In 2018, I started Children’s Funding Project with my co-founder Olivia Allen based on a simple idea—kids can’t thrive without sustained financial investments in the programs and services that support them. Now, six years later, I’m awed by the amazing work that advocates for children and youth have accomplished to fund cradle-to-career programs and services. We at Children’s Funding Project are proud to work with the individuals and teams committed to ensuring that all communities fund comprehensive programs and services for kids in equitable, coordinated, and sustainable ways. With that in mind, I’d like to take a moment to look back at what we accomplished as an organization this year. 

Planning for the Future

2024 marked the first full year of implementing our organization’s new strategic plan. This plan outlines the specific strategies and tactics we will pursue during the next three years toward achieving our organizational mission. We are focused on meeting the immediate and emerging needs of advocates for children and youth, growing their budget prowess, and building on our past success. We designed this strategic plan to drive change and solidify this work for the future. And we already have seen results! Our work to date has helped us move more than halfway toward achieving the impact goals we set for the next three years. 

Securing Funding for Kids

In November, voters in Travis County, TX; Platte County, MO; Sonoma, CA; and Pomona, CA, approved local ballot measures to create dedicated sources of funding to support children and youth. Collectively, these four measures will provide up to $133 million annually and will translate into expanded services for approximately 42,800 children across those communities. (You can learn more about these campaigns and hear directly from the advocates behind them at our webinar on January 16. We also will share information about our upcoming 2025 Children’s Funding Institute!)

In addition to supporting campaigns for dedicated funding like these, we also expanded our work to identify emerging funding sources to help communities and states finance portions of their plans for kids. Specifically, we worked with places like Tucson, AZ; Henderson, NV; and Louisville, KY, to help advocates and leaders identify potential untapped strategies that are viable in their local contexts. We also are expanding our organizational capacity to serve as a bridge between children’s advocates and organizations focused on tax policy, resulting in innovative approaches and partnerships to fund programs for kids. I’ve been particularly excited this year to finally build a coalition of like-minded advocates who believe that out-of-school time programs can offer youth a positive alternative to social media and that potential settlement dollars from pending Big Tech lawsuits could offer a viable means to support these underfunded programs.   

Building Local Capacity

In 2024, we continued to help local communities and states expand their understanding of strategic public financing and build their capacity to create and sustain the tools they need to implement it effectively. At the beginning of the year, we had children’s funding coordinators in four communities and by year’s end that number had grown to 10! These children’s funding coordinators are helping identify the existing funding available in their communities to support programs for kids, calculating the true costs of accomplishing their communities’ goals, identifying ways to increase funding for children and youth, and even securing new dedicated dollars, like the recent ballot measure win in Travis County, TX.   

Meanwhile, at the state level, five new states joined us as state fiscal mapping partners, bringing the total number of states in our fiscal map database to 23. More importantly, we have seen our state and local fiscal map partners use their fiscal maps for advocacy to acquire new funding for children and youth, inform policy changes and budgets, build relationships and inform community members, and even attract media attention to the funding needs of children and youth. Additionally, this year we also launched a new state cost modeling cohort and cost modeling 101 course to help state and local partners build their cost modeling capacity and expertise. (We are testing an online interactive version of that course and plan to launch it in early 2025!) Finally, we deepened our partnerships with Native-led organizations and expanded our research into how federal funding streams support Native children and youth. We remain strongly committed to continue learning from our Native partners and being a good ally in support of strategic public financing for Native children. 

Looking Ahead

As I reflect on 2024, I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge that we are ending the year in a different political climate than the one we faced in January. There are a lot of unknowns for sure; but now is not the time to burn the midnight oil on what ifs. Throughout my time in direct service, advocacy, political organizing, and national network building, securing money and resources has been a constant challenge. And, in many ways, that hasn’t changed. The obstacles feel tougher now, but one thing we know is that Americans of all stripes care about kids in their communities. As a field of advocates committed to children, we need to pace ourselves, conserve our energy, and make sure we do not burn out so we can continue to persevere on behalf of ALL kids. There still is critical work ahead that can make a big impact. We at Children’s Funding Project are here to do our part to ensure that the programs and services our children deserve are funded appropriately.

Elizabeth Gaines is founder and CEO of Children’s Funding Project.

Sign up for our monthly newsletter to receive the latest news about funding for kids, new resources, webinar opportunities, and more!