The most effective way to keep your center on track financially is by creating and using a budget. In the day-to-day work of running the center, it’s easy to lose sight of the big picture. Your budget can help you monitor the direction and performance of your center, and provide opportunities to make corrections quickly and successfully.

Building the budget is the first step. Learning how to use it is the second. These resources will help you do both.

Slide presentation about budgeting fundamentals and how to use them to inform financial management decisions.

Are you ready to test your knowledge? Review the ABCs of Childcare Scenario, complete worksheet based on the scenario given, and then check to see how you did. 

ABCs of Childcare Scenario
ABCs of Childcare Worksheet
ABCs of Childcare Answer Sheet

If you could set fees as high as you need to, running an ECE center would be a lot easier. But some factors are beyond a center director’s control. A financially viable center’s revenues must cover its per-child cost.

These resources will help you manage the factors you can control, and answer questions like:

- What determines per-child cost?
- What is the per-child cost per program/classroom?
- What cost factor can you and should you control?
- How do full enrollment and collections impact per-child cost?

Creating a Fast Break Even Chart

Learn about break even analysis, a simplified version of per-child cost analysis, by creating a break even chart for "A-Z Child Care Center". Includes step-by-step examples of the chart.

Webinar Slide Presentation
A-Z Child Care Break Even Chart
Per-Child Cost Demo File
Per-Child Cost Master File
Exploring Additional Scenarios 

Paying attention to cash flow can help keep your center out of financial hot water. It’s important to understand and regularly monitor key metrics including cash on hand, receivables, and payables.

Slide Presentation : Cash flow fundamentals, best practices and forecasting.
Webinar : Managing Cash Flow for Smarter Financial Decision Making

Cash Flow Templates

Monthly Cash Flow Template
Weekly Cash Flow Template (use this version for more frequent monitoring)

Case Study

Webinar: Managing Cash Flow in Times of Uncertainty

Review Learning is Fun's 13-week cash flow
Learning is Fun's 13-week cash flow - with board decisions

Cash Flow Analysis Master

Interactive Cash Flow Activity  

 Instructions
 Interactive Cash Flow Activity - No Scenarios

General financial management is an assessment of the skill level of the people managing your finances and the methods they use to track financial information.

A center should ensure that leaders and staff have the skills and training needed to implement financial management best practices and technology, as well as policies that ensure consistency and compliance.

The following are resources for nonprofit centers wishing to improve their general financial management practices.

360 Degrees of Financial Literacy a free service of the nation’s Certified Public Accountants, promotes financial education among small businesses and individuals. The site is useful for directors for early education and childcare centers.

National Council for Nonprofits  provides excellent advice on how to raise the financial literacy of a nonprofit board of directors, including de-mystifying important financial reports, providing literacy training, and making sure volunteers understand their role as fiduciaries for the center’s assets.

NonprofitNext an online resource of the N.H. Center for Nonprofits (NHCN) should be a go-to guide for nonprofit early learning centers looking for financial management best practices, policies and procedures, and advice. NHCN membership is required. NHCN is also an ideal source for professional development for a nonprofit’s leadership, board, and financial staff.

QuickBooks is the most commonly used program, and online and desktop versions are available. QuickBooks’ popularity means it is easier to find training (sometimes free), as well as employees and accounting professionals who are familiar with the software.

There are also other accounting software options. Business magazines annually rank accounting software for small businesses. Check out the most recent reviews from BusinessNewsDaily.com and PC Magazine.

Child Care Exchange offers advice on purchasing child care industry management software in its Child Care Center Management Software Buying Guide. Typically, child care management (CCM) software programs don’t include the full financial functionality of an accounting software. However, if your center is small enough, this might be a more affordable and effective option, as CCM software includes other useful modules that support electronic enrollment management, staff scheduling, etc.

Here is a list of popular programs:

Childcare CRM

Day Care Works

Icare

Procare

The Iron Triangle represents a trinity of practices that are the foundation for sustainable financial management in early childhood education: enrollment management, collections, and fee setting based on a center’s per-child cost.

