For over 100 years, the Foundation for Child Development has been a foundation for building better lives for young children. We identify needs and fill gaps by connecting research to changes that continuously improve policy and practice. The Foundation for Child Development provides the evidence, analysis and recommendations needed to implement early childhood systems that work for all children.

The Foundation for Child Development supports policy and practice relevant research, as well as advocacy and communications, related to our current programmatic direction. Please visit our Stronger Workforce, Effective Systems, and Priority Populations pages for more information on our current focus on the early care and education workforce.

Below are our grantmaking strategies for the types of activities the Foundation supports:

Research: Support to non-profit research centers to generate and disseminate policy-relevant and/or practice-relevant knowledge supportive of the Foundation’s major programs and initiatives

Fellowships: Support to promising scholars for their research projects and for mentoring and networking opportunities to develop their leadership and collaboration skills

Public policy/advocacy: Support for public awareness and policymaker education through grants, through convenings and communications, and through cultivating collaboration

Strategic communications: Support to bring about social change, shape policy, and influence public opinion, mobilize decision-makers and key stakeholders, and transmit and translate research knowledge into action

WHAT WE DO NOT FUND:
Direct services
Capital campaigns and endowments
The purchase, construction, or renovation of buildings
Grants for projects outside the United States

The Foundation for Child Development does not accept unsolicited proposals, rather, requests for funding are submitted to the Foundation by invitation only. We fund organizations that are non-profit, public charities as recognized by the United States Internal Revenue Service under the Internal Revenue code 501(c)(3).

Our Young Scholars Program for fellowship grants is our only open competition. Please visit the Young Scholars Program page for more information about eligibility and the application process: https://www.fcd-us.org/about-us/young-scholars-program/