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Robins Foundation’s Final ECE Grant Cycle for 2023 Opens

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On Monday, July 31, 2023, Robins Foundation will start accepting grant applications from nonprofit organizations focused on early care and education (ECE). This is our second and final ECE grant cycle of the 2023 calendar year.

ECE grants in this cycle will range from $25,000 to $150,000, and will prioritize programs and initiatives that promote exceptional learning environments, positive adult-child interactions, sustainable workforce development, and advocacy efforts.

If you are a nonprofit childcare provider and wish to apply for funding of less than $25,000, please apply through our nonprofit Supporting Early Education and Development (SEED) opportunity.

Deadlines:

The final deadline to submit your application is Friday, August 25, 2023.

Please note that the mandatory pre-application conversation with our program officer, Meg Pienkowski, must be completed by Friday, August 4, 2023.

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 three focus areas: 

  • Provider support & infrastructure for early care and education
  • Parenting support & engagement
  • Early childhood policy & 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?
Proposals are ineligible for funding if they exclusively focus on:

  • Travel to conferences or other events  
  • Budget shortfalls or cash flow issues  
  • Capital investments
  • Religious-based curriculum and/or admissions practices   

If your nonprofit is currently receiving Robins Foundation support through June 2024, we request that you wait until our first grant cycle in 2024 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.

NOTE: If you plan to apply for the same project or initiative Robins Foundation funded in September 2022, you do not need to submit the pre-application questionnaire and can proceed directly to step 2 below. 

1. Submit a short pre-application questionnaire. Once submitted you will be able to schedule a call with our program officer. Deadline August 2, 2023

2. Use this link to schedule a 30-minute phone conversation with our program officer. July 24 – August 4, 2023

3. Complete a full application in our online grants system. Complete this step only after your pre-application conversation. Deadline: August 25, 2023

4. Grant decisions and notifications. Early December 2023


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.

FRIENDS

Robins Foundation 2023 ECE Grant Announcement- Cycle One

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For children to thrive, they require access to high quality early childhood education, care, and experiences. Early childhood systems and opportunities are crucial for our children’s cognitive development, school readiness, and lifelong wellbeing and happiness. However, challenges like the nation’s childcare crisis put access to these formative experiences at risk. 

Robins Foundation’s Early Childhood grants aim to support organizations building the infrastructure and programs that will help set our children up for lifelong success. They also lay the groundwork for the continued growth and success of our region by caring for our future leaders, innovators, and workforce. 

In keeping with Robins Foundation’s vision of a vibrant Richmond, investing in our region’s young children provides long-lasting and sustainable community impact. To that end, we are pleased to announce the following grantee partners for our first early childhood-focused grant cycle of 2023.

Children’s Museum of Richmond 

Childsavers  

Communities in Schools of Petersburg  

Healthy Heart Plus II, Inc.  

Little Hands Virginia, Inc.  

Nurture  

Read to Them, Inc.  

Sacred Heart Center 

Save the Children Federation, Inc.  

Smart Beginnings Southeast  

SOAR 365  

United Way of Greater Richmond  

Virginia Association for Infant Mental Health  

Virginia Commonwealth University Foundation  

Virginia Literacy Foundation  

Virginia Repertory Theatre  

Voices for Virginia’s Children  

Young Men’s Christian Association of Greater Richmond  

 

“Whether through professional development, policy and advocacy, family empowerment, or  increased access to quality programs, every one of these organizations is providing critical programs and services that help our children build a firm foundation that will last a lifetime,” says Robins Foundation President & CEO, Chris Chin. “We are proud to invest in these organizations and their efforts to support early childhood education and well-being in our region.”

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Robins Foundation Pilots “SEED” Grant Program for Small, Local Non-Profit Child Care Providers

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An ongoing crisis

It’s no secret that the child care sector faces massive challenges in the form of worker shortages, sub-living wages, and limited government support. While many of these challenges were evident well before the pandemic, the last three years have only exacerbated them, bringing the child care industry to a breaking point.  

To understand why our current child care system is struggling, it is necessary to take a look at the cost structure for child care providers. In order to meet licensing requirements and safety standards, providers must meet certain caregiver-to-child ratios; and the younger children are, the higher the ratio of caregivers to children must be. These requirements are important and are in place to ensure quality and safety. But, meeting those ratios creates a cost-burden for providers and means that wages for caregivers remain painfully low, exacerbating workforce turnover and shortages. In some cases, Masters-degree holding caregivers can find the same or better wages working in fast food. 

To make matters worse, those hurt the most by the current child care model are our children. 80% of a child’s brain is developed by age 3 and 1 million new neural connections are made every second in the first few years of life, making quality early child care a crucial part of setting our children up for happy and successful lives. 

