One of the greatest obstacles to starting and sustaining an after-school program is the lack of creativity in funding! There are many ways to fund the ministry to students after-school and sometimes it takes just an idea to make it happen.
One way to fund the after-school program is to charge Parents a fee. It may not cover the overall expenses, however, when combined with other fundraising strategies you can find yourself with all the funds you need to start a program for students during the afternoon.
The first question we always get here at KidCare America is "how much do I charge?" Our response is always the same, it depends on your context of ministry. Therefore, you have to do some research. Find out what other after-school programs are charging, and if they are not or charging very little, don't be intimidated. If you use the KidCare America model, you will have "the" best program in the community and parents will pay for quality!
Do your research and find out how much childcare costs in your community. Broaden your search to include daycare programs both for-profit and not-for-profit. Then, set a fee!
Here at KidCare America we train potential and already existing Center to think about their ministry as a "Salad" not a "Brownie." The difference between those two is the ability to segment the various ingredients.
With a Brownie, after it is cooked, you can't take out any of the things that made it a Brownie, such as, flour, sugar, coco, eggs, and the like. However, if on your Salad you don't like something it is easily removable. You don't like tomatoes, pick them out. You don't like onions just take your fork and put them on another plate.
The idea is segmenting. You can do the same thing with the after-school program. Take out snacks from the budget because you can get the snacks paid for or donated. In your schedule put tutoring at the end of the day so people can come straight from work to sit with a student. You just reduced some of your cash costs.
When you charge a fee you can also seek out sponsorships or scholarships for those who can't afford it. Use a sliding scale if necessary.
As mentioned earlier, funding is not your greatest obstacle to starting and sustaining an after-school program, it is your creativity to raise the funds.
You can have Dr. Ferguson come in on a Friday, meet with your leadership on Saturday, have a vision casting service on Sunday (receive a Missions offering for KidCare America) and begin your after-school ministry within two to three months.