2026 ECCE SPARK Second Grant Cycle Announcement

2026 ECCE SPARK Second Grant Cycle Announcement is sponsored by Robins Foundation. This grant cycle is for nonprofit organizations focused on early childhood care and education (ECCE). The foundation prioritizes programs and initiatives that promote exceptional learning environments, positive adult-child interactions, sustainable workforce development, and/or advocacy efforts.

Key focus areas include high-quality programs directly serving children ages 0-5, family engagement, workforce supports, and policy and advocacy.

2026 ECCE SPARK Second Grant Cycle Announcement Robins Foundation Announcements , Featured , News Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) , Grantmaking On Wednesday, July 15, 2026 , Robins Foundation will open a grant application process for nonprofit organizations focused on early childhood care and education (ECCE).

This is our second of two “Supporting Programs that Advance Readiness for Kids” (SPARK) Grant cycles for early childhood organizations in the 2026 calendar year. 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/or advocacy efforts.

Please note the mandatory pre-application conversation with our program team must be completed between July 20 and July 31, 2026. The availability of pre-application call slots is limited, and slots fill up quickly so please complete the eligibility questionnaire and schedule your meeting promptly!

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 July 15 to July 29. The full application will become available after the pre-application call if there is mutual agreement about grant alignment.

The final deadline to submit your full application is Friday, August 28, 2026 . 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 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 June 2026, 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 2026 SPARK Grant Cycle 2 opportunity. Complete the eligibility quiz and pre-application questionnaire.

Available: July 15, 2026 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 July 20– July 31, 2026 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: August 28, 2026 Grant decisions and notifications. Mid-December, 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 . Please take the time to review Robins Foundation’s official AI policy , which gives guidelines for the use of AI by both our employees and grantees.

2026 ECCE SPARK Grant Cycle Announcement Robins Foundation Announcements , Featured , News 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 .

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 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 . 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 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 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 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 Welcomes Stephanie Keller as Early Childhood Program and Operations Coordinator Robins Foundation Announcements , Featured , News 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.

” Robins Foundation Refines Early Childhood Strategy Based on Community Feedback Robins Foundation Announcements , Featured , News Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) As a part of our ongoing commitment to learn and improve how we work alongside our community to address current and long standing needs, Robins Foundation completed a comprehensive, inclusive process to collect insights and feedback to further strengthen our early childhood investment strategy and approach to learning and evaluation.

This refinement is a progression of the work we began at the end of 2021, when we announced that we would be investing more deeply, and more narrowly, into early childhood care and education (ECCE).

We partnered with School Readiness Consulting (SRC), a nationally recognized group that helps organizations elevate their early learning efforts, to host focus groups and interviews with nearly 50 early childhood leaders representing grantees, funders, content experts, agency leaders, and other providers and partners, as well as staff and board members.

Based on all the feedback and review of key documents related to the early childhood landscape, SRC identified important opportunities for us to enhance our philanthropic strategy for early childhood. The result is an updated and refined investment strategy and learning plan called “Vision to Impact,” and you can learn more here .

We greatly appreciate SRC’s expertise and guidance, and we want to extend a heartfelt thank you to the many early childhood leaders, as well as our staff and board, who played such a critical role in the development of Vision to Impact. We look forward to implementing this refined strategy in collaboration with our partners and grantees.

In fact, many of you will be hearing from us in the near future as we provide opportunities to continue your involvement during the next phases of this collaborative process.

Robins Foundation Announces Second ECCE Grant Cycle for 2024 Robins Foundation Announcements , Featured , News Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) , Grantmaking 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 . 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 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 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 Robins Foundation Launches New Grants Management Portal, GOapply Robins Foundation Announcements , Featured , News 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: 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. Video tutorial : View this 5-minute video that demonstrates the GOapply registration.

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.

Robins Foundation Renews “SEED” Grant Program to Continue Investing in Small, Local Non Profit Child Care Providers Robins Foundation Announcements , Featured , News Grantmaking , Support for Early Education and Development (SEED) In May of 2023, Robins Foundation announced a new pilot program called the SEED (“Support for Early Education and Development”) grant to provide smaller, nonprofit child care providers with flexible grants, awarded on a rolling basis.

Based on the positive impact of the program and the opportunity it provided Robins Foundation to be more responsive to the needs of smaller nonprofit childcare centers outside of our traditional grant cycle, additional funding was recently approved to continue providing SEED grant funding with the goal of meeting ongoing community needs.

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 compounded 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: 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 (with benefits!) working in the fast food industry.

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. Tragically, the current child care crisis puts that important early support in jeopardy.

In 2022, 40. 35% of all Virginia kindergarteners were not ready to start kindergarten. This percentage was even higher for 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 both on-going support and for creative and collaborative solutions. Child care organizations are strained and in need of ongoing support. In addition to the challenges providers already face, the process of applying for philanthropic funding can be onerous and time consuming.

Many nonprofit 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 foundation’s solution In response to the on-going challenges and needs of the child care industry, Robins Foundation is continuing the nonprofit SEED grant program.

Our goal is to provide small, local nonprofit child care providers located within our footprint with a simplified and responsive funding opportunity. This opportunity is open to 501c3 nonprofit child care providers who meet all of our foundation’s grant eligibility criteria. It includes a simplified application process, and offers grants of up to $25,000.

Grant applications are reviewed on a monthly basis and will be available until the new 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. How to apply for Nonprofit SEED We are excited to announce that our nonprofit SEED grant opportunity is now open.

To be eligible for Nonprofit SEED funding, child care organizations must meet the following criteria: Have 501(c)(3) nonprofit status 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. The nonprofit SEED application can be found here .

Any organization receiving funds through the nonprofit SEED program would be ineligible to apply for funding through other Robins Foundation grants for a period of 12 months. If you have questions about the SEED 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 . Together, we will continue to work for and support child care solutions that benefit more families, more organizations, and more communities.

Jumpstart Program Announcement Robins Foundation Announcements , Featured , News 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: Imago Dei Neighborhood School LATIN BALLET OF VIRGINIA, INC Community Climate Collaborative Richmond Public Library Foundation Dress for Success Central Virginia Greater Richmond Fit4Kids Virginia Association for Infant Mental Health 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.

Meg Pienkowski, local early childhood leader and advocate, joins Robins Foundation as Senior Program Officer Robins Foundation Announcements , Featured , Insights , News 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.

” Robins Foundation Insights , News Publications we’ve commissioned A Closer Look At Nonprofit Sustainability In Greater Richmond – Robins Foundation partnered with Network for Good to conduct this assessment of over 100 nonprofits in the region for a better understanding of their developmental challenges.

Blending Evaluative and Organizational Development – An SSIR article about how collaboration between nonprofit evaluators and organizational consultants can increase efficiency and lead to deeper results.

Northside Report – Portrait of Vulnerable Families and Community Needs in Richmond’s Northside Partnerships: A Framework for Working Together – Developed by a consultant to the Robins Foundation, this document aims to assist nonprofit organizations partner with one another.