Child
care grants are essential to funding a quality program.
To assist our visitors, child care online has
done extensive research into the question of "Where
to find grants for child care programs" and brings you
this feature section.
For-profit
Child Care - The Straight Facts First
While
there is a lot of talk about "how to find grants"
in the child care field, most caregivers, especially
independent home child care operators or persons starting
a private or for-profit child care facility, don't
realize that it is almost impossible for them to find
grant money from any level of government or from almost
all of the sources listed in childcare.net's
or any other grant list. That is of course, with the
exception of perhaps that which might be obtained
from new
business startup programs and the odd program operated
by their provincial or state governments, generally
under the Department of Children and Family Services.
The
truth is, and it seems no one else wants to acknowledge
this fact, unless you seek and obtain non-profit status,
there is not a lot of help available in the way of
grants for your child care business.
For-profit
child care business operators, large and small, may,
that's a small may because they aren't all that
many programs available with the exception
of the Child
and Adult Care Food Program in the U.S., be able
to apply for local state/provincial programs being
offered through their licensing office, Children's
and Family Services Office, and/or Child Care Resource
and Referral Agency. childcare.net's advice
for for-profit child care operators is to inquire
at these locations first. Other than that, the best
way to locate financing for your child care business
is to:
Look
into bank loans
Obtain
venture capital
Seek
gifts and loans from family and friends
Look
for advice from incubator organizations, or
Obtain
counsel from local small business and women's associations.
In
a few states, special loan programs have being developed
to help child care programs access immediate funds
at affordable rates, like Washington and Oregon's
Cascadia
Child Care Fund. Contact your local licensing
office or Small
Business Administration (SBA) for information
about financing child care as a small business opportunity.
There may also be special initiatives available through
the SBA
or through local women's organizations to help finance
women-owned and -operated businesses as well.
Finally,
while we take no pleasure in telling it like it is,
we believe our visitors need to know the truth and
understand the facts about grants. If
you are a for-profit child care operator and have
been successful in securing funding for your program,
please share your information with our visitors by
sending us an Email at: info@childcare.net
so we can post the resource and help others.
And,
as you'll see below, we've even included resources
that offer you fundraising advice and tips on how
to write a winning proposal.
Have
a question about searching for grants or putting a
grant proposal together? Need help just figuring out
where to start? Let childcare.net help with our ALL
NEW Consulting Service.
Financing
Child Care in the United States Earlychildhoodfinance.org Financing Child Care in the United States highlights
78 strategies currently employed in states and communities,
using public, private and mixed sources of funding
to finance child care. The focus is on strategies
that generate new revenue or that increase the share
of current revenue allocated to child care.
Financing
Child Care
The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation provides a lot
of great initiatives for funding child care. A valuable
site.
The
Pew Charitable Trusts
Their
grants information page contains information on our
six program areas and our Venture Fund, which supports
independent projects that take an interdisciplinary
approach to broad issues of significant interest or
concern. This includes education and human resource
service grants.
The
Future of Children
The Future of Children is a publication of the David
and Lucile Packard Foundation that considers present
funding and financing strategies for child care and
examines possible new alternatives. Visit the Children,
Families, and Communities section of their site
for more on where some of their their grant money
goes.
Resources on Proposal Writing
The
Foundation Centre
The Foundation Centre offers a wwealth of information
on seeking funding and provides a course for valuable
instructions on putting together a proposal for funding.
GrantProposal.com
A very well organized site on proposal writing. Includes
an overview, inquiry and cover letters, standard components
of a proposal, a sample proposal, advice from funders,
and more. An excellent section on researching funding
opportunities is included also.
Fundraising
Links
Looking for a fundraising idea? Check out Fundsnet.com.
From fundraising software to General Mill box tops,
there's plenty to check out here.
When
screening grant writing professionals or consultants,
ask for writing samples. To find a consultant in your
specific area, talk with other nonprofit organizations
or the United Way about possible referrals. You might
consider hiring an english social work or public administration
student to assist with editing. Fo a list of online
consultants, visit the organizations listed below.
As always, check the references or anyone you consider
hiring
There
may be a number of potential funding sources to consider
in your own community, including:
Community
service organizations, such as Lions, Rotary, Kiwanis,
United Way, Junior League, or college fraternities
and sororities, may donate funds to projects that
help the community. Check your local telephone Yellow
Pages under "Clubs" for these and other service
organizations in your area.
County
or city governments may have special funding initiatives
for child care, as may local early childhood professional
organizations or child care resource and referral
agencies.
If
your program serves families from a core group of
employers in your community, you may consider asking
these companies, and any professional organizations
associated with them, for assistance. In addition
to monetary resources, you may wish to investigate
possibilities for "in-kind" contributions from these
same sources. Volunteer services, goods, materials,
or equipment may be offered to assist program development
or operation.
The
local Yellow Pages may list Fundraising Counselors
and Organizations that can provide further technical
assistance in your search for child care funding.
In
several localities, special loan programs are being
developed to help child care programs access immediate
funds at affordable rates. You may call the Small
Business Administration (SBA) to learn about local
contacts for information about financing child care
as a small business opportunity. There may be special
initiatives available through the SBA to help finance
women-owned and -operated businesses as well.
A
best-seller in multiple editions for more than a decade
is back in a major new edition!
Used
by fundraisers for political parties, household name
charities, and neighbourhood groups in Canada, America,
and worldwide.
Find
the money to operate your child care facility!
Raising
money is the most essential and also the most difficult
task for any nonprofit organization, and child care
is no exception. Explaining in detail the process of
fundraising, this comprehensive book has recently been
expanded and updated to explore fundraising through
telemarketing and the Internet.
With
new samples and examples, the authors tell you how
to raise a lot more money for less effort, and answers
the following questions:
Who
gives money to nonprofit organizations?
Which
potential funder is best to approach for your organization?
How
do you prepare a funding proposal?
What
kind of direct mail requests will work and how do
you prepare them?
Should
your organization try telephone fundraising? How
is it done?
Reviewer
comments: “a great reference for fundraisers... Take this
one to the bank. It’s excellent.”
Comes
with 2 great forms to help you with your fundraising efforts.
1) The easy to use Grant
Search Sheet helps make an easy-to-use list of grant
makers.
2) The
Grant/Funder Information Form helps you lay out the
important information you gather from guidelines and applications
in an easy-to-follow fashion.
This
comprehensive, practical guide was developed specifically
for anyone interested in starting a daycare business.
Packed with straight-forward information and easy-to-follow
instructions to help you develop your business plan with
ease. This guide is a great companion tool for Start
& Run a Profitable Home Day Care.
Looking
for information to simplify your search for grants? These
reports, articles and forms will start you off in the
right direction! Another childcare.net exclusive, we've
put together some of the best resources available on how
to find and apply for grants, loans, and other financing
options for your business.
Child
care is one of the most in-demand services today. If you
love working with children and want to run your own business,
a home day care could be the perfect opportunity. This
book not only gets you up and running, it shows you to
to keep your business operating smoothly and successfully.
The
most comprehensive business resources available for child
care professionals to help you start and operate a successful
child care business, large or small.
Have
a question about searching for grants or putting a
grant proposal together? Need help just figuring out
where to start? Let childcare.net help with our 