But the current child care crisis puts that important early support in jeopardy. In 2022, 40.35% of Virginia kindergarteners were not ready to start kindergarten. This particularly impacts students of color, multi-language learners, students with a disability, and those from low income backgrounds. Early childhood education and care are of paramount importance for each and every child in our region, and there is an urgent need for support and new solutions. 

Barriers to funding

Child care organizations are strained and in need of support. In addition to the challenges providers already face, the process of applying for philanthropic funding can be onerous and time consuming. Many non-profit organizations have their own grant writer on staff, but child care providers, especially smaller ones, struggle to pay the staff they have, much less dedicate someone’s time and role to applying for grants. 

Our region’s child care footprint

Robins Foundation suspected there were many small non-profit child care providers that we did not know about, and which were unaware of the Robins Foundation as a potential source of support. To make sure our support is accessible to all nonprofit child care organizations in our footprint (Chesterfield, Henrico, Petersburg, and Richmond), the Robins Foundation commissioned a landscape assessment to determine eligibility for funding and mission alignment within our region. The study identified a total of 484 child care providers in the Robins Foundation footprint. 112 of these child care providers were non-profits and out of those, 61 providers were identified as serving children under the age of five.

Our foundation’s solution

In response to the challenges and needs within our region, Robins Foundation is piloting a non-profit SEED (“Support for Early Education and Development”) grant program, the goal of which is to provide small, local child care providers with a simplified and responsive funding opportunity, which lies outside of our traditional grant application process. This pilot is for 501c3 non-profit organizations who meet all of our foundation’s grant eligibility criteria. It includes a simplified application process for grants of up to $25,000. 

How to apply for Non-profit SEED

We are excited to announce that our non-profit SEED pilot opens May 15, 2023 at noon. 

To be eligible for Non-profit SEED funding, child care organizations must meet the following criteria:

  • Have 501(c)(3) non-profit status
  • Be licensed
  • Serve children 0 to 5
  • Use a secular (nonreligious) curriculum
  • Be located in Chesterfield, Henrico, Petersburg, or the City of Richmond
  • Not currently receiving other funding from Robins Foundation

If you meet this criteria and are in need of support, we encourage you to apply starting on Monday, May 15th. The non-profit SEED application can be found here.

Grant applications will be reviewed on a monthly basis until funds are depleted. Providers who are offered a grant will be required to complete a brief final report at the end of the funding period. 

Any organization receiving funds through the non-profit SEED pilot would be ineligible to apply for funding through other Robins Foundation grants for a period of 12 months.

If you have questions about the non-profit SEED pilot program, please contact our Early Childhood Senior Program Officer, Meg Pienkowski, Ph.D. If you have questions about the grant process or technology, please contact us at grants@robinsfdn.org.

We are optimistic about the SEED pilot program and the ways it allows us to expand our support to even more mission-aligned child care providers across our region. Together, we will continue to work for and support a child care solution that benefits all involved. 

 

FRIENDS

Robins Foundation 2023 ECE Grant Announcement

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We’ve got some exciting news! 

We are now accepting grant applications from nonprofit organizations focused on early care and education. 

Our grants will range from $25,000 to $150,000, and we will prioritize programs and initiatives that promote exceptional learning environments, positive adult-child interactions, sustainable workforce development, and advocacy efforts. If your nonprofit provides early care and education and wishes to apply for funding of less than $25,000, please be on the lookout for an announcement this spring about a streamlined, childcare provider-specific grant opportunity.

The final deadline to submit your application is Friday, March 3, 2023.

 

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 three focus areas: 

  • Provider support & infrastructure for early care and education
  • Parenting support & engagement
  • Early childhood policy & 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?

Proposals are ineligible for funding if they exclusively focus on:

  • Travel to conferences or other events  
  • Budget shortfalls or cash flow issues  
  • Capital investments
  • Religious-based curriculum and/or admissions practices   

If your nonprofit received a competitive grant in June 2022, you are eligible to apply again. If you received a competitive grant in September 2022, we request that you wait until our next grant cycle (opening in July) 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. 

NOTE: If you plan to apply for the same project or initiative Robins Foundation funded in June 2022, you do not need to submit the pre-application questionnaire and can proceed directly to step 2 below.

 

1. Submit a short pre-application questionnaire (linked here). Once submitted you will be able to schedule a call with our program officer.

Deadline: February 8, 2023

2. Use this link to schedule a 30-minute phone conversation with our program officer.

January 23-February 10, 2023

3. Complete a full application in our online grants system (linked here). Complete this step only after your pre-application conversation. 

