The Raising Child Care Fund is an initiative of ECFC that pools private foundation dollars to give grants to groups that lift up the voices of families, early educators, and allies—working alongside them to build powerful coalitions to transform child care and expand equity.
"It is important to measure the benchmarks of organizing because although we may not be able to report policy wins, grassroots efforts are happening. Building a grassroots movement takes time. We need to acknowledge that the work hasn’t stopped and that people are committed to working toward change even if it’s not making headlines."
Amy Jo Hutchinson, Rattle the Windows
“New Mexico has the highest income eligibility for child care assistance in the country, the best hazard pay for pandemic child care workers, and now we’re fighting for living wages for early educators and a new system designed by parents and educators. All with RCCF’s support.”
Matthew Henderson, Olé Education Fund
“Thanks to funding from RCCF, we have been able to expand the base we organize to bring power to hundreds more parents, providers and early childhood educators across the state of Minnesota.”
Lydia Boerboom, ISAIAH
"It doesn’t make sense to focus on child care without addressing racial and gender equity or recognizing the interconnected historical, economic, and political issues robbing children of their potential."
Lenice Emmanuel, Alabama Institute for Social Justice
“The well-being of children, particularly Black and Brown children and families is my life’s mission.”
Mackenzie Grayson, Alliance for Quality Education
“If we don’t support the high quality of child care in all forms of care, then we’re not actually doing what we claim to do.”
Lorena Garcia, Colorado Statewide Parent Coalition
“We work for and with the people. And there has been magic listening to people.”
Ashley Shelton, Power Coalition for Equity
The Raising Child Care Fund (RCCF) is an active philanthropic partner in the national movement to transform child care into a system that works for all families and for all those who care for and educate young children. Over the past five years, RCCF has embarked on an incredible journey shifting resources to expand the reach and influence of community-based organizations working toward transformational change.
RCCF's 2023 Reach and Influence Report highlights the reach and influence of our grantee partners in 2023 and amplifies the lessons they are teaching us.
RCCF aims to achieve major transformation of child care so that all families can choose the care they want and need, and early educators receive compensation commensurate with the value they add to society.
RCCF has become a powerful philanthropic learning laboratory to center racial equity and power-building alongside community leaders most proximate to the country’s most pressing social challenges, including the broken child care system.
- More than 3/4 of RCCF grantee partners have Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) leaders.
- RCCF grants underwrite our grantee partners’ capacity to combat the historic race and gender inequities built into child care in America.
- RCCF general operating grants support their community-based power-building strategies to address intersectional barriers to child and family well-being.
By the end of 2023, RCCF raised $17M from private foundations, and to date has funded community organizers in 17 states who are working with parents and providers to transform our failing child care system.
