Deadline: 29-Jul-24
The Stranahan Foundation is currently accepting applications for the Early Childhood Education Funding Program.
The Stranahan Foundation’s Early Childhood Education grantmaking program focuses on increasing access to high-quality early care and education for young children (birth to five), especially those from low-income families, by investing in developing and retaining a high-quality, thriving early educator workforce.
Funding Opportunity
- The fall 2024 funding cycle will support nonprofit organizations and projects that advance the Provider strategy. The Stranahan Foundation defines “providers” as charitable organizations directly providing early childhood care and education in centers, homes, or public school settings. Eligible projects must be intended to improve an organization’s internal professional learning and development systems and/or enhance staff recruitment and retention. As such, this cycle has up to $600,000 in funding available and is focused on soliciting proposals to support the development, refinement, or enhancements to:
- Internal professional development and learning system and activities. The strongest proposals within this category will demonstrate how the proposed project:
- Fits into an existing or aspiring coordinated approach for supporting early childhood educators’ professional learning and development.
- Is informed by research and best practices, as well as input from teaching staff and the communities they serve.
- Uses a multi-pronged approach (e.g., training, coaching, professional learning communities, etc.) to support sustained knowledge, skill development, and classroom implementation.
- Use standardized assessment or observational tools to show an increase in the quality of the classroom environment, staff’s teaching practices, and children’s learning outcomes. Outcomes can cover various areas of learning, including academic and non-academic domains.
- If external consultants or training partners are utilized, the project includes building the internal capacity of staff to support long-term implementation.
- Grow your own or a similar teacher pipeline or retention initiative intended to address staffing and retention challenges. The strongest proposals within this category will demonstrate how the proposed project:
- Fits into a coordinated approach for supporting aspiring and existing teachers’ development that is linked to standardized salary increases based on milestones.
- Is informed by research and best practices, as well as input from teaching staff and the communities they serve.
- Uses a multi-pronged approach (e.g., training, coaching, professional learning communities, etc.) to support sustained knowledge, skill development, and classroom implementation.
- Thoughtfully considers how recruitment efforts reflect the linguistic and cultural diversity of the families it serves.
- Includes a plan for evaluating the project’s impact on retention, participant satisfaction, classroom environments, and teacher practices.
- Internal professional development and learning system and activities. The strongest proposals within this category will demonstrate how the proposed project:
- Additional consideration will be given to proposals that demonstrate any of the following:
- A strong track record of working with early childhood education professionals to produce positive learning outcomes for young children.
- A deep understanding of how race, ethnicity, language, socio-economic status, and other factors impact access to high-quality early childhood education and career opportunities.
- Have organizational leadership (board and senior staff) that reflects the communities of families being served.
- Are an opportunity to expand, pilot, or develop promising early-stage ideas with a clear rationale for how time-limited funding will enable the proposal to reach its long-term goals.
- Have the potential to expand and deepen impact on early childhood professionals and young children after the proposed grant ends.
Funding Information
- Applicants may request funding up to $150,000 over three years.
- The Foundation anticipates awarding up to five grants as part of this funding cycle.
Eligibility Criteria
- This call is open to local, state, and national U.S.-based nonprofit organizations, fiscally sponsored organizations, public school districts, and higher education institutions.
- Additional organizational eligibility criteria include:
- Must be directly serving children (between birth to 5) at least six hours per day and 180 days per year for at least two years. Center-based, home-based, Head Start or Early Head Start, Pre-K, Kindergarten, and networks of ECE providers are all eligible.
- Must have directly operated an early childhood program for at least two years.
- Must serve student populations of at least 60% of children from low-income families. Stranahan defines low income as less than 200% of the federal poverty level or 50% of the area’s median income.
- Demonstrated track record of collaborating with families, communities, and early childhood professionals on developing and refining its programs and any proposed projects.
- Have the organizational capacity and leadership to execute the proposed work, ensure quality, and use assessment data to inform continuous improvement.
- Not have an active grant with the Stranahan Foundation.
- Additional project eligibility criteria include:
- The proposed project must be designed to improve the knowledge, skills, and practices of aspiring or existing early care and educational professionals.
- The planned evaluation activities must use at least one standardized classroom, teacher, or child assessment or observational tool.
Ineligible
- They will not consider proposals that primarily request funding for any of the following:
- General program operations
- Classroom expansion (aka increased seats)
- Major capital projects (e.g., building improvements, new playgrounds)
- Staff scholarships or tuition assistance (though this can be part of the larger project)
- Significant levels of staff incentives (i.e., stipends, gift cards, increased ongoing pay)
- Ongoing or repeat funding for a project that the Stranahan Foundation has previously supported.
For more information, visit Stranahan Foundation.