Northern Virginia

WASHINGTON, DC, April 14, 2009 — The X PRIZE Foundation, a nonprofit organization that drives innovation through large incentive competitions, in collaboration with the WellPoint Foundation, one of the nation's largest private foundations, and WellPoint, Inc. (NYSE: WLP), the nation's largest health benefits company in terms of medical membership, announced today the initial competition design for a $10M+ Healthcare X PRIZE.

The Community Foundation for the National Capital Region announced today that its Neighbors in Need Fund is awarding $455,000 in grants to 27 charities that provide essential services such as food, clothing, emergency financial assistance, and shelter to needy residents in Northern Virginia, Montgomery County, Prince George's County, MD, and the District of Columbia. Two additional grants totaling $40,000 will help community-based nonprofit organizations work more efficiently during and beyond these difficult economic times. The Neighbors in Need Fund is the only regionwide grantmaking program of its kind.

Charitably inclined people are anxious. Charities, like businesses and families, have suffered in the economic maelstrom, while their services are needed more than ever. But donors fear they can no longer afford to give as much as they once did.

Foundations in the Washington metropolitan area granted nearly $186 million in 2006 to locally-focused organizations in Greater Washington, according to Giving by Foundations in the National Capital Region, a report released today by the Foundation Center, with support from the Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation.

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