Gadgets

Thinking of starting a daycare center of your own? You may want to begin by identifying which sector of society will be your target market.

In general the childcare market targets families in which both parents work as well as single-parent households. The need for childcare seems to bear no relation to income. However, the government does offer a number of programs that help families with little income finance childcare so that the parents can continue to work.

Full-Time Care

Think about the limits of what you want to offer and the timeframe in which you’d like to make your services available. If you’re thinking of offering full-time child care, for instance, your marketing focus is parents of infants to 5 year-olds. Do you prefer opening an after-school program? Your marketing target is parents with children over five.

Market Research

Though by now, you have narrowed down the marketing target, you still have a ways to go. The next step is to do market research. Whom do you want to attract and how can you best entice them to use your childcare service? Where is your market located?

Demographic Study

If you already know the location of the future center, a demographic study can help you determine your target audience. For instance, a typical demographic study might reveal that 11,000 children up to the age of 5 live within a 5-mile radius of your chosen location. Digging deeper into the facts, such a study may tell you that one quarter of the preschoolers in this area are already in daycare of one type or another since their mother or both their parents work. Continuing on, the study offers statistics on growth rate: the number of households in this area is expected to triple within the next ten years. Right now, there are 7 area childcare centers which serve around 1,000 children.

But you may not need this level of sophistication. If you live in a small town where everyone knows each other and you are aware of the paucity of childcare services available, you may not have to worry about market research and demographic studies. You may not even have to advertise in an area where the demand is very great and your good name precedes you.

Parents have long learned to network. If you offer a good product, the word is bound to get around, parent-to-parent, around the water-cooler. But in some cases, it pays to do research and marketing.

There is an ever-growing number of working parents and this fact has created a huge demand for high-quality childcare. Are you spotting the business niche? If you love children, you may want to consider making a business of caring for kids.

Childcare services run the gamut for little home-based operations to big commercial franchises. A small center may not need more than a few hundred dollars as the initial investment. It’s possible to keep your business small so that you create one job, just for you, or you might decide to turn the venture into something quite substantial that may bring in millions of dollars of revenue, every year.

Not only is there flexibility in the scale of the childcare business you create, you also have a great deal of leeway in deciding what services you will offer. You can choose to accept only children of a certain age or open the center when other centers are closed, thus molding your operating hours to meet the demands of a particular sector of the market. You can decide whether or not you’d like to offer transportation between your center and homes or schools. Perhaps you want to offer a particular activity, such as field trips.

Serious Responsibility

Bear in mind that caring for someone else’s’ children comes with a great deal of serious responsibility and commitment. Their well-being and safety will be in your hands. But child care can be very satisfying for the important role you play in a child’s development. The children in your charge may remember you forever as someone who made a positive difference in their lives.

Former Model

One of the major hurdles facing the American family today is in providing care for their offspring while parents are at work. The Bureau of Labor Statistics states that only 13% of U.S. families fit the former model of daddy as breadwinner and mommy as homemaker. In up to 61% of families headed by married couples, husband and wife both work outside of the home. Six out of every ten moms of kids under the age of six works and the number of women in the workforce increases every year. As the number of working couples rises, so too, will the demand for quality childcare.

One employment issue has had an interesting impact on childcare businesses. Jobs that demand employees work nights or weekends, for instance, technical support, customer service, hospitality, and janitors, are looking for childcare that will keep their child safe during unusual time frames. As a result, 24-hour daycare centers have sprung up across the country and are experiencing tremendous growth.

Once of little concern outside the family, the care and early education of young children has become a high priority in the world of businesses.

Quality child care, or the lack thereof, affects parents’ peace of mind and, consequently, their performance on the job and/or their ability to maintain a reasonable attendance record. When families can successfully meet their child care needs, both business and society benefit through a more productive work force today and a more informed one for tomorrow.

From the moment they are born, children are learning the critical cognitive, physical, social and emotional skills they need for later success in life. The successful development depends on the quality of a child’s early experiences, whether these occur while the child is in the care of the parents . . . or someone else. Poor-quality care can hamper what and how well children learn, their readiness for formal schooling, and their future success in school, at work and as citizens.

Policies that help children develop and provide peace of mind for parents produce additional benefits that accrue to society at large. A more productive work force can mean not only higher wages and an improved bottom line but also a more competitive national economy. Supporting the institution of the family and rebuilding some of the “social capital” lost within some families are worthy objectives that can help strengthen the very fabric of society.

Ensuring the readiness of young children for school and for life goes beyond family responsibily and requires a full-fledged partnership among families, the community, private-sector institutions (including businesses and foundations), and the government.

