Donations Help

[mrs.banks14]

Hi yall,

I have been asking a lot questions but I am loving how thoughtful and how much information yall have. The center I am working at is small and we do not have the necessary things that we need. How do I go about asking for donations from local stores and businesses? How did yall find the money to get everything needed for your center?

[NeedaVaca]

Hi yall,

I have been asking a lot questions but I am loving how thoughtful and how much information yall have. The center I am working at is small and we do not have the necessary things that we need. How do I go about asking for donations from local stores and businesses? How did yall find the money to get everything needed for your center?

My personal feeling on this is when you start a business you need to fund the necessary equipment. I don't think asking for donations is the answer. I think the owners need to look closely at their budget and make the changes that are needed to provide everything.

Honestly, when I owned a company and funds were tight the first thing that happened was "I" took a pay cut. I have to wonder since you are the director but not the owner, what do the owners do? I can't remember how many kids you have but if memory serves it was fairly small and what some daycare providers do all by themselves...I wonder how realistic the owners were in their expectations of cash flow.

[Laurel]

My personal feeling on this is when you start a business you need to fund the necessary equipment. I don't think asking for donations is the answer. I think the owners need to look closely at their budget and make the changes that are needed to provide everything.

Honestly, when I owned a company and funds were tight the first thing that happened was "I" took a pay cut. I have to wonder since you are the director but not the owner, what do the owners do? I can't remember how many kids you have but if memory serves it was fairly small and what some daycare providers do all by themselves...I wonder how realistic the owners were in their expectations of cash flow.

[mrs.banks14]

Thats how I feel

My personal feeling on this is when you start a business you need to fund the necessary equipment. I don't think asking for donations is the answer. I think the owners need to look closely at their budget and make the changes that are needed to provide everything.

Honestly, when I owned a company and funds were tight the first thing that happened was "I" took a pay cut. I have to wonder since you are the director but not the owner, what do the owners do? I can't remember how many kids you have but if memory serves it was fairly small and what some daycare providers do all by themselves...I wonder how realistic the owners were in their expectations of cash flow.

I feel like the owners should spend the money no matter the cost to make sure that we have everything that we need. In all three classrooms we do not have proper centers and in some classrooms we do not have all the centers that we need. I have spent quite a bit of money out my pocket to help out which I know I shouldn't because I dont have the money myself. I started last week and wont get a pay check until the 30th and that will only be for a week. I wont get paid for a full two weeks until the 15th of next month. Anyways the owners own a church. They opened the center in order to raise money for the church and put money into their pockets. They are running this as some what of business. The husband works at a factory and is the pastor. The wife which is the other owner helps run two other daycares and runs my center. I hate to ask for donations but it sure isnt going to come out of the pockets of the owners so we need supplies from some where. If this center was mine I would put all the money I had to ensure that it was well ran. We dont even have the proper staff. I am a teacher first and a director second.

[pandamom]

I work in an Air Force child care center. Unfortunately with budget cuts, our money for supplies has drastically dwindled. A lot of times, us caregivers reach into our own pockets for little things. We don't have to, but we want to have certain things for projects or to make the environment nice.

Our center does different fundraisers throughout the year to help raise money. Things like an art auction (where a small group of children work together to make cute art pieces), basket auction (again, caregivers had to pony up the money for the contents of the basket), etc. Hmmm...still seems like caregivers have to reach into their own pockets..... :confused:

We also have a wish list posted. We have some awesome parents who donate things off the list.

We've also learned to be creative and scavenge and upcycle things

ETA: Our local freecycle group has been awesome for donating things like old toys or supplies that we can use.

[Heidi]

I feel like the owners should spend the money no matter the cost to make sure that we have everything that we need. In all three classrooms we do not have proper centers and in some classrooms we do not have all the centers that we need. I have spent quite a bit of money out my pocket to help out which I know I shouldn't because I dont have the money myself. I started last week and wont get a pay check until the 30th and that will only be for a week. I wont get paid for a full two weeks until the 15th of next month. Anyways the owners own a church. They opened the center in order to raise money for the church and put money into their pockets. They are running this as some what of business. The husband works at a factory and is the pastor. The wife which is the other owner helps run two other daycares and runs my center. I hate to ask for donations but it sure isnt going to come out of the pockets of the owners so we need supplies from some where. If this center was mine I would put all the money I had to ensure that it was well ran. We dont even have the proper staff. I am a teacher first and a director second.

Providing sub-par care just to make a buck doesn't seem like something a church or pastor should be doing. Not trying to offend YOU, btw. I've seen you struggling with this for a couple weeks now. :hug:

Why do parents enroll their children there? Is it inexpensive, or are they thinking their child is getting a "Christian" program?

How many directors have they had since opening? How long have they been open?

Are you applying anywhere else? This sounds like it will be a constant struggle. Maybe you should keep looking for a better gig!

