Collaborative funding models leverage resources from national and local foundations and philanthropists to strategically address community needs and foster cross-system collaboration. By pooling funds, these models bridge resource gaps and ensure a more coordinated approach to tackling challenges.
The Early Care and Education Funder’s Collaborative (ECEFC), housed at Washington Area Women’s Foundation, exemplifies this collective effort. Supported by corporate funders, individuals, and family foundations, ECEFC operates with a multi-million-dollar budget to enhance the quality, capacity, and accessibility of early care and education in the Washington, D.C. region.
Abriana Kimbrough, our Early Care and Education (ECE) program officer, serves as a liason between the collaborative and grant recipients. Working closely with ECEFC co-chairs Julia Lipton and Carmen Wong, she ensures that funding aligns with priority areas within early care and education.
Recently, we sat down with each of these co-chairs, who completed their terms as co-chairs for the group, to learn more about their experiences.
Julia Lipton
Title: Program Officer
Organization: Howard and Geraldine Polinger Family Foundation
Years served on the ECEFC: 1.5 years
What inspired you to join the ECEFC as a co-chair?
The ECEFC offers a wonderful opportunity for funders to amplify their individual dollars by working in collaboration with other leading area donors. This collaboration ensures that dollars are effectively distributed to support essential needs in ECE. It also provides a great opportunity to not only learn from peer organizations but also experts in the field. Serving as co-chair was a chance to further support this great work.
Can you highlight a particular initiative led by the ECEFC that you’re particularly proud
of?
I’m proud of ECEFC’s support of the Birth to Three for All DC Act. ECEFC has a broad understanding of the field, so it was able to support organizations who were working on all sides of the issue and ensure that the bill had support from multiple sides. These same organizations are now working to ensure funding which is an important next step!
What is one adjective that you would use to describe the ECEFC?
Thoughtful. ECEFC members carefully consider the field and each grant and look for a
way to be good stewards of the dollars and make a difference in the early learning
community in DC.
How do you envision the future of Early Care and Education, and what role do you see
the ECEFC playing in shaping that future?
Early Care and Education is an essential component of a functional society, but it is often times overlooked or taken for granted. With the help of many organizations who are lifting up the voices of ECE providers the broader population is becoming more knowledgeable about the topic and better understands its importance. I hope that awareness continues to grow so that ECE programs get the support they need to care for and educate our children.
What’s one thing most people don’t know about the ECE sector?
There is so much knowledge and experience that already exists in the field. Often times
advocates and funders are so focused on new initiatives that we forget about the
knowledge that is already there.
What is your favorite information source to stay updated on the latest ECE news?
[Washington Area Women’s Foundation’s program officer] Abriana’s google drive folder and all the information that she puts in there!
What advice would you give to individuals or organizations looking to get involved in
advocating for Early Care and Education?
Take the time to listen and learn from the experts on the ground. Talk with providers and
learn about the challenges and opportunities they are seeing. Talk with parents to better
understand their needs. Learn how new policies and practices impact all parts of the
field from providers to parents to children.
What is your favorite classic children’s story?
Good Night Moon. I would read that book every night to my own kids. Now, even though
they are almost teenagers, they still sometimes ask to hear it when they can’t sleep.
Howard and Geraldine Polinger Family Foundation works to improve the quality of life for families and their communities through support of innovative projects and successful ongoing programs.
Learn more about its work here!
Carmen Wong
Title: Program Director
Organization: The J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation
Years served on the ECEFC: 5.5 years
What inspired you to join the ECEFC as a co-chair?
I was inspired seeing what the ECEFC had already accomplished. I was also eager to learn from and with peers supporting early care and education, together taking a collaborative and regional look at the sector.
Can you highlight a particular initiative led by the ECEFC that you’re particularly proud of?
The early childhood workforce compensation research and analysis put a spotlight on the issue and set the stage for transformative conversations, subsequent research, and systems change that followed. While the work is certainly not finished, the catalytic spark fueled by ECEFC stands out.
What is one adjective that you would use to describe the ECEFC?
Attentive
How do you envision the future of Early Care and Education, and what role do you see the ECEFC playing in shaping that future?
In recent years DC has led the nation in making radical system changes for early care and education. Continued forward momentum, and not regression, is imperative. The ECEFC and its grantee partners play a critical role in shaping the early care and education sector DC and the region.
What’s one thing most people don’t know about the ECE sector?
What can be underestimated in the ECE sector is the high ROI not just of impact on children, through laying foundational neurological development and setting the stage for school-readiness, but also the entry point early childhood settings provide to overall family wellness and leveraged 2-generation work that transforms families.
What is your favorite information source to stay updated on the latest ECE news?
Our grantee partners via their work with parents and educators.
What advice would you give to individuals or organizations looking to get involved in advocating for Early Care and Education?
Let’s listen hard and work together.
What is your favorite classic children’s story?
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, by Laura Numeroff
The J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation, a private family foundation established in 1966, is dedicated to creating access and expanding opportunities for all by partnering with nonprofit organizations committed to solving today’s challenges. Resources are deployed to build and sustain vibrant and thriving communities and improve the lives of others.
Learn more about its work here!
Are you an organization or individual interested in becoming a part of the ECEFC? Contact Abriana Kimbrough, Program Officer, here.
