Grants for preschools

889 nurseries, preschools, and kindergartens received at least $11.3 million in grants for the most recent fiscal year. This includes 651 grants made from 511 grantmaking organizations, with a median grant amount of $1,234. Of these 511 foundations, 89% made just a single grant to preschools, and 2% made grants to four or more preschools. This analysis is based on grantmakers that e-file their Form 990s, and likely is an undercount of grants.
$11,334,272
Total grant dollars given to preschools
651
Number of grants made annually to preschools
511
Number of grantmakers funding preschools
$1,234
Median grant size to preschools

Foundations that support nurseries, preschools, and kindergartens

Out of all grants made to preschools, 70% came from small foundations with less than $10 million in assets. The top 10 grantmakers accounted for 89% of the dollar-value of grants to preschools. Foundations funding preschools also made grants to educational service providers, multiservice human service organizations, food banks, and religious organizations.

Foundation size

Foundation size Number of grantmakers
Small
 
361
Medium
 
81
Large
 
69
Small foundations have <$10M in assets. Medium foundations have $10M to $50M in assets. Large foundations have >$50M in assets.

Foundation type

Foundation type Number of grantmakers
Community
 
19
Private
 
411
Corporate
 
43
Other
 
38

Grants made

Grants made to preschools Number of grantmakers
1
 
455
2-3
 
42
4-10
 
12
11+
 
2

Top 10 foundations supporting nurseries, preschools, and kindergartens

Grantmaker State Geographic focus Percent of grant dollars to preschools Number of grants made to preschools Median grant size
Abbvie Foundation IL National 0.1% 26 $255
Baird Foundation WI National 0.3% 14 $800
Fidelity Foundation MA National 0.0% 8 $2,050
Salesforce Com Foundation CA National 0.0% 7 $50
Seattle Foundation WA State 0.0% 6 $1,000
Chubb Charitable Foundation PA National 0.2% 6 $875
Shell Oil Company Foundation TX National 0.0% 6 $310
Tulsa Community Foundation OK National 5.1% 5 $5,000
Carmax Foundation VA National 0.0% 5 $500
Arthur J Gallagher Foundation IL National 0.2% 5 $500

Nurseries, preschools, and kindergartens grantees

Preschools with more than $5 million in total revenues received 90% of all grant dollars. These larger organizations accounted for 14% of all preschools.

Grant amounts

Size of grant Number of grants
<$10k
 
649
$10k-$25k
 
0
$25k-$100k
 
0
$100k+
 
2

Grant amount by grantee size

Grantee annual revenue Median grant size
<$100k
 
$2,400
$100k-$500k
 
$1,000
$500k-$1M
 
$1,000
$1M-$5M
 
$1,500
>$5M
 
$1,500

Grantee states

State of grantee Number of grants
California
 
88
Illinois
 
48
New York
 
47
Texas
 
42
Other
 
426

Grantee metros

Metro area of grantee Number of grants
New York City
 
54
Chicago
 
45
San Francisco
 
33
Boston
 
32
Other
 
436

Top 25 grants made to preschools

Grantee Grant size Purpose Grantmaker
Tulsa Educare $6,710,240 General Operations Tulsa Community Foundation
Tulsa Educare $3,287,324 Early Childhood Programs Community Action Project of Tulsa (CAP)
Educare New Orleans $5,000 Charitable The Mary Freeman Wisdom Foundation
Lumin Education $5,000 Early Childhood Education The Baldridge Foundation
Lumin Education $5,000 Early Childhood Education The Baldridge Foundation
Montessori Education Trust $5,000 General Purposes Charlottesville Area Community Foundation
North Branch School $5,000 General Purposes Charlottesville Area Community Foundation
North Branch School $5,000 General Fund Charlottesville Area Community Foundation
Storyteller Children's Center $5,000 General The Greene Family Foundation
Cape Cod Children's Place $5,000 Charitable Contribution Ingeborg Foundation
Hilltop Preschool $5,000 Education The Columbus Foundation
Pathways Early Learning Academy $5,000 Support Organization's Capacity As A Result of Assessment. Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg
The Washington Market School $5,000 Grant Distribution for the Annual Appeal Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines
Little Sprouts Learning Center $5,000 Covid Mile High United Way
Good Shepherd Catholic Montessori $5,000 Matching Gifts Chubb Charitable Foundation
Good Shepherd Catholic Montessori $5,000 Matching Gifts Chubb Charitable Foundation
Zaca Center Preschool $5,000 General Operating Support Hutton Parker Foundation
Kids on the Move $5,000 To Sponsor 2020 Heber Half Run for Autism The Kahlert Foundation
Presidio Childhood Education Coalition $5,000 Youth Literacy Partner Dollar General Literacy Foundation
Montclair Community Pre-K (MCPK) $5,000 General Operating Credit Suisse Americas Foundation
Knox County Head Start $5,000 Unrestricted Operating Support Case Western Reserve University
Lumin Education $5,000 To Support Their Reading Programs The Kahn Education Foundation
Garden of Hope Montessori $5,000 To Achieve the Goals of the Organization The Johnnie and Shirley Johnson Family Foundation
Little Peaks $5,000 For the Wonders of the Woods Program Adirondack Foundation
Lakeside Preschool $5,000 For Staff and Teacher Professional Development. Adirondack Foundation
Methodology: To determine grants and grantees, Cause IQ analyzes electronically-filed Form 990, Form 990-EZ, and Form 990-PF financial disclosure documents, matching grantees to specific organizations using EINs and fuzzy matching logic. The "Preschools" category for this page is determined by the "B21: Nursery School, Early School Admissions, Kindergarten" National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) code. Cause IQ determines NTEEs for organizations by its own internally-developed secret-sauce algorithms.