This page may contain affiliate links. Learn More.
Fundraising for daycare is a great way to getoutdoor play equipment, meet the stars program requirements, or replace worn-out supplies. It’s a part of running a home daycare.
I also did daycare fundraisers when I was starting up.
For more daycare tips for providers, check this out.
Running a home daycare costs a lot. And over the past 20 years, I have done a lot of fundraising for Little Sprouts. I have built a playground with impact material, bought outdoor equipment, tricked out my art supplies, built an AMAZING garden expansion, and purchased a ton of toys, games, and supplies for my childcare home.
Why do daycares have fundraisers?
Of the profit I make each year, I would like some of that money to go towards giving my family a better life and not all of it to go back to the daycare.
I bring in money, but after spending $7,000 on food throughout the year on just food for the kids alone, the profit margin is small. Several thousand dollars for supplies, a few thousand for art materials and toys, extra water, electricity, trash, and the list goes on and on. This job is definitely a labor of LOVE!
Fundraising for daycare-preschool
I still want to give my kids the very BEST I possibly can. I want to include as much learning and as many experiences as possible for them to get the best education they can. So how can I take a small amount of profit and turn it into a great learning environment? Fundraising for daycare ideas for improvements!
How do I do it? Here are my best and most successful ideas for raising extra funds to make improvements in my daycare.
Fundraising for daycare and early childhood programs
Grants! DHS used to give out improvement grants as did some tribal agencies such as Cherokee nation. I have gotten much of my equipment through grants from DHS and one from Cherokee nation.
As education continues to be cut, the grant programs were cut as well, but there are other grants available. Research grants online and apply. It’s not that hard to write a grant, you just have to be detail-oriented and follow the directions carefully.
I received one small grant for my garden expansion and will be reapplying for it this year to try to get additional plants and supplies for the garden in the spring. It can’t hurt to try.
Donations! You can ask the parents and grandparents you serve to donate to something you would like to purchase. Choose the specific items you would like. Write a letter to the families you serve explaining what it is, how much it costs and why you would like to get it. Include a picture for the best results.
In my experience, most families are willing to participate to give their kids something great to play on or learn from.
They’ll also donate great used toys their kids outgrow, so don’t forget to say what you need, someone might have it.
Fundraisers for daycare
Online campaign. When I was doing my fundraising for the garden expansion, I asked on Facebook for discarded materials as well as did a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo. I raised almost $1,000 of what I needed plus got most of my used fencing and some wood and other materials donated.
People don’t know what you need if you don’t tell them. It was easy to use. You could also do go fund me or other programs.
Antiquities photo fundraiser
Photos. The most successful daycare fundraiser idea I ever had was Antiquities portraits. I set up a place in my garage for the photoshoot and in my living room for the outfits and props for people to choose.
It was chaotic, but I raised over $800 in two days. The families and I sold tickets for $10 for the sitting fee and Antiquities made money from selling the portraits. We sold more than 80 tickets from our Antiquities photo fundraiser and no matter what people ordered, we kept that $800.
Preschool fundraising ideas
Fundraising Flyers. There are hundreds of fundraiser sites online that offer candles, cookie dough, wrapping paper and you name it to sell for a percentage of the profits. You can also sell Little Ceasar’s pizza kits.
Candy bar fundraiser
Candy Bars. You can go to a warehouse store and get cases of candy bars and have your families sell them at work for a markup.
Cookie dough fundraiser
Homemade fundraisers. I have sold homemade frozen cookie dough, baked cookies, breads, pies, and cakes for fundraisers many times. My parents take orders at work and then make whatever they get orders for. I choose a day for each person’s orders and have them all ready for that person to take Monday morning.
Choose a few of the best things you make and make up and order form. It’s a lot of work, but we have always made a good profit. Some people are still asking for cookies from that. I have done a fundraiser for my family’s vacation with cooking as well.
We made homemade dinners that could be frozen or cooked right away. People loved having dinner ready for them.
Multilevel Marketing Companies. Companies like Pampered Chef, Scentsy, and Celebrating Home have fundraising opportunities. All you have to do is find a consultant, and they will fill you in on what the percentage of profit is and give you order forms.
It’s just like having a catalog party, but your parents can help you sell the products and you get cash to use toward what you’re raising money for.
Usborne Books does them as well, and you could earn free books!
Daycare fundraisers
Raffle. Try to get something donated that you could sell raffle tickets for. It could be a bicycle, or whatever, or even something homemade like a pie.
Have a special “babysitting” evening or Saturday. With Christmas coming up, it could be a shopping day for parents. Offer a set time and fee and see if any of your parents want a night out or some time on a Saturday.
We did a series of these recently to get new nap mats, pillows, a Dyson cordless vacuum, and a few supplies. I ended up getting the Dyson from my parents as a group Christmas gift and getting to buy a lot more materials for the kids. What a blessing! We did three parent events and made about $1,000.
Our first event was in November and it was a date night from 5-10 pm. The second was a Saturday Christmas shopping event. Parents could purchase 10-2 or 10-4 for different prices. Then we did a Valentine date night from 5-10 on a Friday.
My parents loved this. I made the events like parties for the kids and posted pictures of all the fun cooking they got to do, games, and crafts on Facebook and had no trouble filling all three events as full as I wanted.
One family didn’t need to use the event and they donated money. I also got a donation from a neighbor because of what I posted on Facebook.
Fundraising ideas for daycare centers
Yard sale.Super easy daycare fundraising idea is a yard sale. Have your families donate their unwanted items and price them to sell.
Penny drive. Ask parents to bring all the change they can find. This is a great daycare fundraising idea. Change adds up faster than you think! If you did it once a month, they could save their change and over time you should have enough to get what you need.
Here’s another one I heard. A 2-liter bottle holds $700 worth of dimes. They set one out and told the parents about it and everyone brought their dimes and watched it fill up. I think that would be fun!
You can also save money in daycare by being less wasteful, check out how by clicking on the highlighted text.
Do you have any great strategies to raise funds? I would love to hear them.
If you still need to produce more income, check out some of these side hustles for daycare providers to get you through the lean times.
