We wrote the book on financing quality, age-appropriate early childhood education facilities. Literally. Now, a LISC guide to developing new spaces has a permanent home on the website of the federal Dept. of Health and Human Services. The guide helps Head Start programs navigate the complex process of planning, budgeting and pulling together the money to make early learning accessible to all.
Financing and Budgeting for Early Care and Education Facilities Guidebook
Excerpt from Introduction:
Developing a new early care and education facility—or making significant improvements to an existing one— invariably involves raising capital to complete the project. Finding the necessary resources can be the most challenging part of this process. Nonetheless, with determination, creativity, and some luck, you should be able to raise enough capital to create the type of physical environment that meets your needs. As you start thinking about the money your organization will need to raise and the resources it will need to gather, keep in mind that the effort will invariably take longer and cost more than you initially think.
This document explains how to determine the cost of a facility project and how to prepare a budget. It then describes potential sources of funding that early childhood programs have successfully used to locate capital, and it explains strategies for securing that capital.