Partnerships

Partnerships is listed as the 7th component of quality child care, in the National Statement On Quality Child Care, a publication of the Canadian Child Care Federation and Welfare Canada.

“Quality child care serves the best interest of children and families in a partnership of parents, professionally trained care providers, all levels of government, training institutions, and provincial and territorial and national organizations who carry out complimentary responsibilities.”

By empowering parents with non-biased, high-caliber information we are giving them the knowlwdge they need to be able to recognize the difference between a quality caregiver or facility and a poor one, and the confidence to make an informed choice for their family.

In our Library Files and our Exclusive Products we teach parents to look for those facilities and caregivers who work in partnership with local, provincial and national organizations. Your partnership with child care organizations and facilities in your local community and country, shows your dedication in supporting the families you serve and the employees who help you prosper. It also shows that you believe in putting the power to choose in the hands of those to whom it rightfully belongs, the parents.

Please be an active partner. Take the time to ensure your organization is listed in our Registry or our Valuable Links section. It’s another way we can help “Strengthen child care one visitor at a time.”

What is a Web Template?

A web template is a pre-made web page without any content. They are designed to quickly get you started on your project. The most noticeable benefit of purchasing a Web template is that it is extremely affordable. By paying less than $40 US, you receive a high-end design created by professional web designers, royalty free and ready to use. We have the highest quality Web site design templates starting as low as $15.00 each!

I have 10 pages on my site. Does this mean I have to buy the same template 10 times in order to use it?

No, you only have to purchase the template once. Purchasing a template licenses you to use it on as many sites and pages as required.

If I buy a template, do I have exclusive ownership of it?

No. Your purchase is a license to use the template according to our Terms of Use. Basically the only thing you can’t do with a template you purchase is resell it elsewhere as a template.

How and when will I receive my template(s) after I pay?

If you pay by PayPal or Credit Card, instructions to download your templates will be emailed to you instantly. If you ordered using our mail order form, delivery of the download instructions may take a few days.

How do I open a template once I have downloaded it?

Template files are downloaded in .ZIP format to speed up downloading. To open these types of files you will need an unzipping tool. You can download a free zip program from www.WinZip.com. Mac users, can downloaf StuffIt.com.

What is included in the template files?
The template files contain the following:

* HTML file(s) This is the actual page template written in HTML code. MultiPage web templates may include more HTML files.
* High-quality images that make up the template.
* PSD File that can be used to customize the template using Adobe Photoshop or any other program that can open PSD files. (These are templates that have the icon include their source PSD files.)

I bought/am thinking of buying a template, but I need some help customizing them or having someone else do the work for me. Can you help?

If you don’t have the know-how or the time to set up your templates or put your Web site together, childcare.net can do it for you at very affordable prices. Please visit our Web Site Customization page for more details.

Do I have provide a link back to childcare.net?

Not at all. Although you are welcome to include our “We Care About Child Care” graphic on your site. Click here for more information.

I bought a template but when I open the HTML file in my web browser/HTML editor the images are blank or missing. What’s wrong?

When unzipping the template .ZIP file, make sure your unzipping program restores the original folder structure. If you are using WinZip to extract the files, make sure the ‘Use Folder Names’ checkbox is checked.

Will these templates/editors work with any WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editors?

Your templates will work with any up-to-date HTML editor, such as: Microsoft FrontPage Macromedia Dreamweaver Adobe GoLive HotDog Professional CoffeeCup HTML Editor Many more.

How do I label the button images included with some of your templates?

You can label the button images using an image editor, such as Adobe Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, or The Gimp. Simply open the button image you wish to label in your image editor and use the text tool to create your label.

Finding the Cash to Help Your Business

Whether it’s for renovations, expansion plans, or just to start a much needed home child care, daycare owners are constantly looking for ways to obtain grant money to help offset the costs of these ventures. Where to find these grants is one of the most popular questions we get asked at child care online.

The truth is there is no easy solution to this dilemma. Finding a funder takes a lot of research. You need to weed through a list of potential donors (check out the list in our Grants section), make calls to inquire about what may be available and how you can apply. Then you need to make a proposal, write a catchy cover letter and follow up on your submission. Never mind all the work you’ve already put into costing out your new project or in the new design plans you’ve seated over.

It’s the part about making calls that can get the best of your good intentions to provide a higher quality of care for your kids. After all, no one likes rejection. And hearing the word “sorry” over and over can really wear down what’s left of your self-confidence. You can’t lose heart. Somewhere out there may be the resource that will make each callus-producing peck on the phone keypad all worthwhile.