Deadline: March 3, 2023

4. Grant decisions and notifications

Early June, 2023

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 ECE Grantees Oct 2022-2

Robins Foundation ECE Grant Announcement- Cycle Two

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Investments in Early Childhood Education (ECE) have the power to change the trajectory of individual lives and entire families, as well as  deliver significant returns for the community. Access to high-quality early childhood experiences sets children and their families up for long-term success by:

  • Preparing children for school and lifelong learning
  • Providing support of child development and general well-being
  • Equipping parents to be their children’s best first teachers

 

These investments are all the more important as young children recover from pandemic impacts and the Richmond region contends with a widespread lack of affordable, accessible child care. To that end, we are pleased to announce the following grantee partners for our second ECE-focused grant cycle which totaled $780,000:

 

City of Richmond Public Library Foundation – $60,000 for RVA Reads in Nontraditional Childcare: Boosting Skills, Engaging Parents and Caregivers

Down Syndrome Association of Greater Richmond – $50,000 for Interactions Across Abilities

Family Lifeline – $75,000 for Early Childhood Intensive Home Visiting

Friends Association for Children – $75,000 for Raising the Bar on Early Childhood Education

Greater Richmond SCAN – Stop Child Abuse Now – $50,000 for Circle Preschool Program

Henrico Education Foundation – $100,000 for Virginia Early Learning Partners: An Initiative of the Henrico Education Foundation

Reach Out and Read – $75,000 for Reach Out and Read- Greater Richmond Initiative

Richmond Behavioral Health Foundation – $50,000 for Supporting Children Exposed to Substance Use

Richmond Performing Arts Alliance – $20,000 for Baby Artsplay!™

Urban Baby Beginnings – $75,000 for Richmond Resource Mothers Program

VPM Media  – $50,000 for VPM Early Childhood Education program

 

“From preschool programs to home visiting to parenting support and education, these organizations work tirelessly to ensure our region’s youngest children get the best start,” shares Robins Foundation President & CEO, Chris Chin. “We’re grateful for their efforts and delighted to support them.”

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Meg Pienkowski, local early childhood leader and advocate, joins Robins Foundation as Senior Program Officer

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Robins Foundation is thrilled to announce that Meg Pienkowski, Ph.D., is joining the foundation as Senior Program Officer, Early Childhood Education. A passionate leader and advocate for children and families, Meg brings decades of experience in early childhood education and a deep belief in the power of this work to transform children, families, and communities. 

“Meg is an enormously talented leader and a true champion for children,” said Chris Chin, Ph.D., President and CEO of Robins Foundation. “She brings a breadth and depth of knowledge and experience, as well as relationships and credibility from her deep work in the Richmond community. As Robins Foundation advances our strategic focus in early childhood, we are extremely excited to welcome Meg to our team.”

Meg is the former Vice President of Community Partnerships and Programs for Thrive Birth to 5 (formerly Smart Beginnings-Greater Richmond), an affiliate of the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation. She also served as a W.K. Kellogg Fellow and Project Management Analyst in the Office of Community Wealth Building for the City of Richmond. Prior to that, Dr. Pienkowski spent many years in the classroom as an educator and administrator with Hanover County Public Schools, Richmond Public Schools, and Gingerbread Cottage Preschool. She began her career as a preschool teacher at the Harold E. Jones Child Study Center at the University of California, Berkeley.  

Meg earned an undergraduate degree in Psychology from Georgetown University, a master’s degree in Developmental Education from the University of California, Berkeley, and her Ph.D. in Education: Curriculum, Culture, and Change from Virginia Commonwealth University. 

“I’m thrilled to be joining Robins Foundation because of their strong track record in early childhood education and their commitment to this community,” explained Meg. “We share a belief in the power of early childhood education to change the trajectory of people’s lives and make a significant impact on our communities.”

Robins Foundation envisions a vibrant and unified Richmond, in which our children are prepared for bright futures, our communities are culturally enriched, and our region grows as a positive and dynamic place to live. For children to have the best opportunity to thrive, they require access to high-quality early care and educational experiences, as well as stable families who can act as their first teachers. Robins Foundation’s work in early childhood education is focused in three areas: provider support and infrastructure, parenting support and engagement, and policy and advocacy.

“Robins Foundation has sought out the foremost leaders in the field of early childhood education to support our work,” explained Juliet E. Shield-Taylor, Chair of Robins Foundation’s Board of Directors. “Meg’s impeccable academic background speaks for itself, and her dedication and contributions to our community have earned her the trust and respect of early childhood professionals throughout our region. For anyone who has the chance to meet her, Meg’s passion as an advocate for children is clear. We can’t wait to see the impact she will make in this role.” 

