Fundraising
There are two kinds of fundraising needed for early learning and child care programs:
A capital campaign will be needed to construct or renovate your facility
A capital campaign is a very intense, time-limited fundraising endeavour to meet a specific financial goal in order to fund a special project such as the construction of a facility or the acquisition of equipment.
It will be important to quickly establish a fundraising committee with some experienced fundraisers or influential community members who would be prepared to promote the project.
Fundraising for Operations
Operating a non-profit early learning and child care program will probably consume vast quantities of each of the board and staff member's time, so it is important to be realistic about what can be achieved through fundraising. If you have a fundraising expert on your board, then perhaps you can utilize that person's skills to develop a comprehensive fundraising strategy. If not, it is a good idea for someone to engage in a project of researching information and advice on fundraising before making confident predictions about how much money can be raised. You can start with the hundreds of websites devoted to methods, ideas and organization of fundraising.
Again, Cowperthwaite Mehta Chartered Accountants have an article to help you with fundraising.
Imagine Canada (formerly the Canadian Centre for Philanthropy) is a great resource for non-profit organizations. A list of core resources held by Imagine Canada's Nonprofit Library Commons can be found at http://www.nonprofitscan.ca/page.asp?core_resources
Once you have decided on a fundraising approach and strategy, make sure that you:
- Establish fundraising targets
- Develop goals and objectives
- Establish a critical path for success
- Recruit volunteers and, if possible, champions
- Assess your results critically
Resources
For general information on healthy financial practices, see the United Way of Canada's - Centraide Canada Board Basics Kit Manual
This guide includes extensive information about the financial management process of a non-profit organization. It includes guidelines on developing the annual budget, financial controls/procedures, establishing and monitoring a financial record keeping system and monitoring the revenue and expenditures of the organization.
A sample Financial Policy Manual
The Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care's Child Care Management Guide II contains a complete section (Chapter Eight) on Financial Management. It covers the same areas as the United Way Guide but is a little less detailed and is more specific to early learning and child care programs.
Cowperthwaite Mehta Chartered Accountant's excellent website can help with many different problems. Some of the problems it addresses are specific to anywhere in Canada; others are specific to Ontario. There is a search engine on the site to help you find what you need. For example, they have a very good article on the Art of Budgeting.