Run your childcare center like the CFO it deserves
Master budgeting, tuition pricing, payroll control, and cash flow forecasting built specifically for the business of early childhood — so your center stays profitable, funded, and built to last.
"Your childcare center is doing important work in the world — it also needs to be a financially healthy business, and I'm here to make sure you know exactly how to run it that way."
— Wanda Holmes
What you'll learn
What you'll be able to do
- Build a complete annual operating budget tailored to your center's size, staffing ratios, and enrollment model
- Design a tuition rate structure that covers true costs, stays competitive, and drives sustainable profit margins
- Set up a payroll and labor-cost tracking system that prevents overspending on your largest expense
- Identify and apply for government subsidies, Child Care Development Fund grants, and local funding streams
- Create a rolling 12-month cash flow forecast to eliminate surprise shortfalls and plan facility investments
- Read and act on your Profit & Loss statement, balance sheet, and key performance ratios with confidence
How it works
A school that adapts to you
This isn't a set of static videos. Every lesson is generated live and tuned to where you actually are.
We learn your level
A quick placement check tailors your starting point so you're never bored or lost.
Lessons adapt as you go
Each lesson is written for your pace and your goal, adjusting as your skills grow.
Your AI coach keeps you moving
Checkpoints, feedback, and gentle nudges turn progress into a real result.
The curriculum
What's inside your school
6 modules · 28 lessons
Financial Foundations for Childcare Leaders
Builds the essential financial literacy framework every childcare owner and director needs before tackling budgets, payroll, or pricing.
- 1.1The Business of Early ChildhoodIncluded
- 1.2Reading Your Profit & Loss StatementIncluded
- 1.3Understanding Your Balance SheetIncluded
- 1.4Key Performance Ratios for Childcare CentersIncluded
Building Your Annual Operating Budget
Guides directors through creating a complete, center-specific annual budget that reflects real staffing ratios, enrollment models, and fixed and variable costs.
- 2.1Mapping Your Revenue StreamsIncluded
- 2.2Identifying and Categorizing All Operating CostsIncluded
- 2.3Staffing Ratios and Their Budget ImpactIncluded
- 2.4Enrollment Modeling and Capacity PlanningIncluded
- 2.5Assembling and Stress-Testing Your Annual BudgetIncluded
Tuition Pricing for Profitability
Equips directors to design a tuition rate structure grounded in true costs, competitive market data, and sustainable profit margins.
- 3.1Calculating Your True Cost Per ChildIncluded
- 3.2Competitive Market Analysis for Childcare RatesIncluded
- 3.3Building a Multi-Tier Rate StructureIncluded
- 3.4Tuition Assistance, Sliding Scales, and Subsidy IntegrationIncluded
- 3.5Communicating Rate Increases to FamiliesIncluded
Payroll and Labor-Cost Control
Creates a payroll and labor-tracking system that keeps your largest expense in line with revenue without sacrificing staff quality or compliance.
- 4.1Understanding Childcare Payroll FundamentalsIncluded
- 4.2Setting a Labor-Cost Target and Tracking It WeeklyIncluded
- 4.3Scheduling for Compliance and Cost EfficiencyIncluded
- 4.4Benefits, Turnover Costs, and Total Compensation PlanningIncluded
Grants, Subsidies, and Government Funding
Navigates the full landscape of childcare-specific public funding — from CCDF subsidies to federal and local grants — and builds a repeatable application process.
- 5.1How the Child Care Development Fund WorksIncluded
- 5.2Federal Grant Programs for Childcare CentersIncluded
- 5.3State, Local, and Private Grant SourcesIncluded
- 5.4Writing a Winning Grant ApplicationIncluded
- 5.5Managing Grant Funds and Reporting RequirementsIncluded
Cash Flow Forecasting and Long-Term Financial Planning
Transforms your financial data into a rolling 12-month cash flow forecast and a clear roadmap for facility growth and long-term stability.
- 6.1How Cash Flow Differs from ProfitIncluded
- 6.2Building a Rolling 12-Month Cash Flow ForecastIncluded
- 6.3Managing Seasonal Enrollment Dips and Summer ShortfallsIncluded
- 6.4Planning for Facility Investments and Capital ExpensesIncluded
- 6.5Building Reserves and a Long-Term Financial RoadmapIncluded
Who it's for
Is this you?
The Independent Center Owner
She opened her center on passion and perseverance — now she's ready to build the financial systems that make it sustainable for the long haul.
The Newly Promoted Director
He's stepped up from lead teacher to director and needs to get his footing on budgets, payroll, and tuition pricing — fast.
The Multi-Site Administrator
She oversees more than one location and needs consistent financial frameworks that give her a clear picture across every center she manages.
The Grant-Ready Director
He knows funding is out there but has never navigated CCDF, federal grants, or the application process — and is ready to stop leaving money on the table.
The Tuition-Anxious Owner
She hasn't raised rates in years and isn't sure how to price for profitability without pricing families out — this course gives her the model and the confidence.
The Growth-Stage Director
He's planning a facility expansion and needs a real cash flow forecast and capital expense plan before he can make that move responsibly.
Questions
Frequently asked
Your teacher
A note from your teacher
Wanda Holmes
If you're running a childcare center, I already know something about where you are right now. You got into this work because you care deeply about children and families — not because you wanted to wrestle with payroll reports or figure out why your enrollment numbers look fine but your bank account feels wrong at the end of every month. You're good at the operational side. You know how to hire, how to manage staff, how to keep families happy. But when it comes to the financial side of the business? Maybe you rely on your bookkeeper to tell you things are okay, or you set tuition rates based on what the center down the street charges, or you've wondered about grant funding but never quite knew where to start. That's exactly why I built Childcare CFO. The childcare industry has a financial education gap. Generic small-business courses don't account for staffing ratios, subsidy reimbursements, or summer enrollment cliffs. Accounting software tutorials don't teach you how to price your services for actual profitability. And nobody tells you how to write a grant application for the Child Care Development Fund or where the state and local funding streams even are. I built this program to fill that gap — with real tools, real childcare scenarios, and no unnecessary jargon. What you'll find here is a clear, step-by-step path through everything that matters financially for your center: reading your P&L and balance sheet with confidence, building a budget that reflects your real costs and real capacity, designing a tuition structure that covers what it actually costs to serve each child, keeping your labor costs — your biggest expense — from quietly eating your margin, and building the cash reserves that let you plan ahead instead of react. I want you to walk away from this program feeling like the CFO of your own center. Not because you need a fancy title, but because your center — and the families who depend on it — deserve a leader who's fully in command of the financial engine underneath everything you've built. That leader is you. Let's get to work.
— Wanda Holmes
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- 6 modules, 28 lessons
- AI-adaptive lessons tuned to your level
- Quizzes & checkpoints to lock in progress
- Your own AI learning coach
- Learn on any device, at your pace
- Full access for as long as you're subscribed