Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Funding For Daycare

People are searching for this alot!

One of the clients that I had was a woman that was searching for funding for her daycare in one of the southern states.  She wanted to start it as a for-profit and in her home.

As strange as it may seem there are some grant programs that providing funding for in-home daycare (and in some cases even for-profits can apply as well).  And the number (and amount) of these grant programs increase if its in an area where there is a great need for childcare/daycare.

When you are looking for funding for your daycare there are a lot of things that have to be taken into consideration.  When you apply for any grant program the funder is going to want to know at least some basic information (and if it is a government-related grant they will want to know a lot information) like the kind of daycare you will be providing, the age range of the children and whether or not you are a licensed daycare provider.  The requirements for being licensed vary from state to state and you will have to know these requirements in order to be officially licensed.

You may also be eligible to apply for some of the funding if 25% or more of the children are from low-incomed families.  Funding resources include government, foundations, organizations and even some big businesses will have grant programs relating to childcare.  I'm thinking especially of those programs providing funding for providing childcare for their employees - another funding resource that you should be looking into.

Applying for these grant funding programs will depend on each individual organization's application process which varies widely from a simple letter of intent to a number of forms (including a business plan).

You should also look outside the realm of day-care grant programs for grants relating to your specific daycare - like grants for business, grants for women, grants for minorities and even some of the entrepreneurial and global grant programs.  There are many of them!

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