First Up

Challenge

First Up is a Philadelphia-based nonprofit that provides professional development, coaching, and advocacy on behalf of early childhood educators. By supporting this marginalized workforce, First Up helps to ensure that young children receive a quality early childhood education. First Up reaches approximately 6,000 educators (and by extension, 50,000 young children) in Southeastern Pennsylvania annually.

In 2018, First Up came to Elevate to increase its institutional funding. At the time, only 20% of First Up’s revenue derived from institutional funders, compared to contract-based support, comprising approximately 65% of First Up revenue. Private institutional support was provided by a handful of Pennsylvania grantmakers, leaving First Up vulnerable to shifting funder priorities. First Up wanted support in prospecting and cultivating new funders—including regional and national ones—interested in supporting early education work. They also sought Elevate’s support in developing compelling language to better make the case for an investment in the early education workforce (as opposed to direct service work with young children) and to describe emerging programmatic initiatives responsive to community needs.

Response

First Up opted to engage in Elevate’s Comprehensive Grant Writing Services at the “Starter” level so that we could help them build a robust and sustainable grants program. The Elevate team gained familiarity with First Up’s organization by speaking with its leadership team and program staff to learn about its ongoing work, its future needs, and funding gaps. Elevate helped introduce First Up to new funding opportunities by providing prospect research briefs and cultivation tools for First Up staff outreach to program officers. Additionally, Elevate worked side-by-side with First Up to strengthen its organizational language and program descriptions to make a stronger case for funders to support initiatives aimed at early childhood educators.

Subsequently, First Up hired its first full time Development Director, and its in-house grant writer left the organization to pursue another opportunity. As a result, First Up leadership elected to expand its Elevate contract to the “Standard” scope of work, doubling the Elevate team’s capacity to prepare and submit grants. With this additional capacity, Elevate could more effectively seek funding for First Up’s new work responsive to emergent needs of its community, including pandemic-workforce supports, race equity, trauma-informed care, and teacher wellness programming, as well as new initiatives tailored to demographics with unique needs (e.g., Latinx providers and home childcare providers).

Impact

In the first four years of our partnership, First Up has more than doubled its institutional funding, and the organization’s win rate for grants has climbed from 40.5% to 66.7%.

The organization has secured significant new funding, including a six-figure grant from the Raising Child Care Fund, as well as increased its support from existing funders for new initiatives, demonstrating these partners’ sustained confidence in First Up’s approach to early childhood education work.

About the Organization

First Up is a Philadelphia-based nonprofit that provides professional development, coaching, and advocacy on behalf of early childhood educators. By supporting this marginalized workforce, First Up helps to ensure that young children receive a quality early childhood education. First Up reaches approximately 6,000 educators (and by extension, 50,000 young children) in Southeastern Pennsylvania annually.

Service Details

education, advocacy, and policy

Founded

2018

Started with Elevate

2018

Location

Philadelphia, PA

Annual Budget

$4,300,000

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