Stranahan Foundation Early Childhood Education Funding Grant

Stranahan Foundation Early Childhood Education Funding Grant

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: Stranahan Foundation
Amount: Up to US $500,000
Last Updated: November 10, 2025

Summary

The Stranahan Foundation’s Early Childhood Education grant program aims to enhance access to high-quality early education for low-income children. Funding up to $1.5 million is available for innovative proposals that improve professional development for early educators. Key priorities include scalable coaching models, leadership development for under-resourced communities, and community-wide substitute teacher pools. This initiative is designed to tackle significant gaps identified in early childhood education and support effective learning environments.

Overview

NOTE: December 3, 2025: Preliminary Screening LOIs are dueJanuary 20, 2026: Full proposals are due March 10, 2026: Supplemental information due Overall Program Goal & Approach 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. 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. 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. 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.

Eligibility

You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website. 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).

Ineligibility

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.