If it’s rejection you hate or you’re time-strapped and need to get the funding ball rolling now, start by contacting your local Chamber of Commerce who may know of companies having difficulty with absenteeism because their employees can’t find suitable child care. Or, you might consider contacting the United Way for ideas or checking in with your local childcare resource and referral agency or licensing office for suggestions. Even your Small Business Association may have and idea or two they can share, as may the early childhood education instructors at the college or university.

Obviously the size of your project will determine the contacts you place on your list. Bigger ventures, particularly ones that deal with opening up more space to accommodate lower income or at-risk families, or those that clearly prove that without upgrades a key daycare will have to close it’s doors, will garner the attention of the larger funders. Smaller ventures, like assisting the startup of a licensed home daycare, will, if there is proof of a need for the service, most likely find an angel in the smaller community-based funding agencies or within the business community. And while it is a sad truth, finding funding assistance for unlicensed child care will be an extremely daunting task, registered as a legitimate business or not. Not impossible mind you, but a lot more difficult.

There are a lot of resources available on the Internet to get you started with your search for funding. We’ve gathered them together in our Grants section. From the basics of where to start looking for help to information on putting a proposal together, it’s all there. Now, how deep you dig your heals in and how determined you are to see your project through is up to you.

If you’ve been successful in your quest for grant money, why not share your success story and tips on how you secured your funding with other child care online visitors in our Discussion Forums? Everyone could use a mentor.

Boosting The Bottom Line By Adding Services For Busy Families

atering to busy families by offering such services as dry cleaning deliveries, take-home dinners and on-site extracurricular activities such as dance classes and karate, has become a way for an ever-growing number of daycare centres to boost their bottom line.

Little Leprechaun Academy in Mason and West Chester, Cincinnati has hired a professional chef to cook up dinner delicacies that families can order and have ready to take home with them when they pick up their child. Kids R Kids Quality Learning Centers, located in 13 states and Puerto Rico, offers late-night hours, dance and foreign language classes, and professional photography sessions.

Some centres have even incorporated daycare video viewing systems, like the ones provided by Watchkids.com, so that parents can watch their child’s music lessons and dance recitals while they work. Still others are bringing in hairstylist on a monthly basis, offering an automatic payment services through companies like ReliaFund Inc.so parents don’t have to write cheques, or offering to drive kids to their outside activities so parents don’t have to.

If you are looking for ways to add-on profit to your business this year, talk to your parents. Find out what services they would be interested having you provide, like a dry-cleaning drop-off, extended hours, an early morning Starbucks or Timmy’s coffee service, etc. Check with instructors of various children’s activities and see what they’d charge to bring their program to your centre. Know a hairstylist who could use some extra cash? Set up a haircutting day for parents and the kids. Walk around your business to see what other business are are out there and think of how you can combine forces to make life easier on parents and to enhance both your profits. Better still, it may enhance your enrollment figures or add new names to your waiting list. You can’t beat that.

Year End Tax Statements for Child Care

Parents, like child care providers, want to utilize every tax deduction available to them. That means claiming their child care expenses. Caregivers are therefore required by law to provide a parent with Year End Tax Statements of fees paid for care if a parent requests one.

Your tax statement need not be anything elaborate, but must contain the following information:

* The complete the name of the parent
* The number of children you cared for
* The total child care amount paid during the tax year
* Your name or your business name
* Your social insurance/security number
* Your Business Identification Number if you have one
* The date
* Your signature

Hopefully, throughout the year you kept some sort of Attendance Payment Record where you recorded each child’s attendance for each month, along with the amount of payment the parent made and the date payment was made. This will make tabulating your year end statements relatively simple. All you’ll need to do is take the payment for each month and tabulate them for the year.

When it comes to payments for divorced or separated parents who share custody of a child, you’ll most likely have to prepare one form for each parent showing only the amount that each individual parent paid. If only one parent pays for the care, you might consider giving each parent a copy of the statement just to be on the safe side.

The good news is that by preparing your Year End Tax Statements for your parents, you are calculating your earnings for the year which you’ll need when you prepare your taxes. Now if you were passionate about keeping track of your expenses on a monthly basis using a Monthly Expense Statement, you’re tax preparation will be a snap.

