Early Childhood Grants are offered by The Caplan Foundation for Early Childhood, which acts as an incubator of promising research and development projects to improve the welfare of young children from infancy through age 7 in the United States.

Seed funding is awarded to innovative projects likely to have significant national-scale impact in areas such as parenting education, early childhood education and play, and the development of nurturing child care environments. Priority is given to projects with outcomes of broad professional interest and direct national applicability. Indirect costs are capped at 15% of direct expenses.

Applications are due May 31, 2026.

Home · Caplan Foundation for Early Childhood is an incubator of promising research and development projects that appear likely to improve the welfare of young children, from infancy through 7 years, in the United States. Welfare is broadly defined to childcare .

Grants are only made if a successful project outcome will likely be of significant interest to other professionals, within the grantee’s field of endeavor, and would have a direct benefit and potential national application. The Foundation’s goal is to provide seed money to implement those that exhibit the greatest chance of improving the lives of young national scale .

Because of the Foundation’s limited funding capability, it seeks to maximize a grant's potential impact.

፨ The Foundation provides funding in the following areas create nurturing environments for their children , we support programs that teach parents about developmental psychology, cultural child rearing differences, pedagogy, issues of health, prenatal care and diet, as well as programs which provide both cognitive and emotional support Providing a safe and nurturing environment is essential as is imparting the skills of social living in a culturally diverse world.

Therefore, the Foundation supports projects perfect child rearing practices and to identify models that can provide creative, caring environments in which all Early Childhood Education and Play improve the quality of both early childhood teaching and learning , through the development of innovative curricula and research based pedagogical standards, as well as the design of imaginative play materials and learning environments.

​The Foundation will not fund: programs outside of the United States the operation or expansion of existing programs the purchase or renovation of capital equipment the staging of single events (e.g. concerts, seminars, etc.) the creation or acquisition of works of art or literature the activities of single individuals or for-profit entities political or religious organizations programs with religious content programs to benefit children residing in foreign countries medical research applicable to both adults and children All letters of inquiry that don't comply with the limitations will Policy on Funding Indirect Expenses for Grants The Foundation will not fund arbitrary or excessive allocations of indirect expenses even if a project is worthy.

The Foundation’s Board will only approve a maximum of 15% of a project’s direct expenses, when earmarked as general and/or administrative Policy Regarding Multiple Year Funding Requests Consistent with the Foundation’s mission, as an incubator of innovative research and development directed to improving the general welfare of young children, we will not fund more than the first year of multiple year projects.

It is our belief that having multiple funders, of those worthy projects that demand more sustained efforts, increases the likelihood of their success by ensuring broader oversight and greater long term promotional possibilities. The Foundation employs a two-step grant application process that includes the submission of both a Letter of Inquiry (LOI) and a Full Proposal–the latter only by those applicants requested to do so.

This ensures that consideration of Full Proposals is limited to those applications that strictly comply with the Foundation’s programmatic guidelines. The next deadline for submitting a LOI is Applicants must submit Letters of Inquiry by clicking on the Email your Letter of Inquiry button below.

Once a Letter of Inquiry is received by the Foundation, the Directors will determine if the proposed program fits the Foundation’s funding guidelines. Successful applicants will be invited via email to submit Full Proposals.

Each Letter of Inquiry should include: The organization’s official name, website address and A brief (250 word maximum) summary of the organization’s mission and recent program history The organization’s 501(c)(3) Tax Exempt Status letter from the IRS and its’ Federal Tax ID# The total amount of the organization’s annual budget The total amount of the grant request An indication of the amount and type of support being requested from all sources Title of the project and a narrative description (1,000 words or less) of the issue(s) or need(s) to be addressed by the proposal, the work to be performed and the anticipated A description of how the proposal fits the Foundation’s A description of how your project and/or research is Your Letter of Inquiry must follow the number format listed Failure to follow the specified format will disqualify your LOI from review by the Board of Directors.

Please note LOI and the name of your organization in the subject line of your There are many proposals that we do not consider because they do not meet the criteria stated in our website. We strive to fund ideas that are adventurous, thoughtful and challenge the status quo.

They should have a fresh concept (not rehash an older idea) and a defined method of implementation that promotes new approaches and understanding of early childhood and pushes the boundaries of academic, social and cultural All written correspondence to the Caplan Foundation for Early Childhood should be directed to Amanda Liedtka, CPA, P. O. Box 746, Lock Haven PA, Email your Letter of Inquiry This will open your default email client.

If you are using a different client, please send the email to info@earlychildhoodfoundation. org , and use "Letter of Inquiry" as your subject line.

Creating a Parenting Education Website and Resource Packs for Managing Children's Sibling Conflict University of New Hampshire — 2025 · $80,266 Development of a Tiered Professional Development Model to Support Caregiver Implementation of Dialogic Reading With a Focus on Emotional Regulation Florida State University Research Foundation — 2025 · $74,575 Examining Differences in Sleep and Cognition During Early Merrimack College — 2025 · $41,805 Examining the Role of External Aids in Supporting Children's Working Memory When Learning Addition and Subtraction University of California, Berkeley — 2025 · $50,000 Light Start: Broad Spectrum Circadian Lighting to Support Early Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center — 2025 · Preventing Exclusionary Practices in Ece: Promoting Social and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill — 2025 · $77,000 New York University — 2025 · $54,292 Tools for Supporting Social Emotional Development in Outdoor National Wildlife Federation — 2025 · $75,000 All Grant Recipients by Year → Frank and Theresa Caplan were pioneers in the development of creative, imaginative, educational toys for young children.

Throughout their lives, Frank and Theresa worked to develop innovative and beautifully designed educational toys and equipment for home and school environment. In the early thirties, Frank Caplan was a youth worker and one of the first male nursery school teachers in the United States.

In 1949, he co-founded Creative Playthings, a company that designed and manufactured toys to enhance the imagination and learning of By the 1950’s, Creative Playthings was one of the most important manufacturers and suppliers of early childhood educational toys and equipment.

They collaborated with internationally known artists, such as Nino Vitali, to design toys, as well Milton Hebald, Isamu Noguchi, Robert Winston and architects like Louis Kahn to design outdoor playscapes and sculptures. Creative Playthings researched and developed innovative curriculum materials for schools and furniture that could be stacked and rearranged to allow for flexibility within the classroom.

They introduced dolls, which were racially diverse, and anatomically correct boy and girl dolls, which were provocative at the time. In 1975, Frank Caplan and his wife, Theresa, created The Princeton Center for Infancy and Early Childhood, a pioneering research and publishing organization focusing on materials for parent education.

They researched and wrote a national bestselling series on early childhood development called The First Twelve Months of Life (1977), The Second Twelve Months of Life (1978), and The Early Childhood Years: The 2-6 Year Old (1983). In addition, Frank and Theresa co-authored The Power of Play in 1973. They wanted to encourage parents’ understanding and knowledge about the extraordinary time of infancy and early childhood.

The Caplan Foundation for Early Childhood was created in 2014 as a result of a bequest from Theresa Caplan stipulating her estate be used to incubate innovation and research addressing the needs of children from birth through age seven.