FALL 2026 EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION FUNDING CYCLE

OVERALL EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION PROGRAM BLUEPRINT

The Stranahan Foundation’s Early Childhood Education grant program supports efforts to improve access to high-quality early care and education for young children (birth to five), especially those from low-income families. We do this by investing in strategies that strengthen, support, and retain a high-quality, thriving early educator workforce.

To learn more, see our ECE Blueprint.

CONTEXT

The Foundation has a history of supporting professional development (PD) and learning systems through its Provider strategy (see Tier 1: Internal PD + Learning Systems). We believe strong professional development systems are essential for building a skilled early childhood workforce and creating positive learning environments for young children.

 The Fall 2026 funding cycle is available for organizations that align with this Provider strategy. Eligible applicants include nonprofit organizations or public agencies that operate:

  • Childcare centers
  • Family childcare homes or family childcare networks
  • Head Start or Early Head Start programs
  • Pre-K and Kindergarten programs

FUNDING OPPORTUNITY

This funding opportunity will provide up to $750,000 to support early childhood education providers in strengthening existing professional development (PD) systems. Funding is intended to improve a specific area of an established PD system—not to build a brand-new system from scratch or put the foundational elements in place.

What kind of improvements can funding support?

Organizations should focus their projects on strengthening their professional development systems. The Stranahan Foundation defines a strong professional development system as one that includes:

  • Clear Structure and Career Pathways
    • Connect learning opportunities that build on one another over time.
    • Use adult learning best practices.
    • Align staff learning to educator competencies, credentials, career growth, or compensation.
    • Provide learning experiences that are individualized, scaffolded, and responsive to educators’ needs, experience, and goals.
    • Have dedicated leadership and organizational capacity to support ongoing implementation.
  • Using Feedback and Data to Improve
    • Gather regular feedback from staff and families.
    • Use standardized assessment and evaluation tools to understand what is working and where improvements are needed.
    • Make ongoing improvements based on what is learned.
    • Support reflective practice, peer learning, and collaborative inquiry among educators.
  • Ongoing and Consistent Support
    • Offer both individual and group learning opportunities, such as training, professional learning communities, coaching, and mentoring.
    • Provide learning opportunities on an ongoing basis rather than in a one-and-done situation.
    • Connect internal and external learning opportunities to make the best use of available resources.
    • Support classroom implementation through observation, modeling, feedback, and continuous improvement cycles.
  • Practical and Relevant Learning
    • Provide learning experiences that are practical, relevant, and easy to apply in daily work.
    • Include fundamental topics such as family engagement, effective instruction, developmentally appropriate practice, and classroom management.
    • Align with established standards, research, and effective practices in the early childhood field.
    • Equip educators to support all learners, including multilingual learners, children with disabilities, and children impacted by trauma or adverse experiences.

Examples of projects may include:

  • Creating career pathways connected to competencies, credentials, and compensation.
  • Strengthening coaching or mentoring systems to improve consistency or quality.
  • Improving how data is used to evaluate and refine professional development.
  • Embedding critical training areas (e.g., family engagement and classroom management) more consistently across learning opportunities.
  • Building an ‘innovation lab’ to test, refine, and organizationally scale high-quality PD content.

Is this opportunity a good fit?

This opportunity may be a good fit for organizations that:

  • Already have a well-established professional development system in place.
  • Believe that, if they could fix one key ‘lever’ or pilot a new approach, it would improve the quality of their teaching and learning outcomes.
  • Are ready to move from ‘good to great’ in how they design and deliver professional development for early childhood professionals.

This opportunity may not be a good fit for organizations that:

  • Are in the very early stages of building a professional development system.
  • Are mainly seeking funding for standalone training events or conference participation.
  • Are focused primarily on purchasing or implementing a specific curriculum or model without a cross-cutting broader professional development strategy.
  • Do not yet have the staffing, leadership, or infrastructure needed to support an ongoing professional development system.

ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS

Priority will be given to organizations that demonstrate:

  • An understanding of how factors such as race, ethnicity, language, and income can affect access to high-quality early childhood education and opportunities for career advancement.
  • Leadership that reflects the communities most impacted by disparities in early childhood outcomes.
  • A clear plan for how this time-limited funding will help strengthen or expand the organization’s impact beyond the grant period.
  • How staff feedback, stakeholder input, data, and past learning experiences informed the proposed project.
  • A clear plan for measuring success, including the use of standardized tools to assess educator, classroom, and/or child outcomes.

ELIGIBILITY

Who Can Apply?

This funding opportunity is open to U.S.-based:

  • Nonprofit organizations
  • Fiscally sponsored organizations
  • Public school districts and higher education institutions (operating early childhood or Pre-K programs)
  • Public agencies

Organizations must also:

  • Have operated their early childhood program for at least two years.
  • Demonstrate a strong track record of working with staff and families to design and improve programs that support positive outcomes for young children.
  • Serve children and families with significant economic need. At least 60% of the children served must come from low-income families. We define low income as family income below 200% of the federal poverty level or 50% of the area median income.
  • Have the staffing, leadership, and organizational capacity to carry out the proposed project and use data to improve quality over time.
  • Not have any active grants with the Foundation.

