SPRING 2026 EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION FUNDING CYCLE

OVERALL EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION PROGRAM BLUEPRINT

The Stranahan Foundation’s Early Childhood Education grant program aims to improve access to high-quality early care and education for young children, particularly those from low-income families. We do this by investing in the development and retention of a high-quality, thriving early educator workforce.

To view our ECE Blueprint, click here.

CONTEXT

The spring 2026 funding cycle will support nonprofit organizations and projects that align with our Innovation and Proven Professional Development (PD) strategies. These strategies specifically fund professional development organizations, early childhood networks, institutions of higher education, and local and state early childhood departments that are designing and/or implementing larger-scale models (at 5+ early childhood programs). Here is more information about these strategies.

To learn more about the qualifications and the types of projects we fund through these strategies, please click here.

ELIGIBILITY

Who Can Apply

This call is open to U.S. nonprofit organizations, including fiscally sponsored groups, public school districts, and colleges that provide professional development to five or more early childhood providers or programs.

Organizations must also have:

  • A track record of providing professional development for early childhood professionals in centers, family childcare homes, or public-school Pre-K and kindergarten classrooms that results in positive learning outcomes for young children.
  • A demonstrated history of collaborating with families, communities, and early childhood professionals on developing and refining its programs.
  • A commitment to serving providers with student populations that are at least 60% low-income (Stranahan defines low-income as families with incomes at or below 200% of the federal poverty level or 50% of the area’s median household income).

Proposal eligibility

Eligibility criteria vary depending on what strategy you are seeking to advance. For a high-level overview of the criteria for each strategy, see below.

To qualify for the Proven PD strategy, applicants must:

  • Develop or own the model within the proposal.
  • Have a clear, well-defined logic model for the proven program.
  • Have strong third-party evidence of positive results for early childhood professionals and classroom environments, ideally including child learning. This evidence should align with What Works Clearinghouse or ESSA Tier 1 or 2 evidence.
  • Show successful implementation in various early childhood settings or geographic areas.
  • Be proposing the type of project outlined in our Proven PD strategy document.

To qualify for the Innovation strategy, applicants must:

  • Demonstrate with data the existing problem and how the solution is informed by teachers, low-income communities, and the data it intends to affect. It must also have established methods for gathering regular feedback from these stakeholders.
  • Present a clear logic model that they will test during the grant period.
  • Include an evaluation plan that (a) measures the model’s impact on classroom environments, teacher practices, and ideally, child learning, and (b) helps us understand “what works, for whom, and under what conditions” by the end of the grant period.
  • Plans to expand its reach if the program proves to be successful.
  • Be proposing the type of project outlined in our Innovation strategy document.

FUNDING OPPORTUNITY

This cycle has up to $1.5 million in funding available to support innovation and proven professional development proposals. We are exclusively interested in projects that address the highest needs identified in our recent engagement with partners and the gaps in our learning portfolios. Our 2026 priorities include:

  • Affordable and scalable instructional coaching models. Research indicates that one of the most effective ways to improve educational quality is through ongoing, personalized, and collaborative coaching for educators. However, the quality and efficacy of coaching can vary significantly, and intensive coaching can be both costly and time-consuming. Therefore, we aim to support initiatives that test or expand more affordable and scalable options for high-quality, individualized coaching in ECE classrooms.
  • Leadership development and retention models. Strong, qualified ECE leaders are crucial for retaining high-quality educators, delivering exceptional care, engaging families, and operating effective organizations. Currently, access to leadership development programs is limited or inconsistent. This cycle, we aim to support models for two key groups:
    • Elementary School Principals: With the growth of publicly funded pre-kindergarten programs, elementary school principals are taking on more responsibility for supporting early childhood educators. Research shows many feel unprepared to take on this role and face challenges in integrating these educators into K-3+ systems. Stranahan is interested in leadership support and development models that address this gap.
    • Leaders from under-resourced communities: With increasing funding challenges and rising educator burnout, Stranahan wants to support models that help site-level directors and program leaders from underserved communities navigate these challenges and promote high-quality learning environments. This includes models that include:
      • Content in three or more key areas, including pedagogy and instruction, administration and operations, personal development, team and interpersonal skills, and policy and community engagement.
      • Formal and informal learning opportunities that are practical and at least six months (preferably more). 
  • Network or community-wide substitute or floater teacher pools. Due to workforce shortages and teacher burnout, the Foundation has recently invested in supporting high-quality substitute and floater teacher pools within specific providers or programs. However, we are eager to explore how this could be implemented on a larger scale through a community or network-based approach. Successful applicants must demonstrate that substitutes and floaters are or will be trained in high-quality teaching practices beyond basic health and safety and must connect the design of their models to teaching and learning goals.
  • Reinvestment funding for recent Stranahan grantees. Stranahan has allocated a portion of the funding in this cycle to support recent grantees (2020 or later) who have received funding to pilot innovative professional development models or adapt proven ones. We are especially interested in proposals that aim to:
    • Refine or expand existing models based on insights gained from earlier funded work.
    • Strengthen the evidence base through more rigorous evaluation.

