Free download
The childcare grant-prep checklist
The one-page list to run once, before you apply for anything — so you're ready the day a state window opens, not scrambling after. It's mostly the Green-Light Test, made concrete.
Get the checklist
Enter your email and the checklist unlocks right here — no spam, one list.
- Confirm your licensing status — licensed or state-approved. If you're not licensed yet, start there; it's the gate on nearly every dollar.
- Get a free EIN from the IRS (irs.gov, 'Apply for an EIN online') so you never hand out your Social Security number — never pay a site for one
- Open a business bank account in your business name — state portals and United Ways pay to a taxpayer ID plus a business account
- Enroll as a subsidy provider through your state's CCDF lead agency — the #1 gateway that unlocks the other doors
- Find your CCR&R (search '[your state] CCR&R') — your source for quality micro-grants and for confirming any grant is real
- Join a CACFP sponsoring organization so you're reimbursed for the meals you already serve
- Look up your QRIS tier and exactly what the next tier requires — then treat that gap as your funding to-do list
- Write a two-sentence description of what you need funded and the outcome for the children you serve
- Run The Live-or-Dead Check on any program from a listicle: on a .gov lead-agency page, current-year window, CCR&R confirms it
- Put each state fiscal-year window on your calendar (many run July–June) with a reminder two weeks before the deadline
- Line up a tax professional who knows family child care (Time-Space Percentage) — grants are generally taxable business income
You don’t fill this out for every grant — you do it once at the start of the year, and then you move fast every time a window opens. Most of it is the Green-Light Test made concrete: get licensed, get an EIN, enroll in subsidy, join CACFP, know your QRIS tier. Enter your email and the checklist unlocks right here.
Next step
Get matched when we launch
Stalwell + Amivale is launching soon. Join the waitlist and we'll match your childcare providers to funding the day it opens — no spam, one email.