Early Care & Education

Summary  Guidelines  Letter of Inquiry 

Workshops

Program Description 

The Raymond John Wean Foundation concentrates on enhancing or improving the quality of life of young children living in economically disadvantaged communities and neighborhoods in the Mahoning Valley.  Our primary goal is that those children arrive at kindergarten healthy and ready to learn.  The Foundation believes that there are many unmet basic needs within Early Care & Education, therefore, we have elected to target our grants to those programs which seek to make systemic improvements.  The Foundation will support nonprofit organizations and public agencies committed to advancing programs, policies, and practices that better the lives of young children and strengthen their families. In taking this view of Early Care & Education, within its geographic limitations, the Foundation will fund selected programs designed to:

• Improve the quality of child care available to parents of pre-school children
• Assure that young children and their families have access to quality health care and a healthy home environment
• Assist and educate parents in their efforts to strengthen their families
• Provide programs which promote the Foundation’s stated goals in an innovative way

The Foundation will encourage:

• Collaboration among agencies and between individuals and agencies
• Projects designed to effect lasting improvements and systemic change
• Creative alternatives that promote more just, effective solutions to the problems facing disadvantaged communities and their youngest residents

Guidelines

Our Process

We have two levels of funding:  $1,000 and not to exceed $5,000  Over $5,000

Grant Requests $1,000 and not to exceed $5,000

The Foundation will accept application for Grants, not to exceed $5,000, anytime during the year.  These requests will receive immediate review; generally, a decision is forthcoming within four (4) weeks of receipt of the proposal.  A Letter of Inquiry is not required for grant requests not exceeding $5,000.

Application Form Grants $1,000 to $5,000 - (PDF Format)

Application Form Grants $1,000 to $5,000 - (Word Format)

Final Evaluation Form - (Word Format)

Grant Requests Over $5,000

The Foundation requests that interested organizations submit our Letter of Inquiry, which may be downloaded from this site. A response will generally be received within four (4) weeks of receipt. If you have any questions prior to submitting the Letter of Inquiry, please contact us. The Foundation will then advise the organization if it is appropriate to submit a proposal. 

Deadlines for proposals are:

January 15 for the March Board Meeting

(The Letter of Inquiry should be submitted no later than December 1)

April 15 for the June Board Meeting  

    (The Letter of Inquiry should be submitted no later than March 1)

July 15 for the September Board Meeting         

(The Letter of Inquiry should be submitted no later than June 1)

October 15 for the December Board Meeting                 

(The Letter of Inquiry should be submitted no later than September 1)

If any of the above dates occur on a holiday or a weekend, the postmark deadline is the next business day.

Organizations can only apply for one (1) grant per calendar year

Grant Limitations

The Foundation can not consider grants to individuals and generally will not consider grants for:

• individual scholarships or grants, even if through an otherwise qualified organization
• sectarian religious activity
• endowment funds
• film or video production
• debt reduction
• foreign operations or expenditures
• national fund-raising campaigns or mass mailing campaigns
• membership in civic organizations or trade associations
• veterans' organizations or fraternal societies
• annual support to local or national offices of organizations whose stated purpose is to combat a particular disease or family of diseases
• organizations that do not provide services to Ohio's Mahoning Valley

Workshops

As part of our grantmaking to nonprofit groups, we intend to provide useful sessions to potential grantseekers.  We will offer these sessions before each of our quarterly rounds of grantmaking.

Spring 2008 Grantseeker Orientation Power Point Presentation - (PDF Format)

If you would like a hard copy of the Grantseeker Orientation Power Point Presentation, please contact the Foundation Office.

Letter of Inquiry

The Foundation requests that initial contact for our giving programs be made through the Letter of Inquiry.  In order to properly process your request, we ask that you submit your form at least 4 weeks prior to the deadline date for invited proposals.

Please feel free to contact us if there are questions about this program or to obtain a hard copy of the Letter of Inquiry.  We welcome your inquiries.

Please print out the form in the format of your choice.  You may return the completed form to the Foundation office via mail, fax, or Email. 

Letter of Inquiry (PDF format)

Letter of Inquiry (Word format)

Final Evaluation Form (Word format)

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