Creating and maintaining a safe, supportive, and nurturing innovative learning environment requires purposeful planning. With a strong fundraising plan, gathering sustainable resources would help achieve these goals (Rangel et al., 2020). This paper dives into the details of a tactical fundraising plan made by our organization, outlining who the fundraising plan is to serve, how it is to serve them, and why the organization must achieve its mission.
The organization plans to execute the plan in three years, ultimately raising over $150,000 to cover startup costs and the expenses that may build up during our operations. Our primary focus is building a childcare center that offers innovative learning to over six infants, ten toddlers, 15 preschoolers, and 20 elementary school-age children from our rural community. For the first year, the plan is to secure grants and donations, critical players in funding our launch. The target amount we shall raise is $50,000; we hope a crowdfunding campaign will help us obtain this. We also intend to source the funds from early childhood education grants by making grant applications. The grant applications will go through with our compelling backstory and well-outlined objectives. Our organization will also look upon local businesses through outreaches to help sponsor our mission.
Several promising grants that align with our mission are well within our radar. For instance, the Head Start and Early Head Start Grants, oriented to serve low-income families and deliver complete early childhood education and development services, make them prospective contributors to our mission. Moreover, as the Head Start Center Director, the link I have to the professionals from the Office of Head Start is bound to serve us in our quest to receive grants from them. They are our primary target source, and we intend to receive a grant amount of $20,000 from them. Another target source with great potential is The W.K. Kellogg Foundation, which has an established commitment to children’s welfare irrespective of their background or race. Sharing a common goal of providing children with innovative learning opportunities equips us with confidence in the success of our grant application, which will amount to $15,000.
The Community Development Block Grants also operate well within our points of focus. With the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development administering the grants to enable community development and public service to improve the lives of communities, we intend to appeal to their contributions in setting up children’s care facilities to establish a childcare center. To achieve our $50,000 target, we will set up a GoFundMe campaign to raise the remaining $25,000 and the proceeds purchasing learning materials and renovations. Convincing advertisements via social media and local channels such as radio and television will help us achieve this goal. Our board members’ connections with their corporate personnel will also help secure in-kind donations, which may come in goods or services.
The plan’s second year will entail a shift in an annual fund drive, which will revolve around previous donors, local civic groups, and parents. The target amount is $50,000, and we will use fundraising events, monthly giving campaigns, and continued grant applications to reach our target. The events we will host after mobilizing funds include a community bake sale, a gala dinner, and a sponsored 5K Run for Children. Activities in the plan’s third year and final phase will entail diversifying revenue. For this period, more hands-on activities will be in play, such as selling holiday wreaths made by children and expanding fee-based services. The annual fund drive will proceed similarly to the previous year, and coupled with added earned income streams, we will aim to raise an additional $50,000.
The success of this plan relies heavily on the coordinated efforts of the staff, with the kindergarten teacher, three parents of preschoolers, the parent of an infant, a pastor, the public relations officer of a local corporation that has indicated an interest in the project, all understanding our fundraising goal and how to relay our impact and needs to the relevant audiences (Melton et al., 2020). For our ask script, we will outline how the donors would empower parent employment, school readiness, and community health by contributing to our cause. Our staff members will, therefore, require training to engage supporters, collect contact information, and enlighten donors on giving through our webpage. With everything in order and followed to the letter, the success of our mission is paramount, thus allowing us to channel our community’s diverse assets into actions about our shared goal of securing our children’s future.
References
Melton, G. B., & McLeigh, J. D. (2020). The nature, logic, and significance of strong communities for children. International journal on child maltreatment: research, policy and practice, 3(2), 125–161. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s42448-020-00050-w
Rangel, D. E., Shoji, M. N., & Gamoran, A. (2020). The development and sustainability of school-based parent networks in low-income Latino communities: A mixed-methods investigation. American Educational Research Journal, 57(6), 2450-2484. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.3102/0002831220916461
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