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Robins Foundation ECE Grant Announcement- Cycle One

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For children to have the opportunity to thrive, they require access to high-quality early care and educational experiences, as well as supportive families. These factors can deeply influence children’s cognitive and social-emotional development, school readiness, and long-term wellbeing. 

Toward the end of last year we shared that Robins Foundation would be investing deeply, and more narrowly, in early childhood education (ECE). Since then we have launched our initial ECE-focused grant cycle, had numerous conversations with our nonprofit partners, and reviewed dozens of proposals aligned with our new strategic framework. We are pleased to announce the following grantee partners for our first ECE-focused grant cycle which totaled almost $900,000:

 

Virginia Commonwealth University Foundation

Virginia Literacy Foundation

Families Forward VA

Sacred Heart Center

Healthy Heart Plus II , Inc.

Young Men’s Christian Association Of Greater Richmond

Fulton Montessori School

Children’s Museum of Richmond

Soar 365

Thrive Birth to Five

Voices For Virginia’s Children

Nurture

Coal Pit Ministry Inc

CommUnity Yoga Preschool

Wild Fern Montessori School

 

“All of these organizations have demonstrated a strong commitment to and have an impressive track record in early childhood education,” shares Robins Foundation President & CEO, Chris Chin. “We’re delighted to invest in their efforts to make a significant impact for Richmond families.”

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Our Team is Evolving as We Step More Fully into our New Strategic Direction

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Toward the end of last year we shared that Robins Foundation would be investing deeply, and more narrowly, in early childhood education (ECE). This new strategic direction is well underway, and we are actively engaging with and investing in organizations addressing the ECE needs in our community. Last week we announced the 15 nonprofit organizations who will receive grant funding totaling almost $900,000 as part of our June 2022 ECE cycle. We are also defining and building out our framework to begin investing in nonprofits making Richmond a vibrant and dynamic place to live. 

As we’re settling into our new strategy, we’re seeing a natural evolution of our team:

  • Chris Chin has embraced his new role as President & CEO and is fostering stronger alignment, enhanced communication, and deeper relationships among board and staff members. 
  • Dan Halloran has been promoted to Director, Operations. 
  • Elliot Haspel shared that he will be relocating to Colorado at the end of July to be closer to family and leaving Robins Foundation later this fall. 
  • We announced an opportunity to join our team as Senior Program Officer, Early Childhood Education. 
  • Courtney Rice shared that she will be leaving Robins Foundation on July 22nd for an exciting career development opportunity. She hopes to share more details in the coming weeks. 

We recognize that this is a significant amount of change in a short period of time for a small organization. We are more committed than ever to supporting our partners as you continue your amazing work in our community. And we are excited for and supportive of our team members as they grow and transition within and beyond the Foundation.

Please join me in congratulating our team members and spreading the word about our open position!

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Robins Foundation Staff Promotion and Position Opening/Opportunity

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Robins Foundation’s new strategic direction is well underway, and we are actively engaging with and investing in organizations addressing the early childhood education (ECE) needs in our community. In fact, next week we will announce the 15 nonprofit organizations who will receive grant funding totaling almost $900,000 as part of our June 2022 ECE cycle. We are also defining and building out our framework to begin investing in nonprofits making Richmond a vibrant and dynamic place to live. 

 

To fully execute our Board’s new strategic direction, we have developed a streamlined staffing structure that sets us up for success and provides well-deserved opportunities for team members to step up and shine in new ways. To that end, we are delighted to announce the following promotion:

 

Dan Halloran has been promoted to Director, Operations. Since starting with Robins six years ago as an intern, Dan has quickly developed and mastered a wide range of knowledge and skills related to our “behind the scenes” operations needs and requirements. For the past three years, Dan was our Program and Grants Manager. Now, in his new role, Dan will continue his Program and Grants Manager duties while also taking on new administrative responsibilities related to budgeting, human resources, office management, and various other internal processes that are essential to the Foundation’s success. 

 

 

We also want to announce an opportunity to join our team, as we are looking to fill an upcoming opening for a Senior Program Officer, Early Childhood Education. Elliot Haspel, our current Senior Program Officer, will be relocating to Colorado at the end of July to be closer to family and leaving Robins Foundation later this fall. Elliot has played an integral role in developing our early childhood strategic framework and overseeing our early childhood grant-making portfolio, and we will sincerely miss him. As a nationally-recognized child & family policy expert and commentator and the author of Crawling Behind: America’s Childcare Crisis and How to Fix It, we have no doubt Elliot will be hugely successful in his new ventures.   

