A woman holding a microphone sharing an idea with a full room of community foundation leaders, while Becky McCray in a red jacket listens nearby and a SaveYour.Town slide reading "Your idea — Question? Ideas? Brags?" is projected on screen behind them.

The half-finished daycare building: how to restart momentum

ByBecky McCray

What your stuck project needs more than money is activity

When Tina Wolak shared a half-finished childcare center that got stuck, the whole room pitched in with ideas to help finish it. With the current crisis in childcare availability, no place can afford to let a half-finished center just sit there. 

This was at the Hansen Foundation Forum in Hays, Kansas, earlier this year. Tina is with the Sherman County Community Foundation. 

The building looks great on the outside, but the interior isn’t ready. Tina said they won some grant funding to get it started, but then they’ve run out of steam. They’ve tried fundraisers, but they are struggling to get the remaining balance. 

Tina said she just didn’t know how to help them regain momentum. Meanwhile, 12 childcare slots that could be available, aren’t. 

The trap here is thinking about the money instead of thinking about activity. 

We need to bring life and activity to the location. When we do it the Idea Friendly Way, we won’t wait to bring people and start holding activities there.

“But it’s not finished!” 

OK, but how’s the lawn? Let’s hold a community play date on the lawn. Pop-up a splash pad. (That’s just a garden hose with holes poked in it.) Hang a sheet on the side of the building and have a kid’s movie matinee. Dana Stanton suggested bouncy houses. 

Nothing draws a crowd like a crowd. And a crowd can turn into a powerful network once they see a goal. 

You make the goal visible with the classic donation thermometer sign. Fill it in one $10 donation at a time. Like, immediately as soon as someone hands you a $10 bill, you walk over and fill in a line on the thermometer. Everyone plays a small but meaningful role. 

And take pictures of every activity. Take those photos of happy kids and a supportive community straight to the next potential funder. Now they can see the goal, too. 

Another audience member made the connection with the story I shared about the Alva, Okla., Friends of Play fundraiser where they collected $5 each for kids and parents to put their own handprints on a retaining wall to raise money for playground equipment. 

That can work on the half-finished childcare center, and it pairs perfectly with the other activities. 

“We couldn’t put paint handprints all over the building!!” 

OK, then put them on plywood and mount it like a sign on posts. Put them on sheets and hang them from the building temporarily. 

Activity, life, people, right at the site, one small step at a time: that’s how you get your project unstuck.

Photo credit: Erin Matthews