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Thank you so much to everyone who filled out my activity supplies survey! For those of you who missed it, I’ve become concerned with the large number of activity professionals who tell me they spend their own money to buy activity supplies for their residents.
On the one hand, this seems like a kind and generous thing to do. However, it usually happens because of an inadequate activity department budget. I don’t think that’s right.
While the number of responses wasn’t large enough to make this survey statistically significant, I found the results quite intriguing. Today I’ll highlight a few of your answers and then talk about where we can go from here.
Where you work
Long-term Skilled Care 53.85%
Memory Care 23.08%
Assisted Living 7.69%
Short-term Rehab 7.69%
Other 7.69%
How you get extra funds for activity supplies
Host fundraising events 46.15%
Ask other staff for donations 38.46%
Ask families for donations 30.77%
Ask businesses for donations 23.08%
Apply for grants 15.38%
Other 15.38%
Where do we go from here?
First, I want you to know that I’m drafting a letter to a major long-term care publication requesting that they address the issue of activity professionals paying for their own supplies. I’ll let you know their response. (Update: As of October 29, I’ve not received a response. I’ll let you know if this changes.)
When I asked about how much you pay out-of-pocket for activity supplies, the responses stunned me. The most common answer was $50 a month. That comes out to $600 per year! This becomes especially concerning when we consider that most activity professionals receive fairly meager wages.
As I mentioned in my previous article, we’ve seen a lot in the media lately about teachers who help pay for supplies for their classrooms. Interestingly, the average teacher reports spending $479 a year out-of-pocket on classroom supplies. They’re able to deduct a limited portion of these expenses on their income taxes. I’m not aware that a similar tax break exists for activity professionals.
I believe the public needs to know that teachers aren’t the only ones paying for supplies out-of-pocket. Perhaps if we get the word out, it will help us come up with more funding sources for the activities that so greatly enhance the lives of our residents.
Today I’ll share much of what I’ve learned over the years about funding for nursing home activities. I hope that this will help you find money in places other than your own pockets.
What we can do as individuals
Please let your administrators know about the need for better funding in your activity departments. As kind as your gesture might be, if you continue to pay for your own supplies, things will not change. Let the administration know about your dreams for special activities and how this will enrich the lives of your residents.
That being said, I also know that some nursing homes are struggling financially. I don’t know about other parts of the country, but several not-for-profit nursing homes here in the Midwest have closed just in the past year because they couldn’t stay afloat. For some of you, there may not be any extra money to allocate to activities.
That’s where we need to be creative and think outside the box. We also must be excellent stewards of the money that’s available. I think you’ll find this article helpful when looking at how to get the most out of every dollar you receive.
Now let’s look at a few of the ways you told me you pay for your activities:
Host fundraising events
It surprised me that the percentage wasn’t higher in this area. Fundraising events are such a great way to find the money for smaller projects at our nursing homes. Yet, I also know that it’s challenging to come up with successful and enjoyable ideas.
If you’re not familiar with my blog, I offer an extensive number of articles related to fundraising events. Most of these ideas come directly from nursing homes around the country and around the world. I hope you’ll check them out in my archives. Also, here’s an at-a-glance, printable list of fundraising ideas that I believe you’ll find helpful.
I suspect the other reason that this area didn’t rank higher is that fundraising takes up a lot of time. Here’s where volunteers become a valuable resource. If you need ideas on how to recruit more volunteers, then you’ll want to check out this article.
Ask businesses for donations
This is an area where I feel like nursing homes may miss out on a great number of potential donations. Again, I fully understand the reason. Asking for donations can intimidate people!
If you want to feel more comfortable when asking businesses for donations, I believe you’ll find this article helpful. It offers lots of tips to make the process feel less painful.
Social media
I failed to list this as an option when I created my survey, but I’m grateful that several of you added it in the “other” section. You told me you find activity supplies on sites such as Facebook, Freecycle, Craigslist, and Nextdoor.
While we need to be cautious with safety and the quality of products when using these sites, they can be terrific resources. Often, when you put the word out there and let people know what you need, they’re happy to help.
If you discover novel ways to pay for your activity supplies because of this article, I would love to hear about your success. Also, if you have other suggestions, I hope you’ll share them with my readers. Simply leave a note in the comment section.
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