Transformative Partnership with Early Childhood Funders
Strong funding is more than moving dollars. At its best it is a relationship — rooted in dignity, transparency, and a shared commitment to children, families, and communities. The short guide below shows what that looks like in practice, and where to read more.
The framework
Dream State 2.0 is a shared framework for the relationship between early childhood leaders of color and their funding partners. At the center is funding practice: how decisions are made and communicated, how expectations are set, how relationships are held, and how resources actually move. Three connected tenets shape it.
- Confidence in leaders' expertise and lived experience
- Space to be honest about real conditions and tradeoffs
- Engagement beyond the grant cycle
- Systems that support learning, not just compliance
- Name power dynamics openly
- Be transparent about decisions, constraints, and flexibility
- Give leaders real influence over priorities
- Move toward shared influence, not parallel realities
- Keep commitments and flag changes early
- Align practice with stated values
- Open channels for feedback and repair
- Be clear about what's possible and what must change
These tenets are shared practices, not a checklist for funders alone. Leaders bring community-rooted expertise, strategy, and accountability to the families they serve; funders bring resources, influence, and accountability to their commitments. The work is to practice the relationship differently, together.
Read the full resources
Download the full documents, or expand either one to read it here.
Dream State 2.0 — Framework summary How to move beyond transactional grantmaking, and what Trust, Power, and Accountability look like in practice.
Dream State 2.0 is a shared framework for strengthening funding relationships between early childhood leaders of color and funding partners. It names what it looks like to move beyond transactional grantmaking toward relationships rooted in dignity, transparency, shared commitment, and better outcomes for children, families, and communities.
It responds to a persistent gap in philanthropy: equity may be named as a value, but leaders often still experience limited transparency, limited influence, unclear expectations, and uneven power. The framework shifts the focus from intention to lived experience, asking: how do we build relationships where dignity, transparency, and shared commitment are felt in practice, not just named?
Funding practice
Funding practice is where relationships, decisions, expectations, and resources are shaped across both leaders and funders. It includes how funding decisions are made and communicated, how expectations are set and adjusted, how priorities and constraints are shared, and how partners navigate change in real time. Moving dollars alone does not define equity — what matters is how resources are experienced, shaped, communicated, and applied in relationship. Healthy practice requires clarity on both sides about what is possible, what is flexible, and what is constrained. Not every partnership will be the right fit, and naming that honestly strengthens the whole ecosystem.
Trust
Trust is relational, bi-directional, and built through consistent behavior over time. It grows when leaders and funders communicate honestly, engage with curiosity, and operate in good faith. In practice it includes:
- Confidence in the leadership, expertise, and lived experience of community-rooted organizations
- Space for honest communication about realities, needs, challenges, tradeoffs, and emerging opportunities
- Engagement beyond transactional grant cycles — check-ins, learning conversations, thought partnership
- Systems that support learning rather than compliance
- Connection, visibility, and shared learning across networks
- Relationships grounded in respect, care, curiosity, and shared purpose
Power
Power shapes who defines impact, sets priorities, determines the terms of engagement, and influences how resources move. It exists in many forms — financial resources, institutional authority, networks, knowledge, lived experience, community relationships, and credibility — and it is not equally distributed. Naming these dynamics lets them be navigated intentionally. In practice it includes:
- Acknowledging structural dynamics within philanthropy
- Recognizing the expertise, influence, and community power of leaders of color
- Transparency about decision-making, constraints, priorities, timelines, flexibility, and non-negotiables
- Real opportunities for leaders to shape priorities, strategy, and definitions of success
- Opportunities for funders to share institutional context and engage as learning partners
- Adjusting roles by context — sometimes leading, sometimes listening, sometimes following
Accountability
Accountability means commitments are honored, transparency is maintained, and relationships are stewarded with integrity — and it is reciprocal. Leaders are accountable to their communities, teams, missions, and use of resources; funders are accountable to their commitments, practices, and the impact of how resources are allocated. In practice it includes:
- Honoring commitments and communicating changes proactively
- Aligning practices with stated values
- Supporting meaningful, context-driven definitions of success
- Creating channels for feedback, dialogue, and learning
- Addressing misalignment or harm with honesty, dignity, and repair
- Adapting expectations and timelines when conditions shift
ECLOC–Funders Partnership — overview A national learning community where leaders of color and funders practice equity together, as peers.
The ECLOC–Funders Partnership is a national learning community and practice laboratory where early childhood leaders of color and funders collaborate as peers to reflect, experiment, and influence the field. It is not an advisory group or a funder-driven initiative, but a co-created, confidential space grounded in authentic relationship, shared power, mutual accountability, and real change.
Racial equity is a shared priority across early childhood, yet progress remains uneven. Philanthropic practices continue to work least well for leaders of color — and when the system doesn't work for them, it ultimately fails the whole field. The partnership gives funders and leaders a place to learn by doing and build habits of equitable philanthropy. Together, participants interrupt inequities at the root, learn side by side, and co-create solutions led by those most impacted.
Who takes part
- Funders across roles — executive directors, program officers, directors, and others — ready to deepen equity practice and test new approaches in real time.
- Early childhood leaders of color — practitioners, organizers, and advisors bringing lived expertise, field knowledge, and community accountability.
What funders gain
- Clearer, more confident equity practice grounded in trusted relationships
- Real-time, judgment-free feedback on decisions before they're institutionalized
- A low-risk space to test and refine grantmaking approaches with ECLOC partners
- Peer support and language to move colleagues, leadership, and boards
- Early insight into emerging needs and field-level shifts
- A trusted space to practice shared power and relational philanthropy
What leaders of color gain
- Direct influence on how philanthropy operates and how equity is defined
- A collaborative space to surface barriers and co-create solutions
- Greater visibility, voice, and collective power across the field
- Stronger alliances to advance advocacy, sustainability, and community well-being
- Support for reflective practice, sensemaking, and shared leadership growth
What participants commit to
Participation is rooted in authenticity, mutual accountability, and psychological safety, with shared norms around confidentiality and reciprocal engagement. The structure is designed to maintain momentum and trust while staying flexible to each person's capacity and role:
