Closing the Year with Purpose:
What We Carry Forward

______________________________________________________________________________________ A Message from the Early Childhood Funders Collaborative’s Executive Director and Chief of Equity & Strategy

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

As the year draws to a close, we are grateful for this community, the times we have shared, and the work we have advanced together. We are especially grateful for the many individuals and organizations working every day to keep families safe, supported, and together—from grassroots organizers to family child care providers to parents, grandparents, and aunties.  However, their crucial efforts continue amidst a backdrop of significant and mounting obstacles.

Across the country, we have witnessed rising food insecurity, fear and family separation created by draconian immigration enforcement, and widening safety net gaps as pandemic-era supports recede—threatening progress that so many organizers, advocates, and families fought to secure. A growing reluctance to confront the deep inequities that persist across racial and socioeconomic lines only magnifies the harm.

Despite these realities, we have experienced moments of hope, inspiration, and solidarity in this community. Last spring, ECFC members convened alongside Raising Child Care Fund and Racial Justice and Equity Fund grantee partners, creating what one participant called “a conscientious container for strategy with compassion.” In October, ECFC led over 70 individuals from our membership on a visit to Montgomery and Selma, Alabama. As we stood on historic ground, hearing stories carried by generations of mothers, elders, organizers, and young people, we were reminded that the struggle for justice, belonging, and democracy has always been the work of ordinary people acting with collective courage. It is ongoing. And it requires each of us.

What we witnessed in Montgomery is not separate from our work. It is our work.

Across the country, ECFC members and grantee partners are promoting families’ civic engagement, expanding birth justice, supporting immigrant families, protecting children’s health and mental health, and organizing for racial justice and economic security.

Throughout the year, we have seen funders learn together, mobilize quickly when policy windows open or close, and stand with partners who are closest to both the challenges and the solutions. You asked hard questions, you listened deeply, and you invested with both urgency and care. We also believe there is more we can do together in the year ahead—and that belief keeps us energized in our work.

ECFC is committed to helping philanthropy meet this moment with clarity and conviction, grounded in community and informed by history.   

We appreciate your partnership, your leadership, and your belief that together we can create communities where every child and family can thrive and flourish. The dedicated and talented ECFC team looks forward to continuing to foster learning, connection, and collective action for our members, while drawing on the invaluable wisdom of our partner organizations and communities.

May you have joy and peace over the holidays. We look forward to connecting in January, energized for the work ahead.

With appreciation and solidarity,

Shannon Rudisill                                                    Keami Harris
Executive Director                                                  Chief of Equity & Strategy
Early Childhood Funders Collaborative            Early Childhood Funders Collaborative