Brian Gold Named First Director of the Massachusetts Early Childhood Funders Collaborative

BOSTON – The Massachusetts Early Childhood Funders Collaborative (MA ECFC) today announced Brian Gold as its first director, signaling its firm commitment, particularly in this time of crisis, to ensuring the healthy growth and development of all young children in Massachusetts and to fostering a strong economy that is equitable and includes all families through access to high-quality early childhood programs.

The MA ECFC is a new partnership effort among the region’s leading foundations, nonprofit organizations, corporations, and individuals working to ensure that all young children in Massachusetts have the opportunities and supports they need to thrive. This group of public and private foundation and individual funders has come together with the intention of serving as a vehicle to strengthen the community of early childhood funders and to drive policy and systems change by catalyzing a unified early childhood strategy.

As director, Gold will lead efforts to drive growth in early childhood philanthropy in Massachusetts, identify gaps and strategic opportunities for coordinated investment, leverage the Collaborative’s collective voice to influence policy and catalyze cross-sector collaboration and alignment to advance a unified early childhood strategy in Massachusetts.

“When I entered the early childhood field, after an early career in technology and project management, I found my north star – helping children thrive, surrounded by a loving supportive community including families and educators,” Gold said. “I look forward to working with funders, families, and those most connected to early childcare, to develop a new, powerful shared voice that will ensure the Commonwealth’s youngest children have the opportunities and supports they need to thrive.”

Prior to this role, Gold served as Early Childhood Program Officer at the Boston Foundation and School Readiness Manager for the Boston Public Schools Department of Early Childhood Education.

Throughout his career in the early childhood field, he has centered young children through policies, programs, and data. Gold received a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Delaware and a Master’s degree in Cognitive Psychology from Brandeis University.

“Our most vulnerable communities need access to reliable, high-quality early education, which is core to supporting the healthy development of young children while giving caregivers flexibility to work and pursue career development,” said Karley Ausiello, Senior Vice President for Community Impact at United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley and Co-Chair of the MA ECFC.  “Already costly and underfunded before the pandemic, the childcare sector in Massachusetts lost an estimated $250 million each month during statewide closure and last year, nearly 46,000 children across the state in need of childcare were not enrolled in licensed programs. Brian’s innovative thinking and collaborative leadership are the perfect match to steer the efforts of the MA ECFC as we focus on closing the opportunity gaps in our state.”

“I’ve known Brian and been a fan of his work since his time at Boston Public Schools’” said Turahn Dorsey, MA ECFC co-chair and Foundation Fellow at the Eastern Bank Charitable Foundation.  His particular leadership will be paramount to the success of this collaborative as his knowledge of practice and policy issues are equally deep and he understands the early childhood system from grassroots to grasstops.  This kind of experience and perspective will help the philanthropic sector better direct its resources toward transformative efforts and appropriately ally itself with practitioners and policymakers.”

MA ECFC will be informed and grounded by a 17-member Community Advisory Committee whose purpose is to raise up needs of families and educators across the Commonwealth and to connect to community networks throughout the Commonwealth.

“Brian brings a sense of community, deep commitment to babies and families and linkages with policy and practice,” said Aditi Subramaniam from Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. “As a member of the Community Advisory Committee (CAC), I look forward to working with Brian and the members of the collaborative, with equity at the center of our efforts, to ensure cross-sector alignment, in order to promote healthy foundational relationships that will have a positive impact for every young child in Massachusetts and their families.”

Lead Champion Members of the MA ECFC include Berkshire United Way, The Boston Foundation, Commonwealth Children’s Fund, Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts, Couch Family Foundation, Eastern Bank Charitable Foundation, Gisela B. Hogan Charitable Foundation, Greater Lowell Community Foundation, Irene E. and George A. Davis Foundation, PNC Bank, SouthCoast Community Foundation, United Way of Greater New Bedford and United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley.

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