I keep 6 children in my registered in home daycare, but I am able to have 12. I am considering doing a fundraiser to help with getting new supplies, toys, tables and chairs, etc. Have any of you ever done one??? Which one would you suggest??? I have been looking at a few, including one for cookie dough, but it looks as though you need to sell at least 300+ boxes. Idk if I could pull that off....any help/advise would be appriciated! Thanks guys!

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Sometimes when an old roommate of mine needed extra money (like around holidays) she would have a night care/sleepover ("date night") at our house for the kids at her mom's daycare. You charge $10-15 for about 4 hours (6pm-10pm) and $15-25 for the whole night and basically get some $5 pizzas, some activities/games/music, and some movies- Just don't forget to claim it as income on your taxes and for the parents records. You can also offer it to some close friends and neighbors which would help get the word out.

Her mom also had a preschool program and would have a graduation/end of year celebration at a local church once a year and all the kids would dress up and dance to songs with a theme (beach/50's/renaissance) and parents would bring food and help clean up- and sometimes people who heard about her program would drop by to check it out and really liked it and wanted their kids to sign up. When her kids were growing up, she would also make crafts and school uniforms and sell them at the local flee market on Saturdays (and I am sure she advertised her daycare too); this helped her pay for her daughter's private school tuition- you may need a permit and to pay a small fee for tent space.

Also try to consider doing a yearly registration/material fee so you can buy most of the things you need in one big shopping trip- espessually during fall/back-to-school sales.

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How about doing a photography session? It takes a camera, some bed sheets or nice outdoor scenery, and have walgreens print them up. Take a "class photo" for everyone. We also do the Parent's night out for some quick cash, but we do that during the holidays so parents can wrap gifts of go shopping. In the summer, you could hold a yard sale where parents donate items to sell. Or, you could go ahead and just ask. In September, I wrote in the newsletter that we needed washable markers, printing paper, crayons, glitter, glue, etc and I had 2 parents that happily stocked me up.

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Look up Butter Braids. My daughter's high school choir sells them every year and makes enough to send the whole choir clear across the country! They are DELICIOUS and once people try them, they come back for more!

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What if you make a Paypal for the specific items you want and post a photo of it asking for donations. Your families might give you their bottles, spare coins etc. towards the items.

I prefer magazine drives over chocolate and really the profit in those fundraisers is only about 1/3 of your sales so with 6 kids you'd have to do a lot of work.

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Ive never done a fundraiser, but I do accept donations. Cash. Toys. Supplies.

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As silly as this is going to sound here is what I did right before I started my daycare.

I went around to yard sales (especially the moving sales, or the "everything must go" ones) to look for really inexpensive supplies for my DC and while I was there I would talk to the person holding the yard sale and ask what they were doing with their stuff after they were done, in most cases they were donating them or throwing the stuff away. I'd ask them if I could come back at the end of the day and take what they didn't sell, EVERYTHING.

In most cases they don't want to worry about hassling with boxing it all up again and calling around to have it picked up so in many cases they would say yes. I would come by later and take what they didn't sell and go through it at home and take out the stuff that I thought that I could sell myself on eBay, CL or at my own yard sale. The rest I would itemize, box up and donate to a thrift store and ask for a receipt (for donation deductions).

Not kidding I must have made a few hundred dollars each from CL and eBay and $200-$300 from yard sales (each, that I held). I also looked for FREE ads in CL and picked up good stuff for free.

I would have kept doing it if it wasn't for the fact that I'd have to keep driving around picking up stuff and because my DH was complaining about the stuff I had stored in his "man" space but it was decent money, enough to get me started.

Not many people want to do this but it's a thought

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I haven't done this as a fundraiser yet but it's something that I've looked into. I've purchased a number of these for friends and family in the past and I think it would do really well if you live in an area with a lot of children. I bet your DCPs would buy them. I don't remember what the profit is on them but I know it was good enough for me to consider doing. (I'm just not up and running yet.)


They are corrugated plastic yard signs. They also have other items.

http://drivelikeyourkidslivehere.com/

dr.jpg

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This sounds interesting, If you can post more info about how to do this and what it entails that would be great. I went to the website but it didn't give out much info on how exactly it works.

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I contacted the company almost a year ago and she e-mailed this to me:

Thank you for contacting us and your interest in our products! I am very sorry to hear that your sign was taken, however I will be glad to help bring our program to MA with hope of raising awareness about this cause. Together we can make a difference, community involvement is the key to a greater impact!

I have attached an order form and a flyer with facts for you to share with neighbors, friends, and business owners. I can also mail you brochures if you will provide your mailing address. I can offer volume discounts with orders of 10+ yard signs. If I can help further, please let me know.

Thanks again for your support!
Regards,

Petulia Pugliares
Drive Like Your Kids Live Here
860-202-0811


DLYKLH- informational flyer incl facts.pdf
DLYKLH- order form.pdf


I don't have any follow up information because I ended up calling her to ask. I don't know what the cost is for them now (almost a year later) but I know you can set your own price on the signs and create more profit that way.

The woman was very nice and ended up sending replacement signs (mine were stolen multiple times) and some nice brochures. I'm waiting to get started with my DC before contacting her again to sell them.

Hope this helps.

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We use to sell this in Girl Guards :

http://www.tomwat.com/

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When I did the baby-sitting at night once a month I would charge $16 for 4 hours.

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How does it work when you own your own business to do a fundraiser? Do you ask parents to sell stuff? I can't imagine that my dcfs would be willing to raise money for a program that they already pay to attend? I would love to try it, but I just can't imagine how it would work. I never really thought of fundraising as something a private business could utilize.

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Yes it does, thanks so much!! But I can't see the attachments. It says that I do not have access??

I was thinking about these as a fund raiser for our child care association .

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Not sure why it doesn't work??? It works for me. Maybe someone else can shed some light on this?

It's an order form and an informational flyer.

I sent you the attachments in an e-mail.

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