Additional consideration will be given to organizations that best meet our overall program priorities, including being able to demonstrate:

  • An understanding of how race, ethnicity, language, socioeconomic status, and other factors impact access to high-quality early childhood education and career advancement.
  • Leadership reflective of communities most affected by disparities in early childhood outcomes.
  • Opportunities to pilot or develop a promising early-stage idea.
  • Clear rationale for how time-limited funding will enable the organization to expand and deepen its impact post-grant period.
  • A well-defined evaluation plan that includes at least one standardized assessment related to teacher or classroom outcomes.

BUDGET & AWARDS

Applicants may request funding of up to $500,000 (total) over three years. Key things to note:

  • To qualify for the highest level of funding, your proposal must include multiple collaborators and engagement with local or state departments using a system-based approach focused on one of our priorities.
  • The Foundation plans to award up to five grants in this funding cycle. Each grant will average about $300,000.

Semi-finalists will be asked to submit a detailed project budget in the second phase of the process. Budgets should align with the project's scope, support the proposed activities, and demonstrate how these activities relate to specific spending requests.

Restrictions

We will not consider proposals that include requests for:

  • Ongoing professional development programming and operations.
  • Stranahan-specific support for scholarships or tuition assistance (can be part of a larger project).
  • Significant staff incentives (i.e., stipends, gift cards, pay).
  • Projects not exclusively impacting children ages birth to five (including kindergarten).
  • Projects in which more than 25% of the proposed participants are currently or could be employed by the applicant organization.
  • Projects serving early childhood professionals outside of the United States.

APPLICATION PROCESS

The four-phase application process includes:

  1. Pre-screening LOI (model-focused)
  2. Full proposal (funding request focused)
  3. Supplemental information (organization documents and implementation plan focused)
  4. Site visit

To help you prepare, please click here to view a copy of the requirements for the LOI and Application phases.  

PLEASE NOTE: We will only review applications containing the required documentation. Please review the timeline and due dates carefully. We recommend that applicants plan to submit their materials well in advance of each deadline, as we will only accept applications submitted in full through the designated system by the deadline.

CYCLE TIMELINE

  • December 3, 2025: Preliminary Screening LOIs are due via the online portal by 12:00 p.m. Eastern.
  • December 17, 2025: Applicants will be notified if their proposal is advanced to the next round.
  • January 20, 2026: Full proposals are due via the online portal by 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
  • February 13, 2026: Applicants will be notified if their proposal is advanced to the final round.
  • March 10, 2026: Supplemental information due via the online portal by 12:00 p.m. Eastern.
  • Late March – April 2026: Site Visits (we anticipate holding a combination of virtual or in-person site visits).
  • June 30, 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

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

Question Period from November 5 through November 24: Our team will answer questions about this funding opportunity and the application process via our grants@stranahanfoundation.org email box.

Please review the FAQ above before submitting your questions, as we update this document in real time.

Open office hours on November 7 and November 19: We will host two 60-minute virtual office hours blocks during which prospective applicants can drop in to ask questions directly to staff. See details for these sessions below:

Please note that our staff are in the Eastern Time Zone and will be unavailable from November 26 to 28.

REVIEW PROCESS

Our staff, the Early Childhood Consultant, and the Early Childhood Committee will review all LOIs and full proposal submissions. Reviewers will rate and comment on various criteria. For more information on the individual criteria, please review the preliminary screening and application criteria.

EVALUATION + REPORTING EXPECTATIONS OF GRANTEES

Evaluation

All proposals must have a plan for tracking key outputs, outcomes, and learning throughout a project. The strongest proposals will include at least some form of each of the following three types of evaluation:

  • Process/Implementation Evaluation: Evaluation activities conducted for the purpose of determining if program activities were implemented as planned. This includes understanding who, what, when, and where, as well as identifying barriers. These activities generally include attendance and coaching logs, fidelity checklists, and human resource records. Possible metrics would involve:
    • Numbers served
    • Participation, engagement, and completion rates
    • Number of training hours
    • Implementation fidelity (for coaching and train-the-trainer models)
  • Formative Evaluation: Evaluation activities conducted for the purpose of assessing strengths and areas for improvement. These activities typically include training, pre- and post-tests, observations, surveys, and focus groups with participants, leaders, or parents. Possible metrics would involve:
    • Participant, management, and parent satisfaction rates
    • Perceived knowledge or skills improvements
  • Outcomes/Impact Evaluation: Evaluation activities that more objectively measure changes in behavior, knowledge, skills, or practices using standardized tools. These activities could be performed by trained in-house staff or third-party external evaluators. Possible metrics would involve:
    • Changes in classroom or teacher assessment scores (e.g., CLASS, ECERS, ELLCO)
    • Changes in child assessment scores (e.g., ASQ, TS Gold, Brigance)
    • Kindergarten Readiness
    • Workforce retention rates
    • Increased instructional coaching (leadership development programs only)

The evaluation tools and methods you propose should fit the project's context, its development stage, and any existing evaluations that may have informed your approach. You can choose to include an external evaluator in your proposal, but it is not required unless you are requesting funding for a more rigorous evaluation (e.g., experimental, quasi-experimental, or randomized controlled trials).

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

Reporting

The Stranahan Foundation typically requires one narrative grant report annually. However, we may request more frequent reports or regular check-ins if your organization has a short operating history, limited financial resources, a complex organizational structure, or is involved in an experimental or complex project.

RESOURCES:

2025 Federal Poverty Guidelines

Logic Model

Adult learning:

 Evaluation: