Robins Foundation Announces Second ECCE Grant Cycle for 2024
We’re excited to announce that Robins Foundation will start accepting grant applications from nonprofit organizations focused on early childhood care and education (ECCE) beginning Monday, July 29, 2024. This is the second of two ECCE grant cycles of the 2024 calendar year.
This year’s first ECCE grant cycle was announced in February.
As we mentioned in our initial announcement, 2024 marks the second full year that we’ve invested more strategically in ECCE, an approach that makes it possible to provide additional resources to organizations doing great work in the community to support early childhood care and education.
Significant gaps remain in this area, and we are confident that philanthropy can play a pivotal role in addressing this critical need.
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.
The final deadline to submit your application is Friday, September 6, 2024.
Please note the mandatory pre-application conversation with our program officer, Meg Pienkowski, must be completed by Wednesday, August 14, 2024.
As you consider applying, we also want to share that we recently transitioned from our former grants portal, SmartSimple, to a new grants portal called GOapply. This transition will better facilitate our own internal processes, communications, and recordkeeping, while also offering helpful benefits to current and prospective applicants.
Strengthening our grantmaking process and improving the application experience for returning and future applicants are both important, and this change will help us accomplish both of these goals. You can learn more about the transition, what it means for applicants, and more information about registering and using GOapply here.
Key Focus Areas
As with the first round of grants, we’re focused on areas that will allow children to thrive, increase access to early, high-quality care and educational experiences, and ensure that families are supported and engaged. With that in mind, 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 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.
- Log-in to GOapply (linked here) and select the 2024 ECCE Cycle 2 opportunity. Complete the eligibility quiz and pre-application questionnaire. Deadline: August 12, 2024
- While completing the pre-application questionnaire, you will be invited to schedule a call with our program officer. Please schedule early, as slots fill up quickly. Deadline: August 14, 2024
- Complete a full application in our online grants portal (linked here). Complete this step only after your pre-application conversation. Deadline: September 6, 2024
- Grant decisions and notifications: Mid-December, 2024
If you have any questions about applying, working with GOapply, or if you need to remove a contact from your organizational profile, please reach out to us at grants@robinsfdn.org. Thank you for considering applying for an ECCE grant and we wish you the best.
Your Friends at Robins Foundation
