Step 1: Individual Review

Each application is read independently by five members of our staff team. We use a shared rubric so each proposal is reviewed against the same criteria. It helps us evaluate alignment with our focus on children and families, the strength of each approach, organizational capacity, and the potential for meaningful impact.

Step 2: Team Deliberation and Follow-Up

After individual reviews, our staff gathers for a half-day discussion to talk through each application. We compare perspectives, identify strengths, and determine where we need more information.

By the end of this step, we’ve typically narrowed applications down to those we’re likely to recommend for funding and those where we still have outstanding questions. We usually need to follow up with a small number of organizations to gather additional information, clarify details, and ensure we fully understand the work.

Step 3: Final Recommendations and Award Amounts

Once questions are addressed, staff finalize funding recommendations and determine proposed award amounts.

We carefully consider what each organization requests and the financial realities they’re navigating. At the same time, we aim to be consistent in how we make funding decisions across applicants. Award amounts are shaped by the breadth, depth, and intensity of impact, the potential for systems-level change, and alignment with our strategic priorities.

Because we have a finite amount of funding and receive more strong proposals than we can fully support, recommendations don’t always match the amount requested. Often, we fund at lower levels so we can support as many organizations as possible.

Our goal is to balance organizational need, fairness, and overall community impact in every funding cycle.

Step 4: Impact Committee review

Recommendations are then reviewed by our board’s impact committee — a group that includes five trustees and four community members who are not on our board. These community volunteers bring perspectives from education, early childhood, health care, the nonprofit sector, and broader community experience.

The committee reviews each application and participates in a focused discussion where they hear staff recommendations and assess alignment with our logic model and strategic priorities.

Step5: Full Board review

From there, staff summaries of applications and the committee’s recommendations are presented to our full board of trustees — 13 members have final approval authority. They have the opportunity to ask questions before voting.

Over time, board members also build familiarity with organizations by attending site visits and through their ongoing engagement in the community. The board’s role is to ensure funding decisions are financially sound and aligned with the Foundation’s mission and strategic direction.

What this process means for organizations that apply.

Your relationship with staff matters. The more our staff understand your work — your team, challenges, and successes — the better we can share that perspective with other staff members, the committee, and the board during the decision-making process.

Clarity matters. Your application must be understandable and compelling to staff who know your work well, to board and committee members who are subject-matter experts, and to those who know little about what you do.

Scope and depth matter. With more requests than available funding, we prioritize reach and intensity of impact, along with work that addresses root causes and social drivers of health and contributes to systems-level change.

Alignment matters most. Decisions are grounded in the Foundation’s grantmaking priorities that have been shaped by staff, community members, and the board. If an organization is interested in applying, a helpful first step is to visit our website and review how we describe the change we’re working toward and the types of work we typically prioritize funding. It can help you quickly determine whether there’s a strong fit with your work and goals.

At the same time, we know important work doesn’t always fit neatly into predefined categories. If you’re advancing promising or innovative approaches that support the health and well-being of young children and families, we encourage you to reach out to us. Our strategies continue to evolve as community needs change, and conversations with organizations doing the work help shape where we invest.