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B2C2 Expansion Toolkit

Module 1 - Part 1 - Getting Started With Your Board

Continue to Part 2

Getting Started on the Expansion Process

This module will guide you through the organizational processes required to get the support, approval and direction needed to move forward with an expansion plan. It all starts with your non-profit Board of Directors who are responsible for; 

  • establishing vision, mission and values
  • setting strategy and structure
  • being financially prudent
  • delegating to management
  • exercising accountability to the members, and 
  • being responsible to stakeholders

 

Let’s get started!

Five Parts to Module 1

Module 1 is broken down into 5 parts:

First, introduce your board to the possibility of expansion by sharing your vision and getting their agreement to explore the idea further. 

Second,  determine the feasibility of taking on an expansion project for your organization by considering both internal and external factors.

Third, ensure that your strategic plan aligns with expansion. If not you may need to amend your strategic plan, or start a new strategic planning process from the beginning. 

Fourth, assess the risks of your planned project.

Fifth, build relationships and consider collaborations to enhance and complete your project.

Communicating to Your Board About Expansion

The following are some tips to help you engage the board in a conversation in a productive and effective way: 

  • Anticipate the information your board needs to feel comfortable with exploring the expansion process and the risks that come with it.
  • Keep it simple and be clear with your messages. Provide a strong project concept that outlines your vision.
  • Communicate the risks and be transparent about what they are so that you can find solutions together.  
  • Provide a timeline for your board members to digest and discuss the idea of expanding. 
  • Be honest and upfront about all aspects of the project and build in mechanisms for regular and ongoing communication.
  • Provide your board members the opportunity to ask questions and share their concerns.
  • Continue the research process in order to have more well rounded responses to potential board questions.
More details

Below you’ll find some points about expansion to discuss with your board.

Benefits of expansion

  • Economies of scale –  By expanding your organization, you will have the benefit of using a collective power of administration to complete human resource tasks and financial processes that will increase efficiency.
  • Leverage resources, improve processes and practices that are more effective and sustainable.
  • Organizations will acquire new assets, which can enhance the organization’s overall value.
  • Boosts brand identity– signals growth and success leading to increased opportunities for partnerships and collaborations.
  • Provides more options for staff to relocate or apply for more opportunities within the organization.
  • Strengthening the non for profit voice to advocate for quality care.
  • Expand your services to better support families.
  • Mitigate potential enrollment decline by having multiple locations to stabilize revenue and ensure continued operations.

Risks of expansion

Expanding a child care organization can offer numerous benefits, but it also comes with the following risks that should be considered:

  • There will be additional accountability obligations. 
  • Difficulty recruiting the necessary qualified staff.
  • Expanding in areas already saturated with providers may result in competition for clients.
  • Financial risks – the cost of new construction/renovation may pose a strain on resources.
  • Limited options for financing.


To mitigate these risks, organizations considering expansion should conduct thorough feasibility studies, develop comprehensive business and expansion plans, allocate sufficient resources for implementation and have a team in place to regularly monitor the project.

More Details

Creating A Brief Description Of Your Expansion Project

To gain Board support, a good place to start is to share your vision through the development of a Project Concept. This provides the beginning of a concrete plan that can be used as a starting point for discussion. 

Sections to Include

  1. Location: What kind of expansion you are proposing? Is this a renovation to your existing space or is it a new location? 
  2. Target population:  Identify who the new program is intended for. Are there gaps in services in a particular area that a new program can fill?
  3. Service delivery model: This includes; how many children, how many rooms, age groups, hours of service and days of service. 
  4. Staffing: What staff do you need to operate? 
  5. Unique features: What will set this program apart from others?
More details

As a part of the Toolkit, you will be working on exercises, writing, figuring and in the end creating a plan for your expansion project. 

Throughout the module, in the sections called “Activities”, you will have access to worksheets, exercises and activities to help you create that plan. 

Thumbnail of the page of the Activity Sheet

Activity 1: SWOT Analysis Instructions

A SWOT analysis is a tool that can be used in strategic planning or in making a decision about expansion. Learn how to create one with this instruction sheet.

Download the SWOT Analysis activity sheet

Thumbnail of an example SWOT analysis

Activity 2: SWOT Analysis Example

View this example of a SWOT Analysis

View this example of a SWOT Analysis

Thumbnail of a SWOT Analysis template

Activity 3: SWOT Analysis Template

Use this template to create your own SWOT Analysis

Download this SWOT Analysis template

Part 1 - Getting Started

Part 2 - Information Gathering

Part 3 - Strategic Planning

Part 4 - Assessing Risks

Part 5 - Collaborations and Relationships

Continue to Part 2
Module 1 Progress
Amount Completed 20%

Communicating to Your Board About Expansion

Many organizations already have expansion goals identified in their organization’s strategic plan and are ready to move forward.  If your organization doesn’t have a strategic plan, then putting one together is a good place to start. Part 2 and 3 of this module will provide strategies and support to create a strategic plan. 

