Robins Foundation Supporting Programs that Advance Readiness for Kids (SPARK) Grant

Robins Foundation Supporting Programs that Advance Readiness for Kids (SPARK) Grant is sponsored by Robins Foundation. This grant cycle supports nonprofit organizations focused on early childhood care and education (ECCE).

Announcements – ROBINS FOUNDATION 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 Announces Second ECCE Grant Cycle for 2025 Dan Halloran Announcements , Featured Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) , Grantmaking Robins Foundation is now accepting grant applications from nonprofit organizations focused on early childhood care and education (ECCE). This is our second of two ECCE grant cycles of the 2025 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 advocacy efforts. Please note the mandatory pre-application conversation with our program director, Meg Pienkowski, must be completed between July 21 and August 1, 2025 .

You can only schedule a call after you complete the pre-application questions, which will be available July 16. The final deadline to submit your full application is Friday, August 29, 2025 . TECHNICAL NOTE: Last year, we transitioned from our former grants portal, SmartSimple, to a new grants portal called GOapply (linked here).

Please reference this link for more information about registering and using GOapply. 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?

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, admissions practices, or required attendance at religious events If your nonprofit received a Robins Foundation grant in 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 2025 ECCE Cycle 2 opportunity. Complete the eligibility quiz and pre-application questionnaire.

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 21 – August 1, 2025 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 29, 2025 Grant decisions and notifications. 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. Your Friends at Robins Foundation 2025 Jumpstart Program Cohort Announcement Robins Foundation Announcements We are excited to announce the Jumpstart Program cohort for 2025!

Robins Foundation is supporting its fifth 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: Children’s Assistive Technology Service Families Forward Virginia Friendship Circle of Virginia Metropolitan Business League Perkinson Center for the Arts and Education Robinson Theater Community Arts Center The Leadership and Achievement Academy Virginia Institute of Pastoral Care (VIPCare) These nonprofits will join the 64 nonprofits from the previous four 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.

A first-time participant, Julie Massie, Director of Development and Marketing at Virginia Institute of Pastoral Care told us, “We are THRILLED to be given this opportunity and I look forward to soaking up every piece of wisdom from my fundraising coach, as well as having a donor database that actually makes life easier, rather than harder. ” Assisting local nonprofits in capacity building is one of our core 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. Former program participant, Kami Blatt (The Commonwealth Institute) shared that “the lessons learned and the progress made has positioned us for continued growth and success in our mission.

Jumpstart is an easy, straightforward program that offers a lot of support. We enjoyed our coaching sessions, which provided specific feedback and ideas from a fundraising professional to improve our organization’s fundraising and encouraged us to try new things.

” 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 past 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.

2025 Grant Cycle Announcement Stacy_Buchanan Announcements Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) , Grantmaking On Wednesday, January 22, 2025 , Robins Foundation will start accepting grant applications from nonprofit organizations focused on early childhood care and education (ECCE). This is our first of two ECCE grant cycles of the 2025 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 advocacy efforts. The final deadline to submit your full application is Friday, March 7, 2025 .

Please note the mandatory pre-application conversation with our program director, Meg Pienkowski, must be completed by Friday, February 7, 2025. TECHNICAL NOTE: We recently transitioned from our former grants portal, SmartSimple, to a new grants portal called GOapply. Please reference this link for more information about registering and using GOapply.

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?

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 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 and select the 2025 ECCE Cycle 1 opportunity. Complete the eligibility quiz and pre-application questionnaire. Available: January 22, 2025.

Deadline: February 5, 2025. 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.

January 27 – February 7, 2025 Complete a full application in our online grants portal. Complete this step only after your pre-application conversation. Available: Upon completion of your pre-app call.

Deadline: March 7, 2025 Grant decisions and notifications. Mid-June, 2025 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 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.

Virginia Literacy Foundation: Fostering Collaboration and Literacy Growth Through Individualized Support Annaliese Santana Announcements , Featured Partner Spotlights Throughout the summer, Robin’s Foundation’s summer intern, Annaliese Santana, interviewed eight inspiring community leaders as part of the foundation’s “Partner Spotlight” initiative.

This new initiative provides a platform for grantees to highlight their important work in early childhood development and for Robins Foundation to recognize the incredible efforts and successes of our partners. Annaliese’s first interviewee was Cindy Hutchinson, Director of the Excellence in Children’s Early Language and Literacy (ExCELL) program at the Virginia Literacy Foundation (VLF).

Currently serving over 1,800 children and families in Richmond, ExCELL provides essential resources to young learners, families, and educators throughout Virginia. Cindy Hutchinson, a former educator herself, provided meaningful insights about the importance of literacy development, family and teacher collaboration, and individualized support in early childhood development.

Can you please describe, at a high level, what the Virginia Literacy Foundation does? The mission of the Virginia Literacy Foundation (VLF) is to support, from birth through adulthood, literacy development and achievement. VLF has been involved in efforts across the state to support adults with low literacy skills, specifically those who want to improve their reading capabilities.

