Robins Foundation

On Wednesday, January 21, 2026, Robins Foundation will start accepting grant applications from nonprofit organizations focused on early childhood care and education (ECCE). This is our first of two SPARK grant cycles for early childhood organizations of the 2026 calendar year. The second cycle will open in July. 

Our grant amounts will start at $25,000, and we will prioritize programs and initiatives that promote exceptional learning environments, positive adult-child interactions, sustainable workforce development, and advocacy efforts.

Please note the mandatory pre-application conversation with our program director, Meg Pienkowski, must be completed between January 26 and February 6, 2026. The purpose of the pre-application call is to connect with one another, confirm alignment with our grant parameters, and ensure a full application is a good use of everyone’s time. You can only schedule a call after you complete the pre-application questions, which will be available January 21. 

The final deadline to submit your full application is Friday, March 6, 2026.

Key Focus Areas
For children to thrive, they need access to early, high-quality care and educational experiences, as well as families that are supported and engaged. These factors influence children’s brain development, school readiness, and long-term wellbeing, so we fund projects in four focus areas: 

• High quality programs directly serving children ages 0-5
• Family engagement
• Workforce supports
• Policy and advocacy

Eligibility Requirements
Eligible projects and organizations include those that:

• Primarily support children and their families during prenatal stages through age 5 
• Serve community members in Richmond City, Chesterfield, Henrico, and/or Petersburg
• Qualify as 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations

Which organizations and projects are not eligible?
While we deeply value the many ways organizations strengthen our community, some proposals fall outside Robins Foundation’s current funding priorities. We do not fund projects that focus solely on:

• Travel to conferences, meetings, or other events
• Addressing budget shortfalls or cash flow needs
• Capital investments or major building projects
• Religious-based activities
  • Organizations with a religious affiliation remain eligible if their programs, curriculum, and admissions are secular.
• Providing basic needs such as food, housing, or clothing
  • A note about the ineligibility of proposals that focus on basic needs: Robins Foundation recognizes that housing insecurity, limited access to nutritious food, and a lack of other basic necessities pose serious challenges to a child’s healthy development and school readiness. However, due to finite resources, our board has made the strategic decision to focus on early childhood care & education, rather than basic needs.

If your nonprofit received a Robins Foundation grant in December 2025, we request that you wait until our next grant cycle to apply. Any questions about your eligibility can be directed to grants@robinsfdn.org.

We’re eligible! How do I apply?
Please complete these steps in order.

1. Log-in to GOapply (linked here) and select the 2026 SPARK Grant for Early Childhood Cycle 1 opportunity. Complete the eligibility quiz and pre-application questionnaire. Available: January 21, 2026
   Deadline: February 4, 2026
2. While completing the pre-application questionnaire, you will be invited to schedule a call with our program director. Please schedule early, as slots fill up quickly. Pre-app calls will be offered January 26– February 6, 2026
3. Complete a full application in our online grants portal (linked here). Complete this step only after your pre-application conversation. Available: Upon completion of your pre-app call
   Deadline: March 6, 2026
4. Grant decisions and notifications. Mid-June, 2026

Helpful Tips and Resources

Please feel free to reach out to us if you need special accommodations during this process. We will do our best to work with you. 

Prior to engaging in this process, feel free to check out our full grant application questions via this Word document (linked here). 

Please take the time to review Robins Foundation’s official AI policy (linked here), which gives guidelines for the use of AI by both our employees and grantees.

If you have any questions, or if you need to remove a contact from your organizational profile, please reach out to us at grants@robinsfdn.org. We wish you the best of luck with your application.

Robins Foundation is excited to welcome Stephanie Keller to Robins Foundation as our new Early Childhood Program and Operations Coordinator. 

In this role, Stephanie will support the Foundation’s early childhood grantmaking and general operations, helping strengthen processes, assist grantees, and support effective reporting. 

Stephanie brings deep experience in program design, grantmaking, and cross-sector partnerships. Most recently, she served as a Project Manager with USAID (Dexis Consulting Group), where she managed a multimillion-dollar grant portfolio, developed resources for inclusive program design, and fostered collaborations around conservation and youth engagement. 

She also spent over a decade with the Jane Goodall Institute’s Roots & Shoots program, where she supported a national program encouraging kids and families to create youth-led community projects, designed and delivered training programs for global educators, and oversaw monitoring and evaluation across regional offices.

She holds a BA in Environmental Policy from Rollins College and an MA in Global Environmental Policy from American University.

Reflecting on her new role, Stephanie shared, “I decided to join Robins Foundation because of its mission and place-based focus on early childhood. I’m excited to support and strengthen this important work alongside our community partners and grantee organizations.”