 

If you know someone who may be interested in this opportunity at Robins Foundation, please share the job description with them.  

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Leadership Transitions at Robins Foundation

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Chris Chin named Robins Foundation’s new CEO – will lead Early Childhood Focus

Juliet Shield-Taylor, Chair, Board of Directors announced that Dr. Christopher Chin will become the President and CEO of Robins Foundation, effective March 2, 2022. An experienced leader in philanthropy, child development, and nonprofit organizations, he will focus on launching the foundation’s new strategic framework centered on early childhood education.

Chris has devoted his educational and professional career to helping young children and their families and is well poised to lead the organization into a new phase of early childhood-focused impact in the community. He is a licensed clinical psychologist with his PhD in Clinical Psychology and Neuropsychology, including advanced training at Yale University in child psychology. He has led several efforts focused on early childhood education and family literacy, including serving as Co-Director of the Literacy Institute at Virginia Commonwealth University and Director of the Virginia Literacy Foundation, where he developed and oversaw state-wide initiatives focused on early learning and development.

Chris has been with Robins Foundation for almost eight years, starting as Director, Community Partnerships, leading the foundation’s early childhood-focused grantmaking. He was responsible for developing peer funder collaborations and deep community engagement throughout the Richmond region. Most recently, he served as the foundation’s Vice President, Operations and Organizational Development.

Says Chin, “I am thrilled and honored to lead this organization as it begins the next exciting chapter in its longstanding service to the Richmond community. We have an incredible opportunity to strengthen our investments and partnerships in early childhood education so that Richmond can become a place where all young children can learn, grow, and thrive. This next step for me and the foundation reflects my long-standing passion and commitment to make a meaningful difference in the lives of as many children and families as possible. I look forward to working alongside our energized Board, our talented staff, and our inspirational partners to make a measurable impact on our community.”

Kelly Chopus, Robins Foundation’s current President & CEO, will be moving on from the organization in late March.

As CEO of Robins Foundation for almost 8.5 years, Kelly has been a change-maker in the community, leading the organization through strategic shifts and building a talented team of experts. Her leadership has been influential in enhancing the landscape of Richmond’s nonprofit community through open dialog, relationship-building, and collaboration with other funders to address the region’s most pressing needs.

Kelly will remain with the Foundation in an advisory capacity until the end of March. Kelly looks forward to continuing to serve both Richmond and the region’s philanthropic community in a new capacity.

Says Chopus, “I am humbled by the trust the board, staff, and community placed in me and I am more humbled by the experiences and privileges of meeting and knowing community leaders who serve their neighbors every day through the work their organizations do. I am truly amazed by the work of our board, our staff, and our partners. The foundation has a powerhouse staff who will carry on the upcoming important work as the foundation refines its focus, and I am thrilled about the future impact of the organization. Chris Chin is the right leader at the right time, and I have utmost confidence in him as he steps into the role of CEO.”

Robert Dortch, Robins Foundation’s current VP, Program and Community Innovation, will leave the organization in mid-February.

For almost 8 years, Robert focused on growing a highly-skilled, diverse program team and strengthening the foundation’s innovative grantmaking, community engagement, and collaboration.

Robert has played an enormous role, leading the foundation’s deployment of more than $30 million in grant funding to support education, capacity building, innovation and strategic partnerships; helped create $4.5 million of impact investment to support place-based community initiatives; and led the foundation in innovative grantmaking, launching a Community Innovation Grant (CIG) process that resulted in more than $6 million distributed.

We are enthusiastic about the significant impact Robert will continue to have for the region in his new role as Chair for the Board of Trustees of Philanthropy Southeast. 

“I am grateful for my time working with the Robins Foundation’s incredible staff and inspiring partners,” says Dortch, “and I am excited for this opportunity to have a bigger impact outside the organization, pursue a personal passion, and continue to give back to our partners and philanthropy as a whole.”

Juliet Shield-Taylor, Chair of the Board of Directors added, “The Robins Foundation is grateful for the vision and leadership of Kelly and her team, and we are thrilled to welcome Chris as our next leader. While we are sad to see Robert leave us, we wish him well as he pursues his professional and personal interests.” 

Continuing a legacy of impact and transformation for our community’s children

Over the past eight years, with the hard work of staff and skilled guidance of the board, Robins Foundation has been committed to strategic grantmaking, collaboration, and community support, aspiring to be a catalyst for positive change within the Richmond region.

We are grateful to our leaders and staff members for the impact they have had on the foundation’s direction and success. Under the leadership of Chris Chin and the Foundation’s Board of Directors, we look forward to new opportunities to ensure our young children thrive and to contribute to the long-term dynamism and vibrancy of Richmond.  

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