Early Childhood Grantmaking Program
| Our Priorities
The Early Childhood Fund prioritizes non-profits working in the areas of early childhood care and education.
ACF seeks to support organizations making an impact by:
- Strengthening the skills of caregivers – parents, childcare staff, FFN providers – so they can support the healthy development of children in their care
- Providing tuition assistance to increase access to quality care
| Our Process
Each organization seeking funding should first review our grantmaking guidelines and determine whether its proposal meets the criteria and priorities of ACF.Â
Download the 2025 Early Childhood grant guidelines.
Download the Spanish translation of these guidelines.
April 28, 2025
Application is Open
May 29, 2025
Application Closes
June - August 2025
Staff Review
September 2025
ACF Board Approves Grant Awards
September - October 2025
Award Notification & Grant Agreements Sent
October 2025
Checks Mailed
If the organization meets the guidelines, begin the application process by navigating to the grant application platform. All applicants will need to create an account in ACF’s grant management system.
| Our Criteria
We seek out grant applicants who can showcase:Â
- Alignment with one of ACF’s Early Childhood priorities.
- Commitment to serving under-resourced people and geographies.
- Meaningful depth and duration of contact with those served.
- Clearly articulated metrics and demonstrated impact and positive outcomes for children and families.
ACF’s early childhood grantmaking program is a competitive process and not all requests will be funded. Each application is assessed on its own merit against the scoring criteria.
Each application is scored using a rubric. Check back in April for the 2025 grant guidelines and rubric.
| Virtual Office Hours
Virtual Office Hours are on offer to learn more about the Early Childhood and Youth Empowerment grant processes and to ask questions of the ACF Community Impact team.
Virtual Office Hours sessions are intended to be optional and duplicative. We recommend attending promptly at 10:00 AM to hear our presentation before it opens to Q&A.
Tuesday, April 14th
10:00 AM – 11:30 AM
Spanish interpretation is scheduled for this session
Scott Kenner
Program Officer
| Questions?
Email Scott, ACF’s Program Officer, or call 970-279-5592 (direct) or 970-925-9300 (office)