Cause & Affect: The Stories Women Tell

The Los Angeles Public/Private Funders

Partnership for Infants and Toddlers

High Impact Philanthropic Initiative:

Operationalize and strategically focus

early childhood fund

ers

in the Los Angeles area for the greatest impact

Clients and Partners:

The Los Angeles Public/Private Funders Partnership for

Infants and Toddlers

It is widely recognized that the early years of a child’s life are a critical period for

growth. The foundation set during this time directly effects the development of social,

emotional and physical skills and influences a child’s ability to engage, contribute to,

and survive in society. To this end, it is vital that all children, and the

parents/caregivers who raise them, have equal access to and benefit from the types

of environments and resources which will foster optimal development. According to

the 2000 United States Census there were more than 900,000 children ages 0 to 5

in Los Angeles County which was edging close to 10% of the county’s total population.

Appropriately so, the County has amassed a wealth of agencies, organizations and

institutions, all of whose work is focused on the prenatal to five years of life.

Founded in 2003 by The Atlas Family Foundation, The Los Angeles Public/Private

Funders Partnership for Infants and Toddlers is a philanthropic funding collaborative

comprised of funders of early childhood development. The Partnership is as broad

and diverse as the members themselves and the population they reach throughout

Los Angeles County. The Partnership includes some of the most nimble family

foundations, large nationally recognized foundations and critical County agencies,

each of which actively supports funding in all socio-economic areas around Los

Angeles County. Given the diversity of membership, the Partnership has extensive

experience reaching and affecting change across all demographics.

Cause & Affect was hired to formalize and operationalize the structure of the

Partnership and to look at developing strateg

ies

and opportunities for high impact.

The Partnership’s first initiative was to fund a survey of the grant-making activities

of the Partnership member organizations and “map out” the geographic impact of

their investments in an online, interactive reporting tool. The 2008 Baby Futures

Summit, the Partnership’s second funded initiative, was held in September 2008 and

was an innovative conference to directly educate policymakers, business leaders,

philanthropists and educators, on the social and economic returns from strategically

investing in prenatal to three research, policy and programs.