Early Years Parenting Fund

The Early Years Parenting Fund will support organisations that improve the development of children most at risk of poor early childhood outcomes, by investing in effective, culturally grounded parenting support.

Henry Smith Foundation want to support work that makes a clear contribution to children’s physical health, social and emotional development, and cognitive development in the first five years of life.

In this round, the Foundation are focusing on communities where outcome gaps are largest. They aim to fund organisations that are trusted by the communities they serve and that can evidence the difference their work makes.

The Early Years Parenting Fund is part of our Getting Started funding priority, which supports families to give young children a strong start in life. In this fund, ‘parents’ includes any caregiver.

Eligibility

Your organisation will:

• Work closely with parents with children aged newborn to five from Black (Caribbean or African, Any Other Black), Pakistani, and Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities

and / or

• Work with parents with children aged newborn to five living in areas ranked within the most deprived 20% nationally (using the relevant national deprivation index for the location of your work)

You will also:

• Deliver parenting support that is trusted, culturally relevant and rooted in the communities you serve
• Provide flexible, personalised support shaped by families’ lived realities
• Demonstrate clear, published evidence of impact on at least one area of early childhood development (physical, social and emotional, or cognitive)
• Show fidelity to evidence-based early childhood practice
• Be willing to share learning to help improve wider early years practice and public sector delivery

Funding guidelines

• Grant amount: £56,250 per year for four years (£225,000 total)
• Length: Four years
• Funding type: Flexible funding – grants can be used towards general running costs
• Eligible organisations: charitable organisations registered in and working in the UK, including:
  • Registered charities and Charitable Incorporated Organisations (CIOs)
  • Community Interest Companies (CICs) that are not-for-profit with an asset lock
  • Other not for profit charitable organisations delivering work aligned with our object