Early Childhood Education

/

For a long time, early childhood education (ECE) was relatively neglected by philanthropy, overshadowed by higher education and K-12 in terms of funder support. But funders are increasingly giving for ECE, as a significant body of research has shown that resourcing children’s education and development as early as possible provides outsized educational, social, health and economic benefits. Funders increasingly understand that investing in the earliest years can yield lifelong dividends in many areas where philanthropists seek to make a difference. Still, early childhood education is an area that remains underfunded, and there are many opportunities for donors to make a difference.

Strategies for Impact

Advocates have long called for a high-quality, publicly supported system for early childhood education. The current reality is a disjointed nonsystem full of gaps, with daunting costs and questionable quality for all families, but especially for economically struggling parents. Philanthropy plays a role in filling those gaps and in advocating for improvements to the public system. Nonprofits are engaged in a range of efforts relating to early childhood education. All this work is important and could benefit from greater donor support. Below, we discuss several areas where donors might focus their funding and spotlight several organizations in each that represent the kind of nonprofits that donors might consider supporting. 

  • Back advocacy for systems change. There are a number of nonprofits advocating to improve or transform the entire early childhood care system, recognizing that it is not much of a system at all in the United States, but rather fragmented and disjointed, with significant disparities in access to quality care and education and a largely undervalued, low-paid workforce. The Children’s Defense Fund has been a leader in advocacy for children for decades. Alliance for Early Success works toward ECE equity at the state policy level. The Build Initiative is a funder-created organization that works at the community, state and national levels to develop equitable early childhood systems that can ensure that race, location and household income in early childhood are no longer predictors of later outcomes. Start Early takes a multipronged approach, combining policy advocacy with early learning programs, support and training for the ECE workforce, research and direct services. 

  • Fund research and information dissemination. Research illuminates what young children need to thrive and how best to educate and care for them. Research can inform and improve policy as well as what teachers, caregivers and parents do day to day. Nonprofits working on research and information dissemination relating to early childhood include Child Trends and Zero to Three. 

  • Support the people caring for and educating young children. Training and diversifying the ECE workforce is an area that could use more funder attention. Most of the people who care for children aren’t paid a living wage, with many preschool teachers, assistants, aides and other early child care workers earning less than $15 an Nonprofits are working to improve teacher training, increase wages and offer apprenticeship and mentorship programs. All Our Kin trains and supports family child care educators. Jumpstart for Young Children recruits and trains college students to teach preschool in areas of need. The National Domestic Workers Alliance champions the rights of domestic workers, including nannies who work with young children. 

  • Give to groups underresourced by philanthropy. There is a need for more funding focused on children with special needs, dual-language learners, foster children, unhoused children and children whose parents or caregivers are incarcerated. Dual-language learners are a priority of Early Edge California, a nonprofit that supports parents, child care providers and teachers. Low-income and rural communities often have limited options for early child care. One way to support impacted communities with which you don’t have direct connections is through regrantors. For instance, the American Indian College Fund makes grants to increase the number and quality of early childhood programs in Native communities. 

Insights and Advice 

In considering which impact strategies to support, donors should take into account their personal interests and outlook to find the best fit. Keep an eye out for emerging opportunities to give with maximum impact. Here, we offer a few insights and suggestions:

  • Consider a place-based strategy. Many funders in the ECE space choose a local approach. You can focus on proven or promising programs in your local community or on state policy advocacy. Given the difficulty of getting things done at the federal level, many ECE advocates and funders think progress is most likely to be made at the local or state level first. For example, the grassroots nonprofit Olé played a big role in organizing communities to win state funding for child care and a state constitutional amendment making ECE a right in New Mexico. The Duke Endowment is in the middle of a targeted 10-year program focused on early childhood in an effort to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty in one county in North Carolina. The Alliance for Early Success has a state-based advocacy strategy to achieve equitable early childhood policies state by state.  

  • Take a “whole child” approach. Many nonprofits and the funders who support them advocate a “whole child” approach, which looks beyond the child care setting to address issues including access to nutrition, housing and healthcare, support for parents and guardians, and even prenatal and maternal care, all of which interrelate and affect children’s development.  

For Donors Getting Started

Donors who are new to this space should take the time to learn about the landscape.

A good place to start is by reading IP’s State of American Philanthropy report on Giving for Early Childhood Education. In addition, peruse recent articles that IP has published about what’s happening in this area of philanthropy. Some of the funding intermediaries mentioned above also offer reports and articles to help donors understand the giving landscape. 

Many of the policy organizations and funder collaboratives mentioned in this brief have vast amounts of research and reports freely available to the public that can be especially helpful to donors interested in ECE. The Alliance for Early Success, Build Initiative, Start Early and others have extensive resource sections. The Early Childhood Funders Collaborative has a Collaboratives Directory that details funder groups focused on ECE around the country. 

To find more well-respected local and national nonprofits working in this area, Charity Navigator is a reputable place to search for worthy organizations around the country.

But the best way to get started giving for early childhood education is to make some initial gifts, learn from the groups you’re supporting, and connect early with a funding intermediary that can help you learn more about this giving area and increase your giving in a thoughtful way. 

Have suggestions for improving this brief? Please email us at editor@insidephilanthropy.com.