Resources:

Income Tax & Record Keeping for Child Care Providers

Forms available for download:

Year End Tax Statements
Attendance Payment Record
Monthly Expense Statement
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Startup Equipment Checklist

Starting a daycare, teaching young children, and maintaining a positive learning curriculum requires the right supplies and equipment. That’s why we’ve redeveloped our Child Care Business Central. We didn’t want to just give you links to Web sites. We wanted to give the product manufacturers, resellers and service providers an opportunity to actually tell you, in their own words, about their products and services.

And, we wanted to give you a completely FREE, Startup Equipment Checklist to get you busy contacting these suppliers, ordering catalogs, visiting them online, and contact them about costs, delivery times, etc.

Of course, you’ll find a lot more information on starting and running a daycare in our Caregiver Korner. We update the page weekly, so please visit us often. And, because new businesses are adding their wares to the Child Care Business Central directory on a daily basis, you’ll definitely want to bookmark the page and stop back for a visit on an ongoing basis. After all, your children deserve the very best. And so do you.

Resources:

Child Care Business Central
Caregiver Korner
Daycare Startup Checklist
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Child Care Business Taxes

It’s that time of year again when home child care providers start thinking about the fast-approaching tax filing season. Parents will be requesting year-to-date child care receipts. Accountants will be asking for receipts and hoping to receive them in some comprehensible fashion. Do-it-yourselfer will be looking for the fastest way to streamline the whole affair while not missing a single deduction that may cut down on their taxes or even offer them a refund. Ah, the joys of tax time!

The smart home daycare operator already has her record keeping system fine-tuned. She uses an Attendance Payment Sheet to keep track of who owes what, a Monthly Expense Statement to tally up her receipts on a monthly basis instead of waiting until she absolutely “has to” sit down and sort through the mountainous pile of receipts, many unmarked and it’s anyone’s guess what they were for. The business-wise operator has also tucked a little money away each month in a tax account so she doesn’t have to squirm when, despite claiming each deduction to the last penny, she owes the government a few dollars in tax. She is able to give each parent a Year End Tax Statement before she is even asked to do so. Finally, she even knows which income tax forms to use and will download them when she’s ready to file her yearly return.

In all reality, learning to take care of the financial end of a home daycare business is not all that difficult, especially when using the forms and suggestions outlined in Income Tax & Record Keeping for Child Care Providers. This handy workbook outlines deducible expenses in an easy-to-follow fashion, and offers guidelines for managing receipts, filing systems, and how it all relates to your income tax return for easier filing.

Here is a quick recap of some of direct business expenses discussed in detail in Income Tax & Record Keeping for Child Care Providers:

* Advertising
* Bank charges on your business account
* Dues, fees, subscriptions, and training materials (professional development)
* First aid supplies
* Food (including infant formula)
* Insurance
* Laundry and cleaning supplies including, brooms, mops, buckets, disinfectants, vacuum cleaner bags
* Legal and bookkeeping assistance
* Office supplies (pens, paper clips, notebooks, and folders)

· Personnel (owner and substitute salaries and benefits)

* Safety equipment, including childproof locks, safety gates, and outlet covers
* Toys, games, and arts and crafts supplies, learning materials, videos, music, etc.
* Transportation (mileage) for field trips, conferences, meetings, shopping for supplies
* Training, CPR, first aid, for extra child care such as special needs children.

The book also covers indirect business expenses such as determining the percentage you can deduct for such things as:

* Cable TV
* Garbage/recycling fees
* House insurance
* Household supplies and toys
* Maintenance and repairs to the home or to appliances
* Mortgage or rent (as well as interest)
* Phone bill, second phone line for the Internet, cell phone
* Property taxes
* Utility payments (electricity, heating)
* Water/sewer charges

and outlines the difference between regular use of these items and exclusive use, which will net you a higher deduction.

Obviously there is a lot more to consider when it comes to squeezing every penny you can out of your tax deductions, such as time-use formulas for the rooms used for providing care, the capital gains expense claims for larger purchases for things generally over $200 like equipment, swing set,s etc. New caregivers are often wise to consult a qualified tax accountant for their first year of reporting their business expenses.

Income Tax & Record Keeping for Child Care Providers offers a lot of insight that will help reduce the costs of hiring an accountant. The more you know, the more you can handle the little things like getting all your receipts in order before you go to the accountant, will save you a lot of money in the long run. Keep in mind however, that whatever you pay your accountant can be claimed on next year’s taxes. Besides, this handy workbook will help take take some of the guesswork out of your filing when you do it yourself.

Rebate Allowance Program

In an industry where every dollar counts, keeping spending costs as low as possible without sacrificing the quality of a child care program is every Director or child care facility owner’s primary concern. This is especially true when it comes to food and equipment costs.

