Comis Foundation supports programs and policy work that drive improvements in educational outcomes for children and youth. We are interested in programs that support the community as well as children and youth directly. We embrace the whole child concept of full community engagement to drive better outcomes for the child and our society at large.

Beginning with our Fall 2025 Grant Cycle, Comis Foundation will be narrowing our geographic focus for more concentrated positive impact in the communities that are home to our Trustees:

• San Francisco Bay Area: San Francisco, Marin and Alameda Counties

• Colorado: Northern Front Range and solutions in early childhood education for rural & mountain communities

• Metro Washington, D.C.: those portions of Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia bounded by the inner loop of I-495 (inside the beltway)

Our focus on underserved children, under-resourced communities and creative, impactful services which give children the opportunity to thrive will continue in these three distinct regions.

Comis Foundation will also continue to fund a small number of organizations with national scope and reach.

Pilot and Proof of Concept: $5,000- $25,000

• New programs within existing organizations, standalone new organizations just getting off the ground, or testing new approaches within a current scope

• Smaller-scale research or data collecting project or other similar short-duration investigations

• Timeframe is single-year; multi-year research or evaluation projects will not be considered under this program

Capacity Building and Innovation: $25,000 up to $75,000 per year

• Capacity building for organizations, including but not limited to staff professional development, strategic planning, leadership development, and supplemental expertise (e.g., communications)

• General operating support for innovative organizations.  We consider the concept of innovation broadly:  organizations that create opportunity for children to explore, learn and thrive are by definition innovative until all children can engage with the world through the same set of opportunities.

• Multi-year research or evaluation projects will be considered under this program, particularly as a pre-cursor to scaling innovative programs

• Multi-year grants will be considered under this program at $25,000 – $75,000 per year

Letters of Inquiry may be submitted at any time and will be evaluated on a rolling basis.

If you are invited to submit a full grant application, deadlines and decisions will fall in 2Q (April/May) and 4Q (Oct/Nov).