Family Child Care Business Toolkit

Table of Contents

Creating a Business Plan

Your business plan will outline the many details of operating your child care business. Planning for business means being informed about the demand for child care in your area and knowing about your space and material needs. You will want to think about your approach to early care and education, working with families and your overall hopes and goals for your business. You will need to plan for administrative details, including budgeting, marketing, billing and payment processing, what types of payment you’ll accept, develop record-keeping systems, and systems for child and staff records, on-going professional development and time management! 

A business plan for child care development includes:

• An executive summary – write it last
  The executive summary is a brief overview summarizing business identity, location, program and financial operations, staffing and more. The executive summary summarizes important details of the business and demonstrates comprehensive planning that offers a promise of sustained success.
• Child care program type, its business structure and location
  Include the name of the business, the full mailing address and a description of the facility or residence where child care will be provided. Describe the neighborhood, highlighting any places that will be used by staff and children. If child care will take place in a specific part of the facility, describe the rooms and areas children and staff will use.
• Goals, Mission and Vision
  Setting goals is essential to business success. Target enrollment goals are one example of a way to project child care program income and determine minimum enrollment requirements for successful operation. Be sure to identify any goals that you would like to achieve over time, such as expanding from a family to a group family day care or adding a school-age component to a child day care program.
• Marketing
  Who is the target market for your program? Identifying your target market can provide important information essential for financial management and marketing.
  Who will the program serve? What ages of children? What hours of operation? Will you offer only full-time care, or is part-day enrollment possible? Are there any qualifications or affiliations that families must meet to attend your program?
  Provide insight into how a child with special needs or who speaks a different home language will be welcomed. How program policies promote justice, equitable access to care, diversity and inclusion?
• Need for Services
  What is the need for child care in the proposed area?
  What are age and income demographics of families living in the neighborhood? How many children live near the proposed site? How do program ideas meet their needs? Will child care subsidy payments be accepted? What support exists for families that need translation or interpretation services?
  Taking stock of these factors will help to identify the best marketing strategies for the child care program and services.
• Environmental Plan
  This section identifies how the site meets the needs of the new program and how will it be developed. Details about how the environment will meet the needs of the specific age or group of children being cared for, such as age-specific areas, and equipment or supply needs.
  Include indoor and outdoor environmental plans that identify emergency evacuation routes in this section. Include plans for emergency relocation.
• Operating Plan
  The operating plan will identify hours of operation,  number and ages of children served, staffing requirements and enrollment options.
• Management and Organization
  Who will operate the business and what are that person’s unique qualifications? Provide an organizational chart that shows the staffing of the business, including Owner/Directors, Providers, Teachers, Assistants
• Financial Planning/Financing
  This section provides insight into the financial outlook for the business. Include information about cost for services. Will the program will offer a sliding fee scale for services or accept payment for child care from the Department of Social Services (DSS)?
  If the business plan will be used to obtain financing, the application will have a place to identify the specific amount being requested, how it will be used, and why it is needed or necessary to establish the business.
• Appendices

The Small Business Association has business plan templates that may be a good starting point.