When seeking to balance their budgets, early childhood program directors typically focus on the rate—the price charged to parents or received as reimbursement from government. While rates are important, income is also profoundly influenced by enrollment and fee collection. All three factors must be understood and monitored for financial sustainability.

The articles below expand on The Iron Triangle and its importance in managing a financially successful early learning program.

Iron Triangle Resources

The Iron Triangle: A Simple Formula for Financial Policy in ECE Programs by Louise Stoney is an introduction to the pillars of The Iron Triangle.

Using Metrics to Drive Quality and Sustainability in Early Care and Education Programs by Louise Stoney and Libbie Poppick highlights the significant performance metrics and key measures of financial health in an ECE center, and how measuring financial performance can improve quality and influence policy.

REINVENT vs. REBUILD: Let’s Fix the Child Care System by Louise Stoney envisions child care in a post-COVID world.

The Business Side of Early Care and Education by Louise Stoney and Blythe Robinson

Assessments are a practical way to evaluate core business and management practices. Effective tools can help a program director identify their operations’ strengths and areas in need of improvement.

Webinar: The Early Childhood Education Business Assessment Tool
Slide Presentation : Early Childhood Education Business Self-Assessment
Pre-Assessment Questionnaire

Self-Assessment Practice Exercise

Business Resource Guide

An effective human resources program includes relevant personnel policies that are consistently implemented, a creative and thoughtful recruitment plan, and ongoing constructive performance evaluation. You also need to provide and a safe and productive workplace. 

The following resources will reinforce your leadership skills and improve your understanding about laws and best practices in human resources.

Slide Presentation : Best Practices in Human Resources
New Hire Checklist

Articles

Eight Interview Questions to Help You Know Who You’re Hiring, by Jeff Gordon

Enhancing Staff Morale −More Than Pizza and Donuts, by Cathy Abraham

Ensuring New Employees’ Success: Best Practices for Employee Onboarding, by Commongood Careers

Your Next Step: Assess Your Organization’s Culture, by The Bridgespan Group

Providing Employee Fringe Benefits Can Increase Job Satisfaction and Performance, by Business Filings Incorporated

Ten Ways to Ruin an Employee Evaluation, by Jeff Haden

Daycare Centers and Preschools Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, from the U.S. Dept. of Labor

Problems as Coaching Opportunities: Asking Artful Questions, by Doug Silsbee

Assess Your Organization's Culture, by Laura Burkhauser and Preeta Nayak

Technology and Interactive Media in Early Childhood Programs: What We’ve Learned from Five Years of Research, Policy, and Practice, by Chip Donohue and Roberta Schomberg

Nonprofits are typically organized for a community benefit and led by boards of directors. Governance describes the board’s role in determining the center’s long-term direction, implementing policies and activities to achieve objectives, complying with legal requirements, and ensuring accountability to those with an interest or stake in the nonprofit.

To have good governance, the board should contain a variety of skill and experience while being representative of the center’s client base, needs, and mission. The board should also be self-reflective and able to adapt to meet the needs of the center in an evolving regulatory and economic trends.

Websites and resources for nonprofit centers to support board governance:

The bimonthly newsletter of the Nonprofits Insurance Alliance Group, a group of cooperative 501(c)(3) nonprofit insurance organizations providing liability insurance and risk management resources, as well as practical and insightful articles from a spectrum of contributors in nonprofit management and leadership.

BoardSource’s national index of nonprofit board practices with data and insights from board chairs and nonprofit executives about board composition, practices, and performance. Updated annually.

McKinsey & Company offers a Board Self-Assessment Tool to help nonprofit boards assess their effectiveness in multiple aspects of governance.

Reference tool for directors, trustees, officers and executive directors of NH charitable organizations. It describes the legal duties of directors and the common challenges encountered in governing nonprofits, as well as links to forms and materials of interest.

Slide presentation that covers legal topics in childcare.