The Rebate Allowance Program can help. “All that is required by a centre is to submit their monthly invoices from their food distributor. All the food companies are concerned about is usage. Operators don’t need to concern themselves with prices,” says Child Care Specialist Barbara Zimmerman, who operates the program.

The Rebate Allowance Program works with companies like Campbell’s Soup, General Mills, etc. to give back a portion of the product purchase price to the daycare. “Large centres and daycare chains can save anywhere from $100 a month up,” Zimmerman says.

While not all centres and dayhomes meet the delivery allowance requirements of food distributors to be able to use the RAP, they can work with their child care support group or agencies to pool resources and take advantage of the savings. It may require a bit of coordination to store and distribute the bulk orders to centres and family dayhomes within an organization, but the savings may well offset the initial setup. Zimmerman is certainly willing to assist anyone interested in utilizing the Rebate Program. All it takes is a quick phone call to Barbara at 913-663-3801. Or, send her an email: Barbarazimme@hotmail.com

Online Fundraising

Another option for smaller centers and family dayhomes is to get their parents, staff, and local community to utilize programs such as Schoolcash.com, or Safeway’s eSscript program.

By signing up your centre with the Schoolcash.com program, anyone can shop online at the over 250 brand-name stores on the SchoolCash Website and up to 30% of their purchase will go back to the school or group of your choice–at no extra cost! Sign-up is a snap too. They’ll even provide handouts and logos to help remind staff and parents to use the service. Visit them at schoolcash.com for
complete details.

Safeway’s eScrip is proven to be a fantastic resource for fundraising where participating business partners contribute a percentage of your grocery loyalty cards, credit card, and debit/ ATM card purchases to the school, group or organization of your choice. You can print off a complete list of participants in the program to hand out to parents, staff, family and community members to take advantage of the savings. To learn more, visit their Website – eScript.com.

Fundraising and Cost Saving Secrets

Do you have a cost saving or fundraising program that helps your daycare save money? Share your information in other childcare.net visitors in our Discussion Forms, a popular Member Services feature.

Tip…for programs that only support school-based programs, try registering as a preschool.
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A Family Who Eats Together, Raises Money Together

No need to go door-to-door selling wrapping paper, wreaths or magazines. Now, just sitting down to dinner with your family can raise cash for your school with General Mills Box Tops for Education.

Green Giant, Progresso and Old El Paso, part of the General Mills Meals division, are the newest participating brands in the Box Tops for Education program. With the help of these products used in recipes such as Chicken Florentine Panini, Bow-Thai Chicken and Broccoli Primavera Bake, families can enjoy a great-tasting and convenient meal while raising up to $20,000 for their participating school.

As schools grow and budgets continue to be trimmed, fundraising is even more important to education, according to a national parenting organization. However, safety concerns and students’ lack of time are leading school officials to favor alternative fundraising programs over traditional door-to-door efforts.

Additionally, alternative school fundraising eliminates time-consuming student sales – thus increasing valuable family time around the dinner hour. Washington University in Missouri recently conducted a study of 80 families eating together on a regular basis. The research indicated that frequent family dinner discussions exposed preschoolers to new words and concepts, resulting in a larger vocabulary and better school performance for these children.

“Sitting down together for dinner has endless benefits,” says Andrea Epstein, manager of meals promotions. “Kids get a great-tasting, home-cooked meal with their family, while effortlessly raising cash for their school.”

Starting a Child Care Facility Checklist
At childcare.net we get asked constantly about the best way to go about starting a child care facility, whether it be home-based or centre-based child care. To assist our visitors with their venture, childcare.net has just developed this exclusive Starting a Child Care Facility Checklist.

Child Protection Policy
This nicely designed Child Protection Policy, also known as a Child Abuse Policy, is a valuable tool used to give parents information on how you will handle any suspicions of child abuse. In fact, many licensing offices require that family dayhome operators and daycare centre operators have such a policy in place as part of their licensing requirements.

Child Abuse Report
Children have the right to be free from the fear or reality of abuse (either physical or emotional). A Child Care Provider is obligated by law to report any suspected cases of child abuse. Help protect the children in your care, as well as yourself, using this form to document any suspicions of child abuse that you might have. In fact, many licensing offices require that family dayhome operators and daycare centre operators have both a Child Abuse or Child Protection Policy and a Child Abuse Report Form as part of their licensing requirements.

Ask Us
We receive many questions at childcare.net ranging from parents needing help with their childcare queries, to caregivers wanting to know how to handle various issues regarding the start up and operation of their child care facility. To share these questions with our visitors we’ve introducing this new Ask Us feature in our Child Care Tip of the Week page.

