How to Get Funding for a Senior Home
Senior homes offer a place for senior citizens to live more comfortably without having to worry about making meals, cleaning or doing tasks on their own. Senior living facilities also provide a social environment in which residents can make friends and fraternize. Though such facilities require tenants to pay housing costs in order to live at the home, those costs are rarely enough to keep the home up and running. Several other avenues can be explored to raise additional funding for a senior home to ensure it stays open.
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Things You'll Need
- Government funding and grant applications
- Catered food
- Refreshments
- Donation boxes
- Donated auction items
- Balloons
- Senior citizen-made crafts
Instructions
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Determine how much money the senior home needs. Analyze your costs and profits to determine how much money you need and how much you'd ideally like to raise. Determine the areas of the senior home that need the funding the most. For example, you may want to use the money to replace all of the furniture and electronics in the commons area of the home or simply use the money to pay bills and expenses.
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Apply for grants and other government funding. Contact your local and state governments, as well as the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, to inquire about government funding and grants you could apply for. Consult Grants.gov to find and apply for any federal grants that can benefit your senior home.
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Host a community dinner event. Find a local restaurant or caterer that is willing to provide food for the event free or at a minimal cost. If possible, have some of the seniors who live at the home bake cookies, pies or other treats to serve for dessert. Place ads in local newspapers and online to invite everyone in the community to come to the dinner. Charge an admission fee and set out additional donation boxes at the event. Enlist the help of staff or local volunteers to act as servers at the dinner.
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Hold a community auction or raffle. Ask local businesses to donate items you can auction or raffle off at the event. Hold a balloon bust at the auction by inflating balloons that each contain a slip of paper, with some of the papers containing prize vouchers (for example, "You won prize No. 24"). Furnish the auction with refreshments and appetizers.
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Sell items made by seniors who live at the facility. Many senior citizens know hobbies such as wood carving, knitting, sewing and painting. Ask the seniors to create artwork you can sell at a local craft show, or a find a local small business that is willing to sell the items in their store on your behalf.
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Raise the price of senior home care. While the clients and their families may not be fond of this idea, sometimes one of the best ways to raise additional funds is to raise the cost of living in the home. Increasing the current monthly rate by even $25 or $30 will help you bring in additional hundreds or thousands of dollars a month, depending on how many residents the home serves.
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References
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