Founders Project Fulfillment Grant

The Childrens Theatre Foundation of America (CTFA) supports excellence and equity in theatre serving children and young people. CTFA states that its future success, resiliency, and sustainability depend on placing equity at the center of its work, defining equity as a collaborative and continual process that ensures fair access to all. Through the Founders Project Fulfillment Grant, CTFA seeks to support a creative and visionary theatre project of excellence for young people. The program is intended for a ground-breaking project that has progressed to a point where it can culminate in a form ready to be shared with the public through production, public display, or publication. The proposed project must advance the field of theatre for young audiences and serve as a model of culturally responsive theatre for youth. Eligible applicants are 501(c)(3) IRS-certified not-for-profit theatres in the United States. An applicant must have been established for at least five consecutive years, have a public record of artistic quality in creating work for young audiences, demonstrate a commitment to diversity in leadership, and have an operating budget of more than $1,000,000. The provided 2026 program page does not state an award minimum, award maximum, total amount available, number of awards, or a required matching contribution, so those funding values cannot be established from the current program information. Applications are submitted through the Good Grants platform. The initial application, identified in the timeline as STEP 1 or the RTS Application, opened Friday, August 21, 2026 and closes at 11:59 PM ET on Monday, September 28, 2026. Applicants are prompted to log in to Good Grants and complete the application online, and they may save their progress and return to it as needed. CTFA also provides an Application Worksheet to assist applicants in preparing their submissions, including a local-copy version and a PDF copy. The worksheet is a preparation resource; the online Good Grants platform is the stated application submission mechanism. The application process has two stages. Following review of STEP 1 applications by the CTFA Founders Grants Committee, selected finalists will advance to STEP 2. All initial applicants are scheduled to receive an RTS Application status update by Wednesday, October 21, 2026. STEP 2 finalists will then receive the final Founders Project Fulfillment Grant Applicant Form. Final applications are due on or before Monday, November 16, 2026, and all finalists are scheduled to receive a final application status update by Friday, December 11, 2026. The program page does not provide a separate numerical scoring rubric, but it identifies the desired project as ground-breaking, creative and visionary, capable of advancing theatre for young audiences, and a model of culturally responsive theatre for youth. The funding time frame for the Founders Project Fulfillment Grant begins no earlier than December 16, 2026 and the funded project must be completed by December 15, 2027. These dates establish the permitted project period stated on the 2026 program page. The current source does not explicitly identify allowable expense categories, prohibited expenses, indirect-cost limitations, subaward rules, or a cost-share requirement. Those items therefore should not be inferred from requirements for a different CTFA grant program or a prior funding cycle. Questions or requests for assistance regarding the program may be directed to founders.ctfa@gmail.com. The current 2026 Founders Project Fulfillment Grant page establishes the August 21 opening date, September 28 STEP 1 deadline, October 21 initial status update, November 16 finalist application deadline, December 11 finalist status update, and December 16, 2026 through December 15, 2027 funding period. No statement in the supplied 2026 material establishes that this opportunity automatically recurs annually or provides dates for a subsequent cycle, so recurrence and a future cycle should not be inferred.

Demonstrate that the project is ground-breaking, creative and visionary; show how it advances the field of theatre for young audiences; explain how it serves as a model of culturally responsive theatre for youth; clearly demonstrate compliance with the organizational eligibility requirements.