If it's a non-profit daycare tied to the church, there would probably be grants and such you can find. Maybe you could get donations, too. If the goal is to improve quality; not just to line someone's pockets.

Non-profit does not mean that no one is paid, though. They could pay the pastor for a job, they could pay his wife for a job, they could pay you and your teachers. They just can't show a profit for the business, and the wages have to be 'reasonable" for the work performed. So, they can't pay 2 million dollars a year for mowing the lawns or something. ::

Maybe do a bit more research on that, and then sit down with the pastor and wifey, and work together to come up with some solutions. Your job is to improve quality, but they want some income out of it. That's fair...but it has to be balanced.

Stop spending YOUR money! NOT OKAY!

[MarinaVanessa]

When asking for donations just be friendly and polite. There are TONS of places that you can get free stuff that people will be more than happy to give away.

Go on Facebook and look for a local Free group. We have one for our county where people list things they just want to get rid of fast. Sometimes the items are toys and child items, you can always just respond to these items but be quick. These are all first come first serve and the items go to the first person that responds. If the items are still good but not child related you can always get the item anyway and store it and when you have enough gathered you can do a rummage sale to collect money for more supplies and toys. I just scored a huge trash bag full of newborn baby clothes which I took a few pieces out that fit our dolls and will pass on the rest of the clothes to someone else.

You can always make nice flyers to give to the parents that ask for toy and child items. You can use what you need and anything like clothing or other items that you can't use in the center can go towards the rummage sale.

contacting businesses is another way to get items for free. I contacted offices and introduced myself as a child care provider and asked if they had anything to donate that we could use. I got binders, notebooks, some picture frames and best of all a whole lot of paper. One side was printed on but the kids don't care. They just want to paint and draw. We made a lot of projects out of all of that stuff.

I also went to a mobile phone store and asked if they ever got any old donated flip style phones that they could donate to us for play phones and the manager said he had something better and gave me a bag with 10 new "dummy" phones. They look like phones but they don't have the glass screen and they don't have anything inside. They are model phones. The kids now have fake smart phones to play with and they love it.

From an insurance agent I got stuffed bears, coloring books and stickers. They all have the insurance label on them of course but the kids don't care, they love them just the same. Their office also always gets stuff from other offices like note pads, sticky notes etc with those business logos and so because they can't pass those out to their clients (against company policy) they hold them for me and call me when they have a copy paper box full of them and I give them to the kids and they use them during play to play school, restaurant, office etc.

I also shop garage sales and when they have kids stuff I introduce myself and ask if I can come back after the sale and take any child items that didn't sell. Last year I got a lot of things this way and used what I needed and boxed up what I couldn't but was still good and got a booth at our bi yearly community children's rummage sale and sold the boxed up stuff. I made a couple hundred dollars and used it to replace some worn out toys and to get some stuff we needed.

All in all you just have to be friendly and say you work with kids. Think about what someone or a business could have that you can use and suggest that. I got the paper because the office I went to said they didn't have anything to donate and I asked if they had paper that they were going to recycle for the kids to use as drawing paper and to play office, the girls eyes lit up and she said yes and brought out a box full of paper and that's how we got the binders and note books "so the kids can play office".

If someone donates I get the roll of painting paper out and we make a big "thank you" poster for them. Businesses especially love this.

[Blackcat31]

I feel like the owners should spend the money no matter the cost to make sure that we have everything that we need. In all three classrooms we do not have proper centers and in some classrooms we do not have all the centers that we need. I have spent quite a bit of money out my pocket to help out which I know I shouldn't because I dont have the money myself. I started last week and wont get a pay check until the 30th and that will only be for a week. I wont get paid for a full two weeks until the 15th of next month. Anyways the owners own a church. They opened the center in order to raise money for the church and put money into their pockets. They are running this as some what of business. The husband works at a factory and is the pastor. The wife which is the other owner helps run two other daycares and runs my center. I hate to ask for donations but it sure isnt going to come out of the pockets of the owners so we need supplies from some where. If this center was mine I would put all the money I had to ensure that it was well ran. We dont even have the proper staff. I am a teacher first and a director second.

What state are you in?

My state has VERY specific requirements for what equipment and how many of each required piece to have.

I am not understanding how the state even licensed your center if they didn't have the right equipment or enough equipment. How odd.

Have you talked with the owners about this and outright asked them what they plan to do to actually meet the needs of their clients?

I can't imagine that many families will enroll (and stay enrolled) once they find out that there isn't enough equipment provided etc.

[Blackcat31]

I saw your profile says Kentucky...

I went and read the requirements for your state and it says the center shall be inspected quarterly so how are these inspectors not seeing that there is a lack of equipment?

Also the state regulations say that the number of allowed enrollments is dependent on the amount of equipment there is, so maybe you can use that as a way of convincing the owners to start buying stuff for the center.

