Resources for Investing in a Strong Start for Children

New evi­dence from neu­ro­science and social sci­ence, high-lev­el pol­i­cy efforts and grow­ing con­cern among busi­ness, mil­i­tary and oth­er civic lead­ers have placed ear­ly child­hood high on the pri­or­i­ty list for donors focused on impact. Such grow­ing inter­est has gen­er­at­ed vast amounts of infor­ma­tion and poten­tial­ly use­ful guid­ance. The Cen­ter for High Impact Phil­an­thropy recent­ly devel­oped a web-based ​“toolk­it” to help donors cut through the noise. The toolk­it pro­vides key facts, strate­gies, exem­plar pro­grams and part­ners that any donor inter­est­ed in ear­ly child­hood should know. It also curates past work on ear­ly child­hood by the Center.

Why Invest?

The toolk­it pro­vides donors with infor­ma­tion about new research on brain devel­op­ment and func­tion. It also high­lights how to deterem­ine return on invest­ment, con­nect with unlike­ly stake­hold­ers and iden­ti­fy key play­ers in ear­ly child­hood development.

Strate­gies for Investment

Three key strate­gies for invest­ment are described in detail: Weave a web of sup­port for kids and fam­i­lies, pro­vide great places to learn and pre­pare kids to be strong lead­ers. Addi­tion­al­ly, the toolk­it focus­es on strate­gies to help chil­dren by help­ing their families.

Exem­plar Programs

The toolk­it high­lights pro­grams proven to sup­port the healthy devel­op­ment of young chil­dren. Fea­tured pro­grams include Nurse-Fam­i­ly Part­ner­ship, the Incred­i­ble Years (imple­ment­ed by Invest in Kids), Edu­care, Children’s Lit­er­a­cy Ini­tia­tive and Jump­start.

Learn more about the donor toolk­it on ear­ly child­hood from the Cen­ter for High Impact Philanthropy: