Director, Raising Child Care Fund

For more than 30 years, the Early Childhood Funders Collaborative (ECFC) has brought together national, regional, and local funders committed to supporting young children and their families. ECFC works to increase the effectiveness of philanthropic investment in systemic, equity-focused approaches to early childhood and to advance policies and practices that support children from prenatal through age eight, their families, and the early childhood field. Through shared learning, collaborative funding, and coordinated policy efforts, ECFC helps funders align their investments, learn from one another, and leverage their collective influence. ECFC is fiscally sponsored by Third Sector New England, Inc. (TSNE), which formally employs ECFC staff, including the RCCF Director.

The Raising Child Care Fund (RCCF), a philanthropic fund hosted by ECFC, launched in 2019 to channel philanthropic resources to grassroots organizations that work alongside families, early educators, caregivers, and providers to build power and advance a more equitable child care system. RCCF's Theory of Change centers the voices of those who most rely on and work in child care, especially people who have historically been disenfranchised and excluded from decisions that affect them. RCCF invests in their leadership and organizing, grounded in the belief that those closest to the challenges facing child care must help lead the movement for change. Alongside its grantmaking, RCCF engages funders in learning about grassroots organizing as an essential, historically underfunded strategy for social change and connects organizers with additional funding, resources, and relationships.

RCCF has raised nearly $30 million from private foundations. Today, 16 foundations support its work in 19 states and Washington, DC. More than 75% of RCCF's grantee partners are led by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. The Fund provides unrestricted support, giving grassroots organizations the flexibility to pursue child care-focused organizing and power-building strategies responsive to their communities.

ECFC is a fiscally sponsored project of TSNE (tsne.org).

Launched in 2019 by the Early Childhood Funders Collaborative (ECFC), the Raising Child Care Fund (RCCF) invests in the people and organizations building power for a more equitable child care system. RCCF supports grassroots organizers who work alongside parents, early educators, caregivers, and providers and brings funders together to learn, invest, and act more strategically. What began as an idea among a small group of foundations has grown into a national network supporting organizing across 19 states and the District of Columbia.

RCCF enters its next chapter at a pivotal moment for child care, grassroots movements, and philanthropy. Its grantee partners are demonstrating what sustained organizing can achieve, from advancing universal child care and defending public investments to strengthening coalitions and building community leadership. At the same time, a shifting political and funding landscape is requiring philanthropic institutions to make difficult choices about where and how to invest, making RCCF's role in connecting funders with movements and communities increasingly important.

• Lead RCCF's grantmaking strategy, including priorities related to geography, organizing capacity, and equitable investment in organizations led by and serving communities most affected by inequities in child care.
• Cultivate trusted relationships with grantee partners and collaborate with RCCF staff and national, state, and local partners to identify opportunities to strengthen grassroots organizing and power building.
• Ensure grantee perspectives meaningfully inform RCCF's strategy and grantmaking, and continue to evolve practices that center transparency, trust, accountability, and the expertise of organizers and community leaders.

• Develop and execute a robust fundraising strategy that sustains RCCF's existing philanthropic partnerships, strengthens its long-term financial sustainability, and expands the Fund's constituency across new funders and sectors.
• Cultivate and steward relationships with current and prospective funders; develop funding opportunities and proposals; and oversee reporting and other funder commitments.
• Lead funder engagement and education to deepen understanding of grassroots organizing and power building as essential strategies for advancing change in child care, of equitable approaches to grantmaking, and of the connections between child care and adjacent movements and issues.
• Steward RCCF's budget and financial resources in partnership with the ECFC Executive Director, TSNE fiscal staff, and RCCF's evolving governance structure, including grant levels and durations, contracts, and the effective deployment of incoming and outgoing funds.
• Work with ECFC leadership, RCCF partners, and the Fund's evolving governance structure to translate strategic priorities into funding and grantmaking decisions and support effective decision-making through periods of change.

• Provide leadership for RCCF staff and consultants by setting clear priorities, assessing capacity needs, and shaping the team and resources needed to support the Fund's strategy.
• Serve as a bridge between philanthropy and grassroots movements, helping funders, organizers, advocates, and other partners understand one another's perspectives and creating opportunities for learning, collaboration, and aligned action.
• Shape RCCF's communications and storytelling to elevate grantee partners' work, demonstrate the impact of sustained investment in organizing, and make a compelling case for philanthropic support.
• Build partnerships with local, state, and national movement and advocacy organizations, and identify opportunities for collaboration across adjacent fields and constituencies.
• Contribute RCCF's experience and perspective to ECFC's broader work through member learning, consultation, convenings, and representation at philanthropic and field gatherings.

We seek candidates with significant leadership experience navigating complex organizations, partnerships, or movements, along with a strong combination of the qualifications, experiences, and capacities described below. We recognize that candidates may bring these strengths through different professional pathways and do not expect any one candidate to bring equal depth across every area.

• Deep understanding of grassroots organizing, power building, advocacy, and public policy, gained through work in child care or a related field or movement. Experience in child care is valued, but candidates with relevant experience in adjacent areas such as economic justice, worker organizing, immigrant justice, racial or gender justice, the care economy, democracy, or other movements are encouraged to apply.
• Demonstrated success cultivating philanthropic relationships and securing significant private funding for advocacy, organizing, policy, or movement-building work, with the ability to make a compelling investment case and to build relationships with funders across issue areas and priorities.
• Strong coalition leadership and relational skills, with experience building trust and collaborating with funders, organizers, advocates, community leaders, and other partners. The Director will understand power dynamics in philanthropy and bring sound judgment, humility, and respect for community-led change.
• Experience with grantmaking, pooled funds, philanthropic collaboratives, and/or collaborative governance, including an understanding of equitable approaches to resourcing state and community organizations that emphasize trust, flexibility, and appropriate reporting expectations. Experience creating opportunities for smaller, emerging, or historically underfunded organizations is especially valued.
• Strategic leadership in complex, evolving environments, with the ability to navigate uncertainty, make sound decisions, guide stakeholders through change, and translate strategy into action. The Director will bring imagination to RCCF's next chapter while respecting the relationships and practices that have made the Fund effective.
• Strong communication and storytelling skills, including the ability to synthesize learning across partners, communicate with diverse audiences, and articulate the relationship among grassroots organizing, policy change, and meaningful outcomes for children, families, and communities.
• Commitment to ECFC and RCCF's mission and values, including racial equity, shared power, transparency, learning, and respect for the expertise of those closest to the issues RCCF seeks to address.

The physical demands described here are representative of those for this position. Reasonable accommodations will be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the functions. Work is performed in an office environment and in close proximity to other workers.

While performing the duties of this position, the employee is required to:

• Handle, or feel objects, tools or controls;
• Reach; traverse; sit (usually for longer periods of time); occasionally ascend/descend; and position self (to) move;
• Occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds;
• The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate;
• Job is not subject to significant occupational or environmental hazards;
• Likelihood of personal injury would be relatively slight;
• Environmental and work hazards are not present to a measurable degree.

This is a fully remote position open to candidates nationwide. The Director is expected to maintain a home office conducive to productive work and virtual meetings. ECFC provides necessary computer equipment and office supplies.

This is a full-time position with some scheduling flexibility. Most working hours should fall between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time, with regular availability between noon and 5:00 p.m. ET to accommodate partner meetings across U.S. time zones. The Director should expect approximately 10–15% travel for funder and partner meetings, conferences, convenings, and other RCCF/ECFC activities.