Bainum Family Foundation Doubles Its Spending Ceiling to 10%. What It Means for Early Childhood Providers Who Can't Apply.

Federal law requires private foundations to pay out 5% of their assets each year. Most treat that number as a ceiling, not a floor. The Bainum Family Foundation has just said it will spend up to twice that.

In a November 5, 2026 essay titled "What More Can We Do? Rethinking Stewardship Through Impact Investing," board chair Scott Renschler wrote that the Bainum family, "supported by the Board," decided "to increase the Foundation's annual spending commitment to up to 10% of our endowment." In the same piece, the foundation disclosed that its Investment Committee and board had set up a Catalytic Capital Portfolio, a "5% carveout from our broader investments" that is "wholly dedicated to helping unlock impact where traditional capital alone falls short."

"Stewardship is not about preserving assets for preservation's sake," Renschler wrote.

For the early childhood field, the announcement matters more than its modest press footprint suggests. Bainum is one of the largest U.S. foundations devoted almost entirely to children from birth to age five. Its new spending posture arrives as child care providers face rising costs, federal uncertainty, and a facilities crisis that grants alone have never solved. There is a catch: Bainum does not accept unsolicited proposals. The question for providers and advocates is how to get within reach of money they cannot apply for.

The Numbers Behind "Up to 10%"

Bainum did not disclose its endowment size or its prior payout rate in the announcement. Public filings fill in part of the picture. Aggregators drawing on the foundation's Form 990-PF filings report total assets of roughly $731.8 million for 2024 and $745.9 million for 2023, with 2024 grants of about $12.1 million.

That grant figure looks small next to the assets, but it understates Bainum's spending. Private foundations count a range of "qualifying distributions" toward the 5% requirement: grants, direct charitable activities, reasonable administrative costs, and program-related investments. Bainum runs a substantial operating program of its own. That includes WeVision EarlyEd, a child care system transformation initiative with "Solutions Lab" sites, and DC Early EdX, an annual professional development event held every April since 2021. It has also made forgivable-loan program-related investments since at least 2016, according to an April 2026 post by CFO Michael Brannan. Not all of that shows up as a grant.

Using the reported asset base, the arithmetic is still striking. A 5% payout on about $730 million is about $36.5 million a year. A 10% ceiling puts up to about $73 million a year in play. The Catalytic Capital Portfolio, at 5% of investments, would be on the order of $36 million that is invested for impact rather than market returns. These are Granted estimates from third-party asset figures, not foundation disclosures. Renschler's phrasing, "up to 10%," also gives the board room to spend less in any given year.

The essay sets out four goals for the Catalytic Capital Portfolio in its investment policy statement. It is meant to "generate impact returns" for young children and families, "with a focus on increasing affordability, access, and choice." It must also "deliver risk-adjusted returns commensurate with the nature of each investment, while targeting preservation of principal over the life of the Catalytic Capital Portfolio." It should be "catalytic" by supporting "solutions beyond what grantmaking can achieve." And it should honor "trust-based and community-led decision making." Brannan's earlier post named the main tools: "low-interest loans and guarantees to early learning centers."

Why a Payout Increase Is Rare, and Why It Is Spreading

Raising payout is the most direct lever a foundation has, and very few pull it. The Institute for Policy Studies' Gilded Giving 2026 report, released September 15, found a median payout of 5.1% across 144 billion-dollar foundations, barely above the legal minimum (our analysis). Sector-wide, the median rate has sat at 5% for five straight years even as foundation assets climbed to $1.68 trillion.

The exceptions are getting more visible. MacArthur raised its payout to 7.1% alongside a $100 million democracy commitment, and the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust went from $20 million to $30 million in grantmaking for fiscal 2027, its second straight year of a big increase. Bainum's move is different in two ways. It is framed as a standing commitment rather than an emergency supplement. And it is paired with a structural change to the endowment itself.

The second point is the more significant one. Renschler cited 2024 Capricorn research finding that "the median allocation was just 5% of investable assets" among foundations that do impact investing. Bainum is matching that median with its carveout, but Brannan's post says the long-term goal is for "every dollar in our endowment" to work toward early childhood outcomes. The board added Kathleen Simpson of the Russell Family Foundation in 2024. Brannan notes that Russell has "aligned almost 100%" of its assets with its mission. The direction is clear.

"Impact investing is not a substitute for strong financial management or for grantmaking," Renschler wrote. The foundation is saying it will do more of both.

Who Can Actually Reach This Money

Bainum's How We Work page is blunt: "We do not accept unsolicited proposals or use a formal request-for-proposal (RFP) process. Instead, we engage directly with partner communities and organizations to identify new potential partners."

That makes geography and existing networks decisive. Bainum describes itself as place-based. Its named practice partners cluster in a handful of places:

• Washington, D.C. — Bright Beginnings, Community of Hope, Educare DC, Mamatoto Village, National Children's Center, and SPACEs in Action. The foundation's D.C. work has focused on infants, toddlers, and families in Wards 7 and 8.
• Maryland — The Lourie Center in Rockville, the Maryland Diaper Bank, and Port Discovery Children's Museum in Baltimore.
• Toledo, Ohio — Hope Toledo.
• Orlando, Florida — Lift Orlando and West Lakes Early Learning Center.

Its policy partners include national groups such as CLASP, Child Care Aware of America, NAEYC, the National Women's Law Center, and New America, along with state-level partners such as Florida's Children's Forum and D.C. and Florida affiliates of early childhood associations. Several are described as "federal-facing and multistate."

For organizations outside those networks, three paths are realistic.

Use the financing channel that already exists. Bainum runs an Early Learning Quality Facility Fund with Reinvestment Fund, a community development financial institution. It provides technical assistance and financing for child care facility upgrades. For a center-based provider in a Bainum geography, this is the most direct route to the foundation's capital. It is also the likeliest place for the new Catalytic Capital Portfolio's low-interest loans and guarantees to flow. Providers should contact Reinvestment Fund directly about eligibility rather than waiting for a Bainum invitation.

Get visible inside the partner ecosystem. Bainum says it finds new partners through "partner communities and organizations." In practice, that means being known to the intermediaries it already funds. That includes the D.C. and Florida early childhood associations, the national policy groups listed above, and its Solutions Lab sites. Attending DC Early EdX in April, joining state coalitions that Bainum's policy partners convene, and sharing outcome data with those partners are all ways to show up on a program officer's radar without a formal application.

Make your case in the foundation's own terms. The investment policy statement repeats one phrase: "affordability, access, and choice." The program side names five areas: Early Learning; Mental Health and Well-Being; Health, including Prenatal and Perinatal; Family Economic Security; and Housing Stability. Any introductory conversation should connect your work to at least one of those areas and explain how it changes a system, such as facility supply, workforce compensation, or subsidy access, rather than only serving more children.

What the Rest of the Field Should Watch

For grant seekers who will never be in Bainum's footprint, the announcement is still a useful signal. Family foundations whose donors are still alive or closely involved can change payout far faster than institutional foundations with fixed spending policies. Bainum's decision came from "the family," with board support. Development directors building prospect lists should look at family foundations that are already experimenting with impact investing, because those are the most likely to follow.

Watch, too, how Bainum discloses its spending in its next 990-PF. A real move toward 10% should show up as a jump in qualifying distributions and in program-related investments. A persistent gap between the stated ceiling and actual spending would tell you the commitment is softer than it sounds.

You can find Bainum's filing history and comparable early childhood funders in Granted's foundation directory. The primary sources are Renschler's November 5 essay, Brannan's April 2026 impact investing post, and the foundation's How We Work page.

When a funder you cannot apply to finally invites you in, the case needs to be ready, and Granted can help you build it from your outcome data well before the call comes.