FALL 2024 EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION PROVIDER CYCLE

OVERALL PROGRAM GOAL & APPROACH

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.

CONTEXT & FUNDING OPPORTUNITY

The fall 2024 funding cycle will support nonprofit organizations and projects that advance our 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 (see below for more details).  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.

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.

BUDGET & AWARDS

Applicants may request funding up to $150,000 over three years.

In the second phase of the application process, semi-finalists will be asked to submit a project budget that aligns with the project's scope, supports proposed activities, and connects those activities with line-item requests.

The Foundation anticipates awarding up to five grants as part of this funding cycle.

ELIGIBILITY & RESTRICTIONS

Eligibility

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 (or a similar equivalent) 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.

Restrictions

We 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.

APPLICATION PROCESS

The three-phase application process will include a narrative application, supplemental information and documents, and a 90-minute site visit. To help you prepare, a copy of the application requirements for the initial two phases is provided here.

PLEASE NOTE: We will only review applications containing the required documentation. Additionally, please check the timeline carefully. Applicants should plan to submit materials well before each deadline, as we will only accept applications submitted in the designated system.

CYCLE TIMELINE

  • July 29, 2024: Grant application submissions are due via the online portal by noon Eastern​.
  • August 28, 2024: Applicants will be notified whether their proposal is being advanced to the next round.
  • September 16, 2024: Supplemental documents are due via the online portal by noon Eastern.
  • October 2024: 90-minute virtual site visits will be held with finalists (individual dates TBD).
  • Early December 2024: Award notifications.

HOW TO APPLY

To start the application process, click here.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:

For a list of our most commonly asked questions, please click here. 

To view a copy of the application questions, please click here.

PROSPECTIVE APPLICANT SUPPORT

Prospective applicants are encouraged to take advantage of the following opportunity for proposal support:

Question Period from June 24 through July 24: Our team will answer questions about this funding opportunity and the application process via our grants@stranahanfoundation.org email box. Please check the FAQ below before submitting your questions, as we will update this document in real-time.

Please note that our staff is in the Eastern Time Zone, and our offices will be closed July 3-5.

REVIEW PROCESS

Our staff, early childhood consultant, and Early Childhood Committee will review all application materials. Reviewers will rate and comment on a variety of criteria. For more details about the individual criteria, click here.

REPORTING & EVALUATION EXPECTATIONS OF GRANTEES

Reporting: Generally, the Stranahan Foundation typically requires one narrative grant report every 12 months. However, as a steward of the Foundation’s assets, we may institute more frequent reporting requirements and/or formal check-in cadence if the organization has a short operating history, limited financial assets, a complicated organizational structure, or the project is experimental or complex.

Evaluation: All proposals must have a plan for tracking key outputs, outcomes, and learning throughout a project. This plan should include metrics related to implementation and outcomes linked to improved classroom environments, teacher practices, and, ideally, child learning.

Finalists will be expected to collaborate with their assigned program officer to develop a set of grant metrics for reporting.