Daycare Business Plan Template and Ideas

A business plan will allow you to see if your daycare center is viable and help you to set goals and benchmarks that you can later measure your progress against. There are also some other compelling reasons why you should take the time to prepare this important blueprint for business success.

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If you are planning on seeking financing or investors for your child care startup then a solid daycare business plan will be essential for proving the feasibility of your idea to them. If you are going into business with a partner, a business plan will allow both of you to make sure that you are thinking along the same lines. Even if you are going it alone and have nobody to convince, a plan offers you a way of getting all your research and ideas down on paper in one structured report.

When writing a business plan remember that your goal is to prove to the reader that your daycare plan is viable. Wherever possible you should backup the claims that you make by referencing your information sources.

Your plan should be neatly presented and should be relatively brief at around 10 to 20 pages. Presentation may be crucial if you hope to get financial backing for your business. Double check spelling and figures and use a professional layout with a table of contents page.

As you proceed to hand out copies of your plan you should consider attaching a cover letter that is targeted to each reader specifically, whether they be a loans officer at a bank or a private investor.

Below is a free daycare business plan template that you can follow. It includes examples of suitable section titles that you could divide the plan into and offers suggestions of what you should include within each section.

Executive Summary

This section should be written after the plan is complete and should comprise no more than one page. Introduce the reader to your business plan and let them know what kind of daycare concept you have in mind. Let them know about the great opportunity that you have seen and how you are poised to take advantage of this opportunity. Outline the contents of your plan and highlight some of the conclusions that you have made from your research. Let readers know about the history of the plan if it has been on the drawing board for some time.

Background

You should include some background on the child care industry to help readers to better understand the present state of the industry and how your business will fit into it. Include data about both the national industry and the local industry.

Personal backgrounds of yourself and other key players should also be included to let readers know who you are and what led you to the conclusion that you want to enter this industry. What skills, experience or attributes do you have that make you particularly well suited to setting up and managing a daycare center?

Business Description

Introduce the reader to your basic business concept. What services will you offer? What age groups will you care for? Outline other key details such as the market that you are going to serve, how you will differentiate your service from competitors, enrolment capacity and location.

Mission Statement

Put money aside for a minute and think about how you want to fit in with your community and have a positive impact on it. Write about the importance of daycare in today’s society and your personal philosophies on child care and early childhood development. Mention your commitment to child care and the high standard of service that you want to provide.

Goals and Objectives

Summarize your financial goals as well as any expansion plans that you have for the daycare over your first two or three years in business. Set a goal for reaching full capacity within a fairly short time frame. Also set an opening date that you are aiming for.

Legal Considerations

Include details on the daycare licensing process for the state in question as well as other local regulations that must be complied with such as zoning and building safety requirements. What insurance policies will be necessary to protect the business and its owners from property damage or liability claims?

Operations

How will your daycare be managed? Your daycare business plan should include information on the management structure, particularly if the daycare will have more than one owner.

Set out a plan for taking on and managing staff including hiring practices, necessary qualifications, wages and other policies. Outline job descriptions for each position and set out a clear hierarchy showing which managers are responsible for which employees.

Include details on the day to day management of the proposed daycare. These things will include a daily operating schedule, admissions procedures and child care policies.

Make a note of all the systems that will put in place to ensure efficiency, safety and control. These could include computer systems, security systems and ordering systems for supplies among other things.

Market Analysis

A good business plan will usually have an analysis of the local market. This is where you can present the findings of any market research that you have undertaken. Your market analysis should include information gained from surveys with prospective daycare clients in the area.

You can include demographic data about your local market here and attempt to establish some typical customer profiles. Discuss your proposed location and why you think it is strategically significant.

Look at a variety of niches within daycare such as infant care or after school care and decide on the niches that you will go after with your set up and your marketing.

Give details on all local competitors and suggest ways that your daycare could offer unique services that differentiate it from these other market players. Look at their strengths and weaknesses and try to come up with the ideal service for your market that is an improvement on the services that are already available.

Marketing Plan

Put forward a marketing plan for gaining new customers. Outline a branding strategy, a pricing strategy and how you will consistently promote your daycare to local families.

Try to identify precisely what advertising and marketing methods you would use to get leads and what sales approach you would use to turn prospective families into new clients.

Write an online marketing plan discussing a proposed website for the child care center as well as a strategy for bringing targeted traffic to the site.

Financial Plan

Write up a detailed list of startup costs and estimate the total amount of capital that will be required to go ahead with the project. Outline how you are planning to finance your new daycare business if you have already secured access to some of the necessary funding.

Lastly, you should include some detailed financial forecasting. Estimate revenues and expenses over a period of two years and set these out in a spreadsheet. Profit or loss can then be projected based on these estimates. Set out a schedule for the repayment of any debt taken on during the startup phase.

Put forward several different scenarios for the business. These could include examples where costs are higher than expected or income is slower than expected. Identify the break even point or the point that the business becomes profitable.

Appendix

Attach copies of any documents that support your proposal. These could include such things as your qualification certificates and personal references. If you have gone as far as deciding on a location then you could include a floor plan or a copy of the lease. If there is really a strong demand for daycare in your area then you may even consider including letters from parents who are intending to enrol their children with you.

A business plan will give you a clear direction of where you want to go, will help you to measure progress along the way and ultimately will help you to reach your personal and financial goals. A professional daycare business plan outline, such as the above, should be effective in convincing the right people that your business does indeed have a profitable future.

Additional Articles

Daycare Funding Options - How to Finance a Daycare Business

Our List of Daycare Startup Costs

Daycare Business Market Research