The West Virginia First Foundation, the nonprofit organization established to distribute opioid settlement funds and combat the substance addiction crisis across the state, has launched a public local-government expenditure dashboard.
The organization also announced a gap funding loan model for eligible organizations awaiting state grant disbursements.
Both initiatives were described during a quarterly meeting today.
The West Virginia First Foundation is a non-profit organization established in 2023 to manage and distribute 72.5% of the state’s opioid settlement funds, totaling hundreds of millions of dollars. The organization is aimed at combatting the addiction crisis through grants and regional projects.
Financial reports confirmed the foundation maintains more than $378 million, including $1,350,202 in cash on hand and $377,255,926 in investments.
Net investment earnings for the fiscal year-to-date amount to $1,167,700. The foundation has committed nearly $40 million to various projects since its inception.
The dashboard reflects opioid settlement dollars distributed to local governments. Anthony Woods, the foundation’s financial officer, described the dashboard, which went live today.
The foundation is statutorily tasked with collecting expenditure information from local governments on their 24.5% share of the qualified settlement fund. The dashboard turns that collection responsibility into a public-facing transparency tool, currently displaying the last two years of submitted reports.
“As you click through the rows, those disbursement purposes and disbursement outcomes will pop up in these boxes, and it allows the public and any stakeholder to be able to see those purposes and outcomes,” Woods said.
Woods noted that every figure is self-reported by local governments. The foundation is not authorized to verify, validate or direct how those funds are used. Instead, it is purely a data collection and publication entity.
“We are simply a data collection entity to make this information available to the public,” Woods said.
Significant upgrades to portal are planned before the next reporting cycle, with those reports due April 2027. Woods invited the public’s suggestions, requested displays or corrections at finance@wvfirst.org, saying the goal is to make it “the best reporting tool nationwide.”
“I will point out that we’re always striving to improve our reporting processes, and we’ll be continuing to improve this reporting portal,” he said.
Woods also introduced the gap funding model, which is meant to bridge a gap for awarded state grants — not grants through the West Virginia First Foundation itself.
Woods noted that when organizations across West Virginia win state grant funds, the lag between the award and the state’s first actual disbursement can run long.
Grant recipients still have to make payroll, pay rent and keep the lights on in the meantime, and those grants are often what would fund those operational expenses.
“We hear many times that these grantees have to resort to turning to private lending institutions to achieve enough liquidity to keep running. So it’s a significant problem throughout the state,” Woods said.
To qualify, an organization must have total unrestricted net assets of less than $1 million and must provide proof of a fully executed grant agreement or contract with a West Virginia state government agency.
The grant-funded work has to focus on prevention, treatment or recovery, or a related service falling under the foundation’s memorandum of understanding. The applicant must demonstrate good standing with local, state and federal partners.
Eligible organizations may request up to 25% of a lump-sum award, or the amount of the first scheduled payment if the grant is paid on a schedule, capped either way at $100,000 per applicant per grant. Loans carry no interest if repaid within three months, a 1.5% monthly fixed rate after that, plus a $500 origination fee charged before disbursement.
“We’re hoping to provide some temporary liquidity and operating support to these entities so they can begin work on their grant objectives, maintain their momentum and ensure that they continue providing those services to West Virginians,” Woods said.