Daycare Centre Business Plan Guide Just released!
Packed with straight-forward information and easy-to-follow instructions to help you develop your daycare business plan.

Show your visitors you care about child care.

Make Your Site Child Care Friendly

Learn more about our We Care About Child Care link program.

“Today, I will be too calm for worry, too noble for anger
and too strong for defeat. Today, I will believe anything
is possible… I will walk through fear without hesitation.
Today, I will stand for something. Today, I will make a difference.”
Anonymous

Today, companies are looking for breakthrough ideas that will help them promote a positive corporate image and demonstrate their commitment to making a difference.

Because the need for quality child care affects businesses large and small, we are offering link opportunities to those Web sites who want to be seen as a caring, progressive company who understands that we all have a direct stake in the education and development of our children.

Why place a We Care About Child Care link on your Web site?

* Consumers want to give their business to people who care about them. By publicly supporting child care, you are telling consumers that you not only value child care in their community, but that you value them and their family. Now that’s great public relations and marketing all rolled into one great feature.

* child care online is a feature-rich meeting place where parents, educators, child care providers, and employers can find information on issues related to the child care field. It is especially useful for employers who understand the value of assisting their employees with their dependent care needs

Adding a We Care About Child Care link is as easy as 1, 2, 3:
1) Fill send the following information to: customercare@childcare.net.
a) Your Name
b) Email Address
c) Name of your Website or publication
d) Website address re: http://____
e) Your Website audience
f) Any comments you may have
g) Confirmation that you have read our Terms of Use, prior to
sending your request.
2) We will email you the code and explain how to set up the
link.
3) You place the code on your site and it will automatically provide
a link to child care online. It’s that simple!!!!!

You’ll find that statement in many places on childcare.net. That’s because it is not just a cliché; it’s an important truth.

childcare.net has worked very hard for a long time to bring our customers top quality child care information. We’ve become very successful at it because we’ve been in the field for 20 years. Along the way, we’ve learned a great deal from other caregivers and parents that has been very important to us. It is this gathering of knowledge that we pass on to help our visitors.

However, there is a great deal of questionable information available on the Internet as well. We’ve bought just about every major startup package and kit out there and our findings did not come close to measuring up to the childcare.net standard of excellence and quality. The purpose of our Online Catalog is to pass along only well designed, quality, useful information information we’ve used ourselves, so that you don’t have to waste your time, or hard earned money, suffering through the over advertised stuff that’s out there. And it’s unmistakably everywhere.

Look at it this way: As in any area of business, there are people on the Internet who will put together a package of information, create a convincing sales page, and let anyone, whether they know anything about child care or not, sell it. They prey on your hopes and dreams, and are willing to sell you anything in order to take a piece of your paycheck for themselves. You can’t run a search on starting a child care business without every other page directing you to these products. But the only people profiting here are the affiliates selling the products who, according to the affiliate page of one major seller don’t even have to buy the product to sell it, and the publisher, who, if he/she really cared for you, would offer you a wealth of other information you don’t have to buy, like we do at childcare.net.

Good Info vs. Bad Info

The Internet is great a storehouse knowledge. That’s a wonderful thing. But the Internet doesn’t discriminate when it comes to what information is out there, and that, sadly, can cause problems.

One problem is that some people don’t have as much experience as other people in the subjects they write about. And that is certainly not very helpful for people like you who are are building on their dream to start a child care business or who are looking to protect their child by knowing how to properly look for child care.

Another problem is that anyone with a few extra minutes, can purposely slap together a pile of information and sell it for big bucks. It’s an easy thing to do, and there’s a LOT of that going on. Unlike these sites who take your money and run, childcare.net is dedicated to providing our visitors with materials written by people who have proven, honest, practical real world experience that works. Catherine Pruissen’s, “Starting and Run a Home Daycare”, for example, took over a year to research and write, and has been updated several times since. The book is so well written and helpful that we have never had a single negative comment about it. In fact, it is considered by many to be their child care business bible. And our Child Care Business Forms helped a college student and new child care business owner get 45 out of 45 on her Starting a Daycare project. She couldn’t thank us enough for helping her get both the good marks and the jump-start she needed to provide her clients with superior information and materials like her child care contract, parent handbook, and so on.

Beware the Oversell

A product that is plastered all over the Internet means one very important but sad fact; a lot of people are making a lot of money off of the hopes and dreams of customers like you.

