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.
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.
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.
Most
grants are available only to non-profit organizations.
The links below will guide you through the process
in easy-to-follow steps.
Starting
a Non-profit Organization This
in-depth article provides comprehensive advice and
materials for anyone who is considering starting a
nonprofit organization.
The
Child Care and Development Fund helps States,
Territories, and Federally recognized Tribes and Tribal Organizations
provide child care for low-income families and increase
the affordability and quality of child care and development
services.
For additional information, contact your state Child
Care Development Fund Administrator.
Child
and Adult Care Food Program
Funded through the U.S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA), provides Federal funds for meals and snacks
served to eligible children in child care centers
and family child care homes. Click
here for the list of state agencines administering
the Child
Nutrition Programs.
Child
Care Partnership Project
The Child Care Partnership Project was established
through the Child Care Bureau, U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services, to provide information
and technical assistance to build and sustain partnerships
that improve the quality, supply, and access to child
care for working families. The work of The Child Care
Partnership Project is carried out by The Finance
Project, in collaboration with the Families and Work
Institute and the National Governors’ Association.
The
Children's Defense Fund's Head Start Program
Every
child deserves the child care and early education
— the "head start" — that they need to get a strong
start in life, and to be safe and secure while their
parents are at work.
Children's
Bureau
The agency provides grants to States, Tribes and communities
to operate a range of child welfare services including
child protective services (child abuse and neglect)
family preservation and support, foster care, adoption
and independent living. In addition, the agency makes
major investments in staff training, technology and
innovative programs.
Early
Childhood Development Program
U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development. Low-income
persons living in public housing cannot easily find
jobs and stay employed if they have to leave their
children unsupervised at home. By providing child-care
subsidies to local organizations serving public housing
projects located in EZ/ECs, the ECD Program frees
parents and guardians to get job training, find jobs,
and stay employed.
Afterschool.gov
You can search this database for information about
over 100 sources of funding from many different government
agencies. Searching the database provides a summary
of each program and a link to details about each funding
source.
GrantsNet
GrantsNet is a tool for finding and exchanging information
about the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
and selected Federal grant programs. The Web site
provides information on how to find grant information,
search for funding, how to apply, useful resources,
and administering grants.
The
National Education Association
Created
by the National Education Association, The NEA Foundation
empowers public education employees to innovate, take
risks, and become agents for change to improve teaching
and learning in our society.
The
Mott Foundation
This Web site has won plenty of awards. And rightly
so. It's one of the best on the Internet and it has
plenty of information on community education, especially
the 21st Century Learning Center program. C. S.
Mott
Foundation Grants Database - Search the Grants
Database for current and past grants available in
the U.S.
U.S.
Department of Education
Through the Department of Education, the 21st Century
Community Learning Centers (CLC) program provided
$450 million to rural and inner-city public schools
during FY 2000 to address the educational needs of
communities during after-school hours, weekends and
summers.
The
Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance
This
web site gives you access to a database of all Federal
programs available to State and local governments
(including the District of Columbia); federally-recognized
Indian tribal governments; Territories (and possessions)
of the United States; domestic public, quasi-public,
and private profit and nonprofit organizations and
institutions; specialized groups; and individuals.
Bernard
van Leer Foundation's Early Childhood Development All projects supported by the Foundation concentrate
on young children. Grants are only made for projects
concerned with the development of children (aged 0-8
years) growing up in circumstances of social and economic
disadvantage.
Carnegie
Corporation
Building
on its history and past programs in the field, Carnegie
Corporation will dedicate a major part of its grant
funds over the next few years to education reform,
beginning with early childhood education and extending
to higher education. The education program will focus
on three key areas: Early Childhood Education Urban
School Reform Higher Education.
Schott
Foundation
The Schott Foundation's mission is to develop and
strengthen the movement for equity in education and
child care. This site features information about current
initiatives underway in Massachusetts including the
Leadership Pathways Initiative (diversity and leadership
work), information about the benefits of early care
and education, and more.
The
Foundation Centre
The Foundation Center is an independent national service
organization established by foundations to provide
information on foundation and corporate giving. You
can access child care related funding foundations
through the site's new "searchzone" by typing in "child
care grants."
eSchool
News
A
great site listing up-to-the-minute grant programs,
funding sources, and technology funding information.
Also offers information on grant proposal writing.
Grants
Web
The Society of Research Administrators offers another
source of funding for child care and educational related
proijects.
Scholastic
Awards and Grants
From Scholastic, numerous award programs designed
to inspire and reward excellence among students and
educators, prestigious awards and grants.
TeachNet
Sponsored by the AT&T Learning Network, seeks
to improve student achievement by providing training,
grants, networking and resource sharing to teachers.
Dow
Chemical Company Grants
Supports many school districts/school boards and efforts
in and around communities in which Dow is located.
IBM
Philanthropy
Provides corporate giving at local, national, and
international levels.
Women's
Grants
Another
great resource from FundsNet, covers grant monies
available from various organizations and funders for
women and young girls.
AT&T
Foundation
AT&T
Foundation focuses support on education, and they
encourage efforts to win student interest and involvement
in mathematics, science and engineering. You may submit
proposals at any time.
Bank
of America Foundation
Bank
of America Foundation places special emphasis on providing
educational opportunities for young children so they
will be ready to learn and achieve when they begin
school, through programs like the Success By 6. However,
they do not consider funding requests from K-12 schools,
so you will have to partner with a non-profit organization
in order to receive funds.
Ford
Foundation
Ford
Foundation seeks to enhance educational opportunity,
especially for low-income and chronically disadvantaged
groups. They want you to write a brief letter of inquiry
about your project before you write a full proposal.
Applications are considered year-round.
SBC
Foundation
SBC
Foundation has education as its main priority, because
today's students need the skills and knowledge to
work in a world where advanced technologies are the
norm and because education helps sustain economic
growth. They prefer to give in communities where a
significant number of SBC Communications employees
live and work: Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma,
Texas, California and Nevada. Local or statewide non-profits
will have to partner with schools for these grants.
Rosie's
For All Kids Foundation
Rosie
O'Donnell established her For All Kids Foundation,
Inc. in 1997 to provide financial support to nonprofit
programs serving economically disadvantaged and at-risk
children and their families. Since its inception,
the foundation has helped thousands of children across
the country through grant awards to child care, after-school,
education and other essential programs. The foundation's
main focus is center-based child care, and first priority
is given to programs serving low-income, urban areas,
where many families struggle to find quality child
care and early childhood education programs.
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 
