Developing The Governance (Organizational) Structure
Determining the organizational structure
You now have a planning committee and have determined that there is a need for ELCC programs in your community. You have worked through a process of developing a mission and a vision. You have probably assured yourselves that there is professional expertise to help you and researched the legal and regulatory requirements. And you have developed a potential operating model. You may or may not have acquired space or begun to work on constructing your facility. Establishing your board of directors may still be a long way away, but when you are ready to formalize your ad hoc arrangements into a formal structure, here are some resources to help you.
Determining the organizational structure - who is the operator?
This is the question of governance - how the organization is structured to make decisions, set policies and be the final authority and responsibility. Most non-profit ELCC programs are governed by a voluntary incorporated board of directors.
You may already have decided who will operate the new program - you may be an incorporated body that runs other child care programs, you may be a school board that is developing an integrated child care/kindergarten program - or you may not yet have decided what the governance model will be.
There are many stand-alone non-profit boards - usually they are made up primarily of parent representatives. While parents may have the greatest invested interest in the program, and in some circumstances can work well, there are also some downsides to this model:
- There is considerable responsibility in being the employer of the program staff and in having all the legal obligations of running a program
- Parents may find a conflict in negotiating salaries with staff, when much or most of the salaries are paid by their parent fees
- Parent boards often experience high turnover - as children leave the program usually parent commitment to the board ends. There may be a yearly process of board orientation and development
- Challenge of recruiting trained, experienced staff
- ELCC programs are difficult to operate successfully even in the best of circumstances. Child care - whether for profit or not-for-profit - are essentially run as a 'business'. The program's expenses must covered by the parent fees (the revenue). If you are unable to enhance the revenue from government (or other) sources, then the program will be very expensive and many parents - though they need it - will not be able to afford it.
- A multi-service agency with a broad-based community board
- A local school board
- A local government (municipality)
- Working with an existing child care board in an expanded program
- A merger with another non-profit organization
- Developing a local ELCC association that manages several programs
We would strongly recommend that you explore alternatives to "stand-alone" not-for-profit child care if at all possible. There are several options. In addition to a "stand-alone non-profit organization" a successful early learning and child care program can be operated by:
If you do decide to pursue one of these alternatives to a "stand-alone" non-profit program, we would refer you to the "Partnership" section below but suggest that you review the general requirements for operating a non-profit program. Even if you merge with another organization or enter into a partnership agreement, it will still involve an incorporated governance structure so much of the information in these sections will still apply.
If you think that the best way to proceed is to establish a stand-alone non-profit corporation, then we have outlined the critical steps to governing a non-profit early learning and child care program and referenced a number of excellent resources to help you with the details.