials within the same program cycle-to-cycle window, which tells you the safest approach is to check the current year's specific funding opportunity page rather than assume last year's rules still apply.

Practically, that means a Virginia congregation pursuing this grant should do two things in parallel: reach out to your county or city's public safety or grants office to ask whether they intend to apply on behalf of local nonprofits this cycle, and separately check DCJS's current funding opportunity listing to see whether direct nonprofit applications are open. Whichever door is open in a given year, don't wait to find out until close to the deadline — a locality that hasn't budgeted time to build a partnership application won't materialize one in the final two weeks.

The Current Cycle's Dates

The most recent published opportunity — the 2027 Combating Hate Crimes Grant Program, Round 2 — had an application deadline of August 18, 2026, with the Criminal Justice Services Board reviewing applications on October 8, 2026, and a funding period running from November 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027. If you're reading this after August 2026, that specific window has closed. The realistic move at that point isn't to wait for a news announcement — it's to start assembling your risk documentation and, if the partnership model applies, opening the conversation with your locality now, so you're ready the moment DCJS posts the next round.

The Federal NSGP Track Through VDEM

Virginia nonprofits — churches, synagogues, mosques, and temples — cannot apply to FEMA directly. VDEM reviews subapplications, scores them, and forwards a prioritized list to FEMA. Virginia's total federal allocation in recent fiscal years has been reported in the low single-digit millions, a modest pool relative to the number of eligible congregations across the Commonwealth, from Northern Virginia's dense population centers to smaller rural communities. That relatively fixed pool is one reason a specific, well-documented vulnerability assessment carries real weight in Virginia — reviewers are working with less room to fund borderline applications than they might in a state with a larger allocation.

What the Money Can Fund

DCJS describes the Combating Hate Crimes Grant as supporting institutions and nonprofits that are targets, or at risk of being targets, of bias-motivated violence tied to race, religious conviction, color, gender, disability, gender identity, age, sexual orientation, or national origin. That's a broad protective standard that covers houses of worship without difficulty. The specific line-item categories — security personnel, equipment, cameras, lighting, or something else — are spelled out in each cycle's funding guidelines document rather than the general program description, so don't assume last cycle's eligible-expense list still applies before drafting a budget for the next round.

The federal NSGP track, by contrast, follows FEMA's standard national eligible-expense list: target hardening equipment, security cameras, access control, and training, with personnel costs capped at half the award. See our NSGP eligible expenses breakdown for the complete federal list.

Who's Eligible

For NSGP, eligibility follows the federal standard: 501(c)(3) status and documented elevated risk of a terrorist attack tied to ideology, beliefs, or mission. For DCJS's grant, the eligibility language centers on institutions and nonprofits that have been targets or are at risk of being targets of hate crimes — a 501(c)(3) determination has appeared as a requirement in DCJS's more recent guidance, though the exact wording has shifted between rounds along with the applicant structure. Congregations without a current IRS determination letter on file should review our 501(c)(3) grants for churches guide before either application, since a clean filing removes one more variable reviewers might otherwise question.

How to Position Your Congregation Before the Next Round

1. Contact your locality's grants or public safety office now to ask whether they intend to submit a Combating Hate Crimes Grant application on behalf of local nonprofits, and whether your congregation could be included.
2. Check DCJS's current funding opportunities page to see whether the live round allows nonprofits to apply independently instead.
3. Document your specific risk profile — any prior incidents, threats, or documented concerns — in writing now rather than scrambling to produce it during a short application window.
4. Register in SAM.gov and obtain a UEI if you plan to pursue the federal NSGP track through VDEM; see our SAM.gov and Grants.gov registration guide for realistic timing.
5. Set a calendar reminder for spring, when both VDEM's federal sub-deadline and DCJS's typical NOFA release tend to fall, so you're not caught flat-footed by either announcement.

Mistakes Virginia Applicants Make

• Assuming the church can always apply directly for the state grant. In multiple published rounds, only a local government could be the DCJS applicant. Confirm the current structure before building an application you can't submit.
• Waiting for DCJS to announce the round before contacting your locality. If a partnership model applies, your locality needs lead time to decide whether to participate — approaching them after the window opens is often too late.
• Treating VDEM and DCJS as the same office. They're entirely separate agencies with separate applications, separate boards, and no shared portal.
• Underestimating how modest Virginia's federal allocation is. A generic Investment Justification competes worse here than in states with larger NSGP pools — specificity matters more, not less.
• Reusing a prior year's eligible-expense list. DCJS's guidelines document is reissued each cycle and categories can shift.

Security funding often overlaps with other categories a Virginia congregation might already be pursuing — see our church security grants guide for the broader federal and state landscape, and our 50-state security grants breakdown for how Virginia compares to neighboring Maryland and North Carolina.

Frequently Asked Questions