When should I begin thinking about sustainability?
You can start considering and planning for sustainability at any point, but the sooner the better-writing your proposal from the perspective of sustaining your efforts will make it a stronger project. Ideally, in the early stages of creating a shared vision with goals and objectives, your leadership group would begin to consider what they want to sustain and how they might go about it.
I am just beginning my project. How can I consider sustainability when I am not sure what should be sustained?
Your sustainability plan will change over time, but you can start with identifying the program elements you think will be most effective within your community, the elements that target the most visible and widely-recognized problems, and/or the elements that lend themselves most easily to being sustained (for example an evidence-based intervention that includes training-of-trainers will allow you to train new staff indefinitely).
What does a sustainability plan look like?
A sustainability plan is a type of strategic plan, but it focuses on maintaining program outcomes, rather than creating a program or project. As such, it includes goals, activities to address them, resources needed to support activities, and an action plan to acquire new resources or support ongoing commitment of existing resources.
I am too busy running the project to worry about sustainability. How can I manage sustainability planning demands?
Most project directors are too busy with ongoing implementation to lead a sustainability effort without support. An advisory board, steering committee, project coalition or another group committed to sustaining the outcomes of your project can help you plan for sustainability.
I have 6 months left in my project. What can I do to ensure sustainability?
First, accept that you may only be able to sustain a small portion of your program if you have not addressed sustainability before now. Second, prioritize which of your project's elements has been most successful, has the broadest support and/or is the closest to being sustained already and then work from there. Finally, it is almost always possible to 'pass the torch' of your program by empowering your coalition and partners to continue working towards your shared goals.
Our no-cost extension funds will go mostly to fixed costs and professional development. Where can I go to find funding for the important programs we should be continuing?
In addition to looking for new funding from federal or foundation sources, you might want to consider alternative revenue development strategies. These include leveraging existing resources-approaching partners within your project or finding partners who offer related services, to strategize about how they might take on some of your program activities-or tapping into local funding streams (state, county, or city) that could support part of your project. You might also consider whether your project has the potential to generate income from its services or products.
Where can I find information about federal grants that are relevant?
FedGrants/Federal Grant Opportunities is a database maintained by the federal government that categorizes federal grant opportunities by agency, type of activity, and eligibility. FedGrants provides an easy search of the opportunities published in the Federal Register and a service that will e-mail announcements of new grant opportunities to users.
http://www.fedgrants.gov/
Where can I find information about foundations and other funding sources?
The Foundation Center offers a wide range of resources for those seeking grants, including online directories of funders and grants; research tools to help you find funding; training seminars in proposal-writing, budgeting, and other issues; and a variety of valuable publications.
http://www.fdncenter.org/
Doesn't sustainability mean finding enough funding to continue all aspects of this complex project?
Usually it doesn't. Successfully sustaining a complex project can consist of leaving staff in place with new capacities (for example, to deliver evidence-based programs), creating a coalition with common goals that will continue beyond the project and potentially take up new work together, changing policies or procedures, or creating a referral mechanism or other partnership infrastructure. In other words, sustaining a project may not mean that it will continue as is; it may mean instead that you have made changes in how the providers in your community will work together to provide selected program elements.
Our program has been self-sufficient until this point--we now need to engage community members and business representatives. How can I engage them and cultivate support and funding for sustainability?
Get to know the concerns and priorities of businesses or other entities whose support you seek, and frame the results and benefits of your program in terms that will resonate with them. Use positive evaluation results, including 'qualitative' methods such as personal testimonials or success stories, present them in an audience-specific way, and try to reach communities that are unfamiliar with your work.
How can I capitalize on the school and other partner resources in sustaining programs?
Consider how their current staff and activities could incorporate the most effective practices from your project, and work with them to build support for your project. Engage them in discussions about your project's goals and positive outcomes and how their staff/structures/policies might get involved in maintaining those outcomes.
How would a coalition be helpful in sustaining the initiative?
Coalitions bring people with different resources and perspectives together in the service of common goals. Coalition members can contribute different perspectives, connect your project with other service delivery systems, identify other funding, and promote the project to a wider variety of audiences.
How is evaluation useful to sustainability?
If you can show specific impacts your project has made on individuals, families, and schools, potential supporters will be able to see how you are addressing their issues, how you are solving key community problems, and why your program deserves their support.
The evaluation of my program has been very positive and despite great impact in the community, I do not seem to be able to convey that "prevention pays." What more can I do?
One method that prevention program advocates are using more frequently is called a ' cost-benefit analysis .' This approach compares the cost of prevention to the cost of treating individuals and families whose problems could have been prevented.
How can I effectively demonstrate to stakeholders and community members that providing evidence-based interventions (EBIs) to students at elementary level will save future dollars and human costs?
One of the advantages of using EBIs is that their evidence base tells you how they benefit participants, and therefore how you can expect them to benefit your students. Using data on the incidence of emotional problems in children in your community, you can estimate how those numbers would change with the effective implementation of an EBI.
How can we utilize a communications plan in sustainability efforts?
Sustainability often involves gaining broad support for your program, in the form of dollars or other resources or in the form of public endorsement. Using a communications plan can help you think about the audiences whose support you want and how best to reach them with messages about your project.
Who should I have on my team to effectively address our targeted audiences and help me to promote and to deliver our message?
Experts in marketing, social marketing, and communications can strengthen your leadership group. Members of the business community, those with public health backgrounds, or faculty in communications, marketing or public health at local colleges are also strong recruits for an advisory board or other leadership group.
