In recognition of the evolving early childhood sector, our Board of Trustees gathered in June 2022 to discuss the Buell Foundation’s funding priorities. The Foundation remains committed to early childhood education and development and has chosen to direct significant resources to the early childhood workforce issues facing the state. This is a priority for the Foundation over the next several years and requires a redistribution of funds. As a result, the Buell Foundation no longer has the capacity to fund some types of programs that previously received grants.
Beginning in 2023, the following changes regarding our programmatic funding have been implemented:
- Applications for child care centers that serve fewer than 15% enrollment of low-income families will no longer be considered. THBF definitions for low-income by county can be found here.
- Applications for organizations that have operating reserves greater than nine months will no longer be considered. Operating reserves are generally calculated by dividing net current assets into annual operating budget.
- Applications for the following programs will no longer be considered:
- Family literacy
- Children’s museums
- Book distribution
- Nutrition and physical activity
- Limited parent information and support. At this time, the Foundation will only consider longer duration programs with active participation (i.e., parenting education classes, home visitation programs, etc.). Activities that will no longer be considered include limited resource and materials distribution, and infrequent parent gatherings.
Additionally, the Buell Foundation is encountering an unprecedented increase in requests for capital support, both in quantity of applications and in request size, with a limited budget to support these projects. Amidst an influx of capital proposals in recent years and increasing construction costs, the Foundation anticipates a more competitive selection process for these applications.
Beginning in 2023, capital requests will only be accepted at our September grant deadline.
- The Foundation will no longer be considering requests for capital projects in our January and May application cycles.
- All applications for capital projects must be submitted in our September cycle. The September 2023 cycle deadline is September 1.
- At this time, the Foundation is only considering capital projects for licensed child care facilities, with priority given to those focused on expanding or creating new capacity.
These changes do not reflect negatively on any organization, it is a matter of finite resources and prioritizing by our trustees and staff.
If you have any questions regarding your organization’s eligibility, please contact your Program Officer or grants@buellfoundation.org.