Sustainability

What Is Sustainability?

"Sustainability" refers to the continuation of a project's goals, principles, and efforts to achieve desired outcomes, even after the end of the grant period. The expenditure of any grant funds on activities related to sustainability and sustainability planning must be consistent with the grantee's statement of work and in accordance with all rules and regulations that apply to the grant.

When to Begin Sustainability Planning?

Thinking about sustainability is not something that should be left until your grant is nearing its end. You will need time to:

• Identify short- and long-term sustainability strategies that will work for your organization.
• Conduct an assessment of your current project and use the data collected on the performance of your grant to help you determine specific activities that can and should be continued, any additional labor pools to focus on, and the desired scale of activities that you want to sustain.
• Conduct a planning process for sustainability.
• Identify what resources are needed to sustain your project and work toward obtaining them.
• Develop buy-in among strategic partners for the aspects of your project that you plan to sustain, especially those partners that provided leveraged resources during the life of your grant or are likely to provide leveraged resources in the future.
• Market the idea internally and externally. Conducting a SWOT analysis of your environment may help you determine the best channels through which to market.

Sustainability Tips

• Take sustainability seriously – Don't assume that if your project is good that it will automatically attract future support. Sustainability must be planned.
• Establish a formal or informal group to address sustainability early in the process.
• Write out what your vision and goals for the project's future.
• Address how you expect to fund sustainability. Consider your preferences, needs, and desired outcomes.