The Promise Fund

The Promise Fund

The Promise Fund places trust, capital, and support directly in the hands of proximate, early childhood leaders, creating pathways for traditionally underfunded innovators to scale their impact in the field.

About the Promise Fund

The Promise Fund by Promise Venture Studio is a catalytic, philanthropic impact fund designed to supercharge a community of early-stage, proximate changemakers in early childhood development. In its pilot year, the Promise Fund seeks to get funding and capacity-building supports into hands of proximate leaders who are closest to the work and may be best positioned to effectively implement ideas of ideas to transform early childhood. This Fund consists of two awards: the Promise Sandbox Award and the Early Stage Venture Award.

  • Promise Sandbox Award

    The Promise Sandbox Award offers $20,000 in unrestricted funding alongside cohort-based support for proximate early childhood leaders who have ideas for transformative impact in early childhood development. With Promise support, awardees will develop and implement a test to initiate and iterate on their idea over the course of a year.

    Learn More

  • Early Stage Venture Award

    The Early Stage Venture Award offers $200,000 in unrestricted funding alongside customized capacity building for proximate-led, early-stage ventures that have done some work to validate their field demand. With Promise support, awardees will refine their offerings, conduct additional testing, and position themselves for increased impact over program year.

    Learn More

Meet the Award Recipients

Our Support Approach

Support from the Promise Fund extends far beyond funding. Our support includes a blend of relationships, coaching, and technical assistance designed to meet each recipient’s evolving needs as a leader and social entrepreneur. Our team is supports awardees in the following ways:

  • Beyond funding, we support financial strategy, helping leaders explore revenue models, plan for sustainability, and align resources with their long-term goals.

  • We connect awardees to a trusted network of mentors, peers, and partners who offer perspective, best practices, and resources. 

  • We foster collective peer-to-peer learning through shared spaces that surface insights, build shared language, and deepen strategy through reflection and practice.

  • We value the well-being of leaders by promoting space for rest, reflection, and resilience.

  • We offer tailored support to help leaders clarify their theory of change, business model, equity practice, and more.

Stay in touch!

The Promise Fund is new and evolving! To receive updates about the Fund and future funding opportunities, please fill out the form below.