[Annalee]

I saw your profile says Kentucky...

I went and read the requirements for your state and it says the center shall be inspected quarterly so how are these inspectors not seeing that there is a lack of equipment?

Also the state regulations say that the number of allowed enrollments is dependent on the amount of equipment there is, so maybe you can use that as a way of convincing the owners to start buying stuff for the center.

BC, I am in TN but licensing do not always "follow the guidelines". It is like certain things are "blind-eyed/overlooked". I don't mean licensing is bad, but there are things I do/have done/are doing that other daycares are clueless too and vice versa. I mentor providers that have less than the bare minumum but they are still allowed to open up a licensed home.????:confused::confused::confused:

[SignMeUp]

I have also heard that churches have ways to get around being licensed. There's a program near me that does full day care for preschoolers, plus after school care. They call themselves an art academy, which draws people from a couple of different crowds. And because technically, they are offering two half day programs and they are church-based, they are not licensed, which they say is legal. But if parents ask, their kids can pack a lunch and stay for both half days, making it full time child care.

[mrs.banks14]

Thanks

I work in an Air Force child care center. Unfortunately with budget cuts, our money for supplies has drastically dwindled. A lot of times, us caregivers reach into our own pockets for little things. We don't have to, but we want to have certain things for projects or to make the environment nice.

Our center does different fundraisers throughout the year to help raise money. Things like an art auction (where a small group of children work together to make cute art pieces), basket auction (again, caregivers had to pony up the money for the contents of the basket), etc. Hmmm...still seems like caregivers have to reach into their own pockets..... :confused:

We also have a wish list posted. We have some awesome parents who donate things off the list.

We've also learned to be creative and scavenge and upcycle things

ETA: Our local freecycle group has been awesome for donating things like old toys or supplies that we can use.

Thank you for the ideas. I have put a lot off my money into this center already and I have only be here around two weeks. I will not get a full pay check until the middle of next month. So it is hard for me to buy things. It is also hard to buy things that I shouldnt have to. The owners should put their own money until their center. The director and child care workers shouldnt have to. However, I do anyways even when I know that I dont have the money to spare. And dont get me started on the other teachers. They are just here for a pay check and thats it.

[mrs.banks14]

Questions

Providing sub-par care just to make a buck doesn't seem like something a church or pastor should be doing. Not trying to offend YOU, btw. I've seen you struggling with this for a couple weeks now. :hug:

Why do parents enroll their children there? Is it inexpensive, or are they thinking their child is getting a "Christian" program?

How many directors have they had since opening? How long have they been open?

Are you applying anywhere else? This sounds like it will be a constant struggle. Maybe you should keep looking for a better gig!

If it's a non-profit daycare tied to the church, there would probably be grants and such you can find. Maybe you could get donations, too. If the goal is to improve quality; not just to line someone's pockets.

Non-profit does not mean that no one is paid, though. They could pay the pastor for a job, they could pay his wife for a job, they could pay you and your teachers. They just can't show a profit for the business, and the wages have to be 'reasonable" for the work performed. So, they can't pay 2 million dollars a year for mowing the lawns or something. ::

Maybe do a bit more research on that, and then sit down with the pastor and wifey, and work together to come up with some solutions. Your job is to improve quality, but they want some income out of it. That's fair...but it has to be balanced.

Stop spending YOUR money! NOT OKAY!

Thanks for the hug.

Parents pay only $100 a week. So it is very cheap for our area. Child Care assistance is also accepted.

There was one director before me and couldn't handle all of this and she up and quit.

I am not looking for another job right now. I am looking at this as experience. And I need all the experience that I can get in order for me to get a better director job when I am done with school.

I will do some research thank you.

[mrs.banks14]

State

I saw your profile says Kentucky...

I went and read the requirements for your state and it says the center shall be inspected quarterly so how are these inspectors not seeing that there is a lack of equipment?

Also the state regulations say that the number of allowed enrollments is dependent on the amount of equipment there is, so maybe you can use that as a way of convincing the owners to start buying stuff for the center.

State has came quite a bit even on my first day working here. I am not sure how they are not looking at each center finding out that there is not enough items for the children. I have talked to the owners about this and they say they are working it into the budget. The center came about to help the church. Not the children. I am not sure why parents bring their children here. I am hoping to be able to turn this place around.

[mrs.banks14]

I know right

BC, I am in TN but licensing do not always "follow the guidelines". It is like certain things are "blind-eyed/overlooked". I don't mean licensing is bad, but there are things I do/have done/are doing that other daycares are clueless too and vice versa. I mentor providers that have less than the bare minumum but they are still allowed to open up a licensed home.????:confused::confused::confused:

We are not a home daycare. But I feel like they over look a lot of things. I am working with a child care aware lady and she even feels bad for me. But is helping me a lot. State came in my first day. We got written up three times. And our staff never shows up.