In 2024, waitlists for early years programs are only a few months long, and families can find high-quality childcare that fits their needs through publicly funded programs. Those were fantasies when Buddings opened in 2011, when care costs were on par with mortgages, and children were in school before families got a spot, even if they'd been on the list before the child was born! At that time, many, many, many women quit high-paying jobs they loved because there was simply nowhere for them to take their kids. That was the outrageous situation that brought Buddings to life.
We’ve always depended on serving many families at once (over a 100/month in 2017, 2018, and 2019) to cover our costs, and we used to serve their needs until children went off to school.
While several toddler families continue to join us every month, most attend for only 6 - 12 months and lately, we’ve been losing more than we gain. When full-time spots, at half to a quarter of what we have to charge, are available, of course, we understand. We can’t raise our fees, either.
We're happy to know families are finding childcare! But flexibility relies on serving a lot of families to cover our costs. At the end of this summer, we knew some of the new kindergarten kids would be leaving us, and our holiday visitors would be heading home. We thought we would be able to make up the loss with our School Age Program, and we did. 13 families left (25%), and 16 new ones joined. By the end of September, however, we were not prepared to have 26 more families leave. It’s approximately 45% of our customer base, and 95% of them found other care.
As they exit, families thank us for resolving emergencies, being flexible and fair, and especially, for providing excellent care for their children. Our teachers do amazing work, keeping the space bright and engaging, even while numbers dwindled. They’ve been putting up posters in the neighbourhood, organizing free monthly meetups, and posting about it on the social networks. Successfully! They recruit new families all the time, which is much harder than having a stable group of kids, and then they provide gold standard care. But we're losing ground...
We had planned to finish out the 2024/25 school year, but with this October exodus, we're going into debt to stay open until Christmas! We're down to less than 40 families, and when full-time options are cheaper than it costs, our flexible model can't compete. But our staff, Saya and Shiori, and the managers, Lynn and Ayumi, haven't given up yet. The School-Age program manager, Ayumi, is taking over this big project to rescue our centre - by introducing a new, consistent membership policy, and recruiting 50 families - by Nov. 25! ... Yikes!
We will offer one membership option for up to 40 hours monthly with a $550 flat fee. The maximum 40-hour package currently costs $800 + a $65 monthly fee, so we hope the cheaper rate will attract the families who need part-time care. You can still book online on your own. Our booking system still gives you flexibility. You don't have to use all 40 hours, but if we can attract 50 people, the $550 monthly fee will still cover our costs, so we can keep operating! If you agree with this membership fee by Sunday, November 3rd, we'll even give you a limited offer of $1000 for two months: December and January. The new policy will come into effect on Nov. 25th, the day we charge for the December membership. We will be open until the school holidays begin, but if we can't recruit at least 50 families, Dec. 20 will be our last day.
We need 50 families willing to adopt this new policy.
Then, we will be able to keep our teachers, program, and the centre!
We are also doing a fundraiser to cover the shortfall. Any amount would be appreciated.
Please spread the word! We need your help!