Chris Chin, President & CEO of Robins Foundation, said, “We are thrilled to welcome Stephanie to our team. Her breadth of experience in grantmaking, program design, youth engagement, and operations will bring tremendous value to our work as a foundation. We look forward to the many ways she will help us serve our partners, the region’s children, and the Richmond community as a whole.” 

As we work to strengthen our grantmaking process and improve the application experience for returning and future applicants, we wanted to provide an update on a transition Robins Foundation made that will help achieve both of these goals. 

We have transitioned to GOapply, a new grants portal. This transition will better facilitate our own internal processes, communications, and recordkeeping, while also offering helpful benefits to current and prospective applicants, including:

• The ability to work offline: GOapply allows you to download a blank application form and work on the document offline, an option that many of our applicants prefer.
• You’ll receive funds faster: Direct deposit payments will become our standard practice going forward with GOapply, so approved grantees will receive funds expediently.
• Improved communication: GOapply’s chat feature will allow you to message Robins staff directly from the grants portal so you can easily contact us with questions.

All new grant applications now need to be completed through GOapply. 

To apply for future Robins Foundation grant opportunities, follow these steps:

1. Register in GOapply: Create an account in GOapply. Even if you’re not planning to apply in our upcoming cycle, we suggest setting up your account now to take advantage of troubleshooting resources should you need them.
2. Video tutorial: View this 5-minute video that demonstrates the GOapply registration.
3. Reach out if you have questions: Contact grants manager, Dan Halloran if you have any additional questions, run into any problems, or are interested in learning more about this transition. He can be reached at at grants@robinsfdn.org.

We are excited about these changes and remain focused on improving and streamlining the grant process in ways that make it even easier for mission-aligned organizations to apply for critical funding and support. 

We are excited to announce the next Jumpstart Program cohort!

Robins Foundation is supporting its fourth cohort of Richmond area nonprofits taking part in Bonterra Tech’s innovative Jumpstart program. Previously known as Network for Good, Bonterra Tech is a longtime partner of ours, and through a Robins Foundation grant, 16 additional local nonprofits will now benefit from Jumpstart’s year-long training, expertise, and guidance, free of charge.

The participating nonprofits include:

1. Atlantic Outreach Group
2. Imago Dei Neighborhood School
3. Cancer Retreat Center
4. LATIN BALLET OF VIRGINIA, INC
5. Capital Trees
6. RAMPSRVA
7. Community Climate Collaborative
8. Richmond Public Library Foundation
9. Dress for Success Central Virginia
10. Richmond Volleyball Club
11. Greater Richmond Fit4Kids
12. Hopecam Inc
13. Southside ReLeaf
14. Hanover Safe Place
15. Virginia Association for Infant Mental Health
16. Hope For Learning

These nonprofits will join the 48 nonprofits from the previous three cohorts that were able to take advantage of this opportunity as a result of Robins funding.

The Jumpstart Program is important because it helps smaller nonprofits address a foundational concern: how to improve their financial sustainability. The program provides these organizations with Bonterra’s fundraising software for free, as well as one-on-one coaching over the course of one year in order to help them build and develop their own fundraising capacity, diversify their revenue, and sustain and grow existing programs. 

Additionally, Jumpstart coaches will provide participating nonprofits with fundraising guidance, education on how to establish and maintain technical infrastructure, and ongoing, collaborative peer-learning opportunities that help each organization assess their needs, opportunities, and readiness.

“These 16 nonprofits represent a variety of critical sectors in the Richmond area, from education and health to the environment, workforce development, and more,” said Robins Foundation President & CEO, Chris Chin. “We are excited to make it possible for another cohort to experience all that the Jumpstart program has to offer. We want to make sure that these organizations, who are already doing great work here in Central Virginia, are not only able to continue those efforts, but are also able to expand, grow, and thrive, knowing that they have a sustainable financial foundation.” 

Assisting local nonprofits in capacity building is one of our primary focus areas. This plays a crucial role for nonprofits because it boosts their ability to fulfill their mission, develop infrastructure, ensure sustainability, and enhance governance and leadership. These improvements further magnify their impact. At Robins Foundation, we believe that capacity building is an essential part of nonprofit development, and we actively support local nonprofits in this effort by facilitating their access to programs like Jumpstart.

To learn more about how Robins Foundation support and the Jumpstart Program have benefited local nonprofits, you can watch these video interviews with leadership from recent participants ReEstablish Richmond and the Chesterfield Education Foundation. 

We believe strong nonprofits make for a strong Richmond region, so we are excited to continue our partnership with Bonterra Tech and provide this unique opportunity to another cohort of organizations doing transformational work across the Richmond region.