VLF also provides funding for volunteer community-based literacy organizations. In fact, we maintain a partnership with Virginia’s Department of Education and the statewide Adult Learning Resource Center (VALRC). Beginning in 2004, in partnership with the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) School of Education, VLF was awarded three consecutive federal Early Reading First (ERF) grants.

And in 2008, VLF created the Northside Reading Foundations (NoRF) program using the knowledge gained from the federal grants. Two years later, this program was renamed Excellence in Children’s Early Language and Literacy (ExCELL).

ExCELL is a comprehensive early childhood program that connects educators with families and helps build a common understanding of the important experiences and opportunities that young children need to develop a strong foundation for early reading success. My goal is to build a bridge that connects two contexts of the child; we want to have all important and influential adults supporting the child.

So, we enter into an existing parent-teacher relationship where there’s already a level of trust between families and teachers. ExCELL also builds a common knowledge base around what children benefit from in these first five years. And actually, I would suggest we focus on the first 8 years because the work we do with students, all the way up through second grade, sets the stage for children to be successful in reading and writing.

While we maintain a focus on literacy and language, it’s all within the context of whole child development; which would include community support and resources as well. Can you describe how ExCELL provides professional development to teachers and how partnerships with parents and families are developed and leveraged to advance children’s learning and development?

We offer professional development that focuses on topical areas of children’s early language and literacy development. Teachers then receive classroom instructional materials that are directly connected to what we’ve explored in that training that they can use the very next day in their classrooms.

As a follow-up to these professional development sessions, we also provide early literacy coaches that give individualized classroom support to teachers each week. The coaches’ goal is to help teachers implement the strategies or practices they learned in the professional development session. When working consistently with teachers, our connections with parents strengthen.

This is because, oftentimes, teachers encourage and invite parents to meet the ExCELL team. When this happens, we find that family participation increases in our monthly family events that are aligned with the work we’re doing with teachers. A big point of discussion in the education field regards teacher retention and longevity.

Do you think that the support that you all give to teachers improves their longevity in their role? I humbly say yes. I do think that this kind of support helps them to feel better about their jobs.

We want teachers to really feel joy and success in their roles in the classroom. But without consistent support, teachers can feel isolated and overwhelmed at times. They might wonder, “Does anyone care?

” I think it helps when teachers have a thinking partner, a coach, to problem solve and celebrate successes with them. We have seen fairly stable teacher retention over the years. In fact, some of the teachers we’ve worked with have become leaders in their programs; and some of them have gone beyond, as they’re coaches or are in education administrators.

So I do believe that it can make a difference, but I’m humble about that because it takes the teachers wanting that as well. How have you seen children benefit from partnerships between teachers and coaches? We do see gains in the assessments; and our literacy coaches see children more engaged because the materials and teaching strategies we’re providing are designed to do just that.

Teachers are resilient and bring so many strengths to their job. Sometimes, though, we [educators] don’t realize we’re in a pattern of instruction or classroom management that’s not working. That’s what a thinking partner, or coach, is there for.

The coach is there to identify those opportunities and to really support teachers in celebrating the good times. Can you talk more about the importance of family engagement in advancing literacy rates? There is growing evidence that we cannot change the trajectory for these children just through the classroom.

When parents are truly connected and engaged in their child’s learning, the outcomes are significantly better for that child; not only for their success in school, but for a future beyond the classroom. We also find that, when parents feel invited and encouraged by their child’s teachers, they respond. They want their child to be successful and feel good about school.

Sometimes parents just don’t know how to ask for help or advocate for their child. As an experienced educator, I can still get nervous talking to someone who has authority in some way. So I understand that power imbalance.

When it comes to education, we need to know when that power dynamic is at play to help parents feel comfortable to ask questions, learn more, and feel empowered to advocate for their child’s needs. You talk about this topic with so much passion, what motivates you to do this work? I was a preschool director in Richmond for many years; and in that job I became a volunteer tutor in one of the RPS elementary schools.

Something in that experience just clicked for me, and I knew I wanted to be part of a program aimed at making a difference. I am driven to be a part of something that’s positive and forward-looking, wanting to make a difference for our children and their families who face challenges and barriers to succeed. All children deserve that kind of support.

I want every child to start kindergarten eager, confident, and capable of succeeding. How has Robins Foundation supported you all? Robins Foundation has been a trusted partner and primary supporter of the ExCELL program for many years.

We are so grateful for their support and guidance. Their commitment to early childhood and their focus on a child’s first five years is a shared value. Robins has been instrumental in bringing attention to the importance of early childhood in Richmond and provided the needed support for advancements in resources and services.

Is there anything specific that you would like to promote in this interview, like a specific program or initiative or an awareness month? VLF is seeking to create regional early childhood “Family Learning Centers.

” These Family Learning Centers will provide multi-generational resources, guidance, and connections to engage as true partners in their children’s learning, set family and individual goals, and build capacity for meeting those goals. Building community relationships will be key to the success of these family learning centers. For more information on the Virginia Literacy Foundation, please visit their website: https://virginialiteracy.

org/ 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