We're Evolving to Meet the Moment

Viridiant is refining its focus to better serve the needs of today’s housing market.
The majority of our multifamily certification services will be phased out over the next year as we transition those projects to trusted partners.
Our work will focus on consulting, post-occupancy performance, training, policy, and single-family services – where nonprofit leadership adds the most value.
Our mission remains unchanged, only strengthened by focus: advancing sustainable, affordable, energy-efficient construction across our region.

Friends of Viridiant,

For almost two decades, Viridiant has helped shape the future of sustainable construction in Virginia, certifying nearly 50,000 homes that prove better building is possible. From our roots as EarthCraft Virginia to our leadership in energy codes and building performance standards, our mission has remained constant: to advance sustainable, affordable, and energy-efficient construction through education and technical support.

Today, we are reaffirming that mission by strategically focusing our efforts to meet the needs of a changing market and to deliver the greatest possible impact for our communities and partners.

Why We're Refocusing

When Viridiant was founded, few options existed for green building certification in Virginia. We filled that gap by building a trusted framework, developing deep technical expertise, and supporting hundreds of projects that raised the bar for energy efficiency and sustainability.

Now, the market has evolved. Private-sector providers are delivering high-quality green building certification services at scale, ensuring that these once-limited offerings are now widely available. This is great news – it means our collective efforts to transform the market have succeeded.

With that progress, our role as a nonprofit must evolve, too. The question for us as a nonprofit is the same one every mission-driven organization must ask: When the private market steps in to meet a need, how can we redirect our resources to address the next unmet challenge? After thoughtful evaluation, Viridiant’s leadership and board have determined that continuing to provide direct, end-to-end multifamily certification services is no longer the most integral way to advance our mission. Instead, we will phase out the majority of these services over the next year, ensuring a smooth transition for our clients, partners, and staff.

Partnering for Continuity

We are partnering with Southern Energy Management, Ecovative Energy, and other trusted organizations to ensure ongoing projects continue seamlessly. These mission-aligned partners have deep EarthCraft and green building expertise and will provide the same high-quality certification support our clients expect.

We will move quickly, but with care, to ensure that projects and client relationships receive the attention they deserve during this transition.

Our Focus Going Forward

While we step back from certification delivery, Viridiant’s future will remain grounded in the same technical excellence and community commitment that have defined us since our founding, and we are doubling down on the areas where nonprofit leadership remains essential:

Building Science Consulting: Helping partners navigate complex building performance challenges.
Post-Occupancy Performance Services: Leveraging real-world building performance to inform operational efficiency, occupant health and comfort, and long-term asset value of existing housing stock.
Training & Workforce Development: Expanding education programs that prepare the next generation of building professionals.
Policy & Market Transformation: Shaping codes, incentives, and state programs to accelerate sustainable and affordable housing.
Residential Energy Services: Continuing to offer single-family energy audits and modeling for both market-rate and low-income housing types.

Through these programs, we will remain a technical and strategic partner to the builders, developers, and agencies advancing sustainable, affordable housing across our region.

Viridiant’s mission remains unchanged, only strengthened by focus. The work of building a more resilient future requires constant evolution. It calls on organizations to be honest about where they add the most value and courageous enough to change when the market shifts.

By channeling our expertise toward preserving affordable housing, improving existing buildings, and supporting the people who maintain them, this realignment ensures Viridiant continues to lead with purpose, innovate with integrity, and deliver on our promise of Better Building, For Good. As we enter this next chapter, we invite our partners, funders, and friends to continue working with us to create healthier and more vibrant places to live and work.