Don’t throw your money away on sites hosted by affiliates and resellers by the dozens who couldn’t care less what happens to you. All they care about is the whopping 25% to 50% commission off each kit they sell. They pad their Affiliate pages with link terms and actual high ranking Website names in order to spoof the search engines and get a top ranking, even though they don’t provide you with any valuable information unless you BUY it. At 50% of $29.95 for one product you see everywhere, that’s a nice chunk of change and they KNOW IT! Why else do you think they pay to advertise their product all over the search engines?

Not childcare.net. We have earned our Search Engine ranking because of our dedication to the child care field and our years of commitment. We have a complete Resource Centre chock full of valuable FREE articles that will help you build your child care business. We offer a FREE place to list your business, to talk with other caregivers, and so much more. These other sites want your money up front…no exceptions. At childcare.net. we’re happy to share so much of our knowledge and expertise for FREE. You’ll waste valuable time and money finding out that the information you bought from these over-advertised products don’t even come close to quality of information in childcare.net products.

Beware of Web Sites Bearing ‘Free Gifts’

If Free Gifts are offered after the sale, they’re NOT free! There’s a slogan that says, “If You Can’t Dazzle ’em with Brilliance, Baffle ’em with Bull****” There are a number of Web sites selling information on the Internet who put in considerable effort to Baffle you into buying their products. They have a wide range of methods they use, but one of the most obvious is Free Gifts.

Now, there are two kinds of Free Gifts.

1.) Free Gifts given to you BEFORE the sale are usually a good thing. We do that ourselves; we offer a very comprehensive Resource Centre giving you a tremendous amount of FREE information on starting your own Child Care Business. We give you that for FREE, no questions asked, no personal information required, and you never have to buy anything from us. THAT kind of Free Gift is OK, because it really is Free!

2.) Free Gifts that are promised AFTER the sale are the thing to watch out for. They are designed to make the offer look so attractive to you that you simply cannot turn it down. They are, in fact, given to you because the main informational product itself is so lousy that it’s creators feel that they have to suck you in with after-the-sale freebies, or they’ll never sell anything to you at all.

However, in order to get all these Free Gifts, you have to buy something first. Here’s how these products work: They pitch their product to you with all kinds of wonderful promises, telling you that you’re going to make incredible amounts of money very quickly. That in itself is not true! NOBODY makes incredible amounts of money quickly in child care. In the real world, it takes time, patience, and work! THEN they tell you that if you order their information, they will include “$$$$ Worth of Bonus Free Gifts!” with your order, or some such ridiculous statement. They tell you that you will get Marketing Information, Important Articles and Reports, Expensive EBooks, Bonus Guides, etc., etc., for FREE, after you buy their product.

Freebies that you only get AFTER the sale are there for two reasons: They make you think you’re getting much more that you are paying for, when in truth you are not; you can pick up that stuff for free without buying anything. All that Free Stuff is just that; it’s FREE, it’s garbage, and you can find it all over the Internet for nothing, without having to pay a cent for anybody’s products. The product providers certainly do not pay for it; why should you? They are a distraction. These sites are counting on the very good probability that you will spend so much time with, and get so caught up in all that extra free stuff that you will forget that the original product you paid for is junk, and you’ll never bother to ask for a refund!

How Can We Honestly Say All This As The Truth?

Quite simply, because we’ve purchased a number of the most heavily advertised products to verify what we already knew: childcare.net’s products are of the highest quality compared to the others. Actually, we did a comparison of the two major information products and those provided on childcare.net. And we had that comparison chart on our site. Sadly, the major information seller who has more resellers who know little or nothing about child care plastering the products all over the Internet, wrote to us and complained about this chart. The information provider went so far as to threaten to stop linking to our site if we continue to host this comparison chart. We were really perplexed because the only way a customer can get this link to childcare.net from them is to BUY their product first.

Finally, unlike these sites who only SELL you information, we work seven days a week (literally) to build the best possible child care Web site available today. We add new information constantly. You won’t find that from the BUY now and you’re left o to your own devises sites out there. If they won’t support you to further your endeavor to open your child care business, why would you support them by buying their product? Only childcare.net will be here when you need us – always.

If you have benefited from the information provided on any section of childcare.net, please support us by purchasing quality childcare.net products. It’s your hard-earned money. Spend it wisely.

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.

In Canada, small business owners can learn about financing initiatives of all sorts on Industry Canada’s Sources of Financing Web page.

