With $8.7M Distributed, Inaugural Opioid Settlement Grant Distribution Halfway Done

The West Virginia First Foundation (WVFF) has distributed about $8.72 million of the $16.61 million it awarded addiction recovery and support services statewide through its inaugural grant program.

That means the foundation is more than halfway finished with payouts from the pilot year of its grant, which awards money to community groups that support addiction recovery — from health resources to workforce training programs to housing groups.

The grants are funded using settlement dollars that the State of West Virginia procured from lawsuits related to the opioid crisis.

West Virginia was one of the states hardest hit by the opioid epidemic, claiming more than 14,000 lives between 2001 and 2024. Once paid out, the state is projected to receive a total of more than $1 billion in settlement funds from lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies and other entities accused of exacerbating the crisis.

A private nonprofit, the WVFF was established in 2023 and tasked with distributing a majority of these funds — at 72.5% — toward community organizations that address addiction. Among the remaining funds, 24.5% go directly toward local governments in West Virginia, and 3% stay with the state government.

Last year, the foundation took its first major step toward doling out the settlement dollars by launching its Initial Opportunity Grant. At their quarterly meeting Monday, members of the WVFF board of directors provided updates on the distribution of award dollars from the grants.

In September 2024, the board okayed the distribution of up to $19.2 million of existing settlement funds toward grant applicants during the inaugural cycle. That marked roughly 9% of the total funding the organization held at the time, according to July 2024 financial statements.

After receiving hundreds of applications, the foundation announced in December 2024 that it would award a total of $10.4 million to 38 recipients selected across the state, a little over half the funding it had set aside for the inaugural grant year.

The foundation said it would use the remaining funding to open a second, supplemental round of the grant application for organizations that were unable to apply before the fall 2024 deadline. In March, the foundation announced it would award an additional $6.21 million in grant dollars to programs that applied in the supplemental round.

Between the two application groups, that meant the foundation promised to award roughly $16.61 million of the $19.2 million funds eligible for awardees in the pilot year of the grant program. And, throughout the year, the board has been in the process of actually handing out those funds.

The foundation uses a phased distribution model to send out awards, and awardees from the regular and supplemental application rounds are on different steps of the process. Through the model, award recipients get an initial payment of 40% of their total award, then get the remaining funds in three separate installments of 20% of the total award.

During Monday’s meeting, WVFF Executive Director Jonathan Board said the foundation has successfully distributed funding from the first two payout phases to awardees named in the December 2024 regular application process, meaning they have received 60% of their award dollars.

Operating on a delayed timeline, supplemental round awardees have now finished the first round of their award payouts, receiving 40% of the total funds allotted to them.

Per the settlement agreements, recipients of WVFF awards must submit reports to the foundation regarding the usage of their grant funds. Chief Financial Officer Anthony Woods said so far 202 of 243 reports required have been submitted, with a July 15 submission deadline fast approaching.

“We’re working with some of those folks who have not submitted yet and making sure they know it’s paramount to get us this information,” Woods said. “We’re going to have a comprehensive report here in the next couple of weeks.”

“The data is really paramount for us moving forward on another funding cycle,” Board said.

Board said information from these reports and the grant process at large will inform the future of the program, as well as enhancements to come.

In the meantime, Board said the grant team is making “meaningful strides” in refining its direct funding model, developing a vetting process to ensure that award funds “go to the partners best positioned to deliver real impact.”