If expansion has already been identified as a goal, you can move forward with getting board support for a specific expansion project. In order to do that you need to have a clear concept of what you are proposing and the potential risks that might be involved. 

The following are some tips to help you engage the board in a conversation in a productive and effective way: 

  • Know your Board and anticipate the kind of information they need to feel comfortable with exploring the expansion process and the risks that come with it.
  • Keep it simple and be clear with your messages. Provide a strong project concept that outlines your vision.
  • Communicate the risks and be transparent about what they are so that you can find solutions together.  
  • Provide enough time for your board members to digest and discuss the idea of expanding. 
  • Be honest and upfront about all aspects of the project and build in mechanisms for regular and ongoing communication.
  • Listen to your board members and provide them with opportunities to ask questions and share their concerns.
  • Be prepared to continue the research process in order to have more well rounded responses to potential Board questions.
Close

Below you’ll find some points about expansion to discuss with your Board.

Benefits of expansion

  • Economies of scale – child care organizations often have limited resources, including funding, staff, and infrastructure. By expanding your organization, you will have the benefit of using a collective power of administration to complete human resource tasks and financial processes that will increase efficiency.
  • Leverage resources, improve processes and practices that are more effective and sustainable, such as writing policies, the ability to afford technology services and tools that create streamlined processes by implementing best practices across multiple locations.
  • Organizations will acquire new assets, such as buildings and equipment which can enhance the organization’s overall value.
  • Boosts brand identity– signals growth and success leading to increased opportunities for partnerships and collaborations.
  • Provides more options for staff to relocate or apply for more opportunities within the organization;
    • able to redeploy staff if opportunities arise (short-term closure of one site due to an emergency for example),
    • more likely to be able to maintain on-call, supply educators or justify hiring replacement staff in permanent roles to deploy them to locations where they are needed
  • Strengthening the not for profit voice to advocate for quality care;
    • when you increase child care spaces in a community, you are also amplifying your experiences and impact by representing a broader range of families that leads to improved standards of care.
  • Expand the breadth of what is offered to better support families;
    • more choice for families as they can move from one location to another if their circumstances change
  • If one program is experiencing a short-term/temporary decline in enrollment the impact can be mitigated by having multiple locations to stabilize revenue and ensure continued operations.

Overall, economies of scale in the nonprofit sector are about maximizing impact, efficiency, and sustainability to better serve the needs of families and communities.

Risks of expansion

Expanding a child care organization can offer numerous benefits, but it also comes with the following risks that should be considered:

  • there will be additional accountability obligations
    • larger employers have additional reporting requirements e.g. needing Health and Safety committees
  • difficulty recruiting the necessary qualified staff, especially in rural areas
  • expanding child care services in areas already saturated with providers may result in competition for clients
  • financial risks – the cost of new construction/renovation may pose a strain on resources of the organization
  • limited options for financing
    • early learning and care centres may face challenges in obtaining loans from traditional financial institutions such as banks. Lenders may view childcare businesses as high-risk due to factors such as fluctuating enrollment numbers, regulatory compliance issues, and reliance on government subsidies, especially if you don’t have capital assets.

To mitigate these risks, organizations considering expansion should conduct thorough feasibility studies, develop comprehensive business and expansion plans, allocate sufficient resources for implementation and have a team in place to regularly monitor the project.

Close

Creating A Brief Description Of Your Expansion Project

To gain Board support good place to start is to share your vision through the development of a Project Concept. This provides the beginning of a concrete plan that can be used as a starting point for discussion. The project concept will evolve as you get input from stakeholders, including board, staff, and others and it will be used in your business plan. Involvement of stakeholders will ensure support of a shared vision before detailed planning and commencement of the project. 

Sections to Include

What should be included in the Project Concept:

  1. Location: The first decision that you will need to develop your concept is what kind of expansion you are proposing. Is this a renovation to your existing space in order to increase your numbers or is it a new location, either leased or purchased? Of course this all depends on the funding and resources available to you. 
  2. Target population:  Identify who the new program is intended for. Are there gaps in services in a particular area that a new program can fill (i.e. child care desert)? This may be geographical, workplace related, or culturally specific.
  3. Service delivery model: This includes; how many children, how many rooms, age groups, hours of service and days of service.

    It’s important when developing your concept that you think about how a centre operates and the routines so that you can identify how children interact with the spaces  throughout a centre, depending on their age.  

  1. Staffing: What staff do you need to operate? Remember to include additional staff required to cover breaks, planning, time, etc.
  2. Unique features: What will set this program apart from others?
    • You might achieve this through partnerships where you collaborate with other organizations to bring in additional family services and support. 
    • You might have special features like a parent resource library, a focus on outdoors, etc.
    • How will your program meet the needs of children with exceptional needs? Can you include an indoor gross motor space – perhaps including specialized equipment?
    • Are you incorporating pedagogical leaders or specialized programming?
 
 
Close

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