Independent child care business owners can also try the Foundation Grants to Individuals OnLine, a service of The Foundation Center. http://www.fdncenter.org. For $9.95 per month (payable by credit card) the Foundation Center offers an online listings of Grants to Individuals in the U.S. To learn more, visit heir About Foundation Grants to Individuals online at: http://gtionline.fdncenter.org/gti_help/1aboutfd.htm.

Visit our Financing Child Care Sources page for more detailed information on financing resources for child care.

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.

Grant Resources for Non-Profit Child Care Businesses

To make your search even easier, we’ve dedicated specific pages for Canadian and U.S. grant sources, and alternative financing sources.

Grants & Funding Sources for Child Care
American Grants & Funding Sources
Financing Child Care Sources

8 Important Steps to Obtaining Grants for Your Child Care
Business. This no-holds-barred, comprehensive article will get you
started on your search for child care grants.

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.

We’ve done the research so you don’t have to!

Provincial Government Funding Programs
Alberta Newfoundland PEI
British Columbia Nova Scotia Quebec
Manitoba Nunavut Saskatchewan
New Brunswick Ontario Yukon
Aboriginal
** From the Childcare Resource and Research Unit

Grants and Funding in Canada

City of Vancouver Childcare Grants Program
The Childcare Grants Program is a vital part of the City’s overall goal to help develop accessible, affordable, high quality childcare services, especially in the areas of the city that need them most.

Canadian Rural Child Care Pathfinder
The “Rural Child Care projects” section includes contact information for specific rural child care initiatives across the country.

Fundsnet Canada Grantmakers
So many great resources on this site it should be one of the first places you stop for funding and grants in Canada.

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.

FoundationSearch.ca
FoundationSearch.ca is breaking new ground by providing a complete and fully searchable, online database of all Canadian Foundation (Form T3010) information returns, for the serious prospect research organization.

The Sponsorship Report
Canada’s only publication focused exclusively on corporate sponsorship of: the arts and entertainment, sports, charitable causes, festivals and events

Bell Canada
Bell supports educational, community, health and cultural initiatives which demonstrate leadership and innovation. Programs we support such as Kids Help Phone, Leaders Are IT and Dictee PGL are dynamic and innovative examples of how communication can make the world a better place.

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
As one of Canada’s largest corporate donors, CIBC provides support to a broad range of programs. With our eye on the future, we focus special attention on the well-being of young Canadians. CIBC funds hundreds of initiatives that combine education, mentoring, research and skills development, initiatives that encourage youth to stay in school and plan for their future.

Charity Village
Links to to the Home pages of Canadian foundations with grant programs.

Links to funding agencies across Canada
Highly valuable resource from University of Alberta’s Research Grants Office. Provides links to to the home pages of foundations and agencies, organized by country.

Adobe
Adobe’s Community Relations Program goal is to positively impact, strengthen, and make our local communities better and healthier places in which to live, work, and do business.

Air Canada
The company considers requests for donations from organizations working to improve the lives of Canada’s youth as well as those conducting research into diseases. In some cases they make cash donations, in many others they donate promotional tickets.

BC Hydro Employees’ Community Services Fund (HYDRECS) HYDRECS is an employee-run committee that provides assistance to registered charities working in British Columbia in the areas of health and social services.

Canadian Council on Social Development
A content-rich site containing a veritable wealth of links, social policy data, statistics, and research reports about social and economic issues.

Children’s Foundations
This extensive and valuable list of foundations that support children is from FundsNet.com.

Child Welfare.ca
This site is a must-see for anyone involved in the welfare of children. Covers everything from adoption to social services and from youth help hines to statistics and research.

Clarica Life Insurance Company
The company Invests approximately one-third of corporate donations in programs that promote the best possible future for Canada’s children and other programs.

Imperial Oil Charitable Foundation
Over half of the foundation’s grants are in the field of education, some under the umbrella of their Esso Kids Program.

Microsoft Canada Kidreach
KidReach is a Microsoft Canada’s national donation program that empowers young people by providing access to technology that they could not have otherwise. Primarily, KidReach assists non-profit and charitable organizations across Canada that work with young people by providing them with donations of software.

Royal Bank After School Care Program
The After-School Grants program is designed to channel support to organizations who serve primary and secondary school-aged youth. The bank also supports a number of other community-based programs.

Sears Young Futures Program
Sears supports many charitable organizations directly through its charitable givings program. The Sears Young Futures Program is committed to the positive development of children and youth.

Zellers Friends of the Family
Zellers Friends of the Family was developed to provide financial assistance and employee involvement to charities that support the health, well being and education of Canadian families.
Top

Fundraising for Nonprofit Groups

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.”

Visit our Online Catalog for more information on this valuable resource.