Geographic Preference

Additional consideration may be given to organizations located in states where the Foundation has not recently made investments, including Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

Funding Restrictions

We will not consider proposals that primarily request funding for:

  • General operating support.
  • Classroom expansion or increased enrollment.
  • Major capital projects, such as building renovations or playground construction.
  • Staff scholarships or tuition assistance as the primary focus. These expenses may be included as part of the larger project.
  • Large staff incentives, such as one-time bonuses or salary increases.
  • Continued or repeat funding for projects previously supported by the Foundation

BUDGET & AWARDS

Organizations may request up to $150,000 total over a three-year period.

Applicants selected to move forward as semi-finalists will be asked to submit a detailed project budget. The budget should:

  • Align with the scope of the proposed project.
  • Clearly describe how funds will support project activities.
  • Connect requested expenses to specific line items.

The Foundation expects to award up to five grants in this funding cycle.

APPLICATION PROCESS

The application process includes four phases:

  1. Pre-screening LOI (overview of the organization and its current professional development system).
  2. Full proposal (detailed description of the proposed project and funding request, including a project implementation plan and budget).
  3. Supplemental materials (focused on organization documents, board and financial information, and project team) and 90-minute virtual site visits (clarifying questions, staff perspective, risk management).

To help you prepare, here is a copy of the requirements for the LOI and Application phases. 

Please note:

  • Only complete applications that include all required materials will be reviewed.
  • Applications must be submitted through the designated application system by the stated deadline.
  • Late or incomplete applications will not be considered.
  • We strongly encourage applicants to submit materials well before each deadline.

CYCLE TIMELINE

  • June 18, 2026: Preliminary Screening LOIs are due via the online portal by noon Eastern​.
  • July 7, 2026: Applicants will be notified if their proposal is advanced to the next round.
  • July 28, 2026: Full proposals are due via the online portal by noon Eastern.
  • August 19, 2026: Applicants will be notified if their proposal is advanced to the final round.
  • September 3, 2026: Supplemental information due via the online portal by noon Eastern.
  • September - October 2026: 90-minute virtual site visits will be held with finalists.
  • December 2026: Award notifications.

HOW TO APPLY

To start the LOI process, click here.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:

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

PROSPECTIVE APPLICANT SUPPORT

We are here to help you during the application process. The following support options are available:

  • Email Individual Questions (May 20 – June 12)
    You can email questions about this funding opportunity, your proposed project, and the application process to: grants@stranahanfoundation.org
    Please review the FAQ before emailing. It is updated regularly with new information.
  • Virtual Q & A: We will host two 60-minute online sessions where you can drop in and ask questions directly to staff:
    • Thursday, May 28 | 3:00–4:00 PM Eastern (Register for this session here)
    • Wednesday, June 10 | 2:00–3:00 PM Eastern (Register for this session here)

REVIEW PROCESS

Our staff, Early Childhood Consultant, and the Early Childhood Committee will review LOIs and full proposals based on defined criteria.

For more details, please review the primary areas we consider in each phase of the process here.

EVALUATION + REPORTING EXPECTATIONS

Evaluation

All proposals must include a plan to track progress, results, and learning throughout the project. The strongest proposals will include all three types of evaluation below:

Process/Implementation Evaluation

  • Was the program implemented as planned?
  • These activities track what was delivered and to whom.
  • Common tools include attendance and coaching logs, fidelity checklists, and HR records.
  • Examples of measures:
    • Number served
    • Participation, engagement, and completion rates
    • Implementation fidelity

Formative Evaluation:

  • What is working well, and what can be improved?
  • These activities help improve the program during implementation.
  • Common tools include pre-and-post tests, observations, surveys, and focus groups.
  • Examples of measures:
    • Staff and family satisfaction
    • Self-reported gains in knowledge or skills

Outcomes/Impact Evaluation:

  • What changed as a result of the program?
  • These activities measure meaningful changes in knowledge, behaviors, skills, or systems using more standardized tools.
  • Common tools & measures include:
    • Classroom or teacher assessment changes (e.g., CLASS, ECERS, ELLCO)
    • Child assessment changes (e.g., ASQ, TS GOLD, Brigance)
    • Kindergarten readiness
    • Workforce retention rates

Finalists will work with their assigned program officer to finalize a set of reporting metrics.

Reporting

Most grantees are required to submit one narrative report per year. More frequent reporting or check-ins may be required if an organization:

  • Is newly established or has a short operating history
  • Has limited financial resources
  • Has a complex structure
  • Is implementing a complex project

 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: