Why early childhood?

In the past thirty seconds, three more children were born in the United States. Of these three, only two are likely to graduate from high school. Millions of children in the U.S. face lives of lost potential without access to quality prenatal care, healthy and supportive environments, and opportunities to learn. It doesn’t have to be that way.

Funders can help all children get an equal chance at a strong start.

About this Toolkit

New evidence from neuroscience, social science, high-level policy efforts, and growing concern among business, military, and other civic leaders has generated vast amounts of information and potentially useful guidance. We developed this web-based toolkit to help funders cut through the noise. You’ll find key facts, strategies for investment, high impact opportunities, and partners that any funder interested in early childhood should know.

In 2022 we supplemented this toolkit with Early School Success, a primer for donors to help children ages 0 to 8 recover learning losses from COVID and accelerate gains in the future. Visit Early School Success here.

As always, we hope this guidance helps donors move from good intentions to high impact.