Sustainability Planning Roadmap
This roadmap provides tools, strategies, recommendations, and fundamentals for building sustainability within an organization. Health departments and community-based organizations (CBOs) can use these resources for developing a strategic plan, strengthening organizational capacity, and identifying funding opportunities.
What is Program Sustainability?
There is increasing attention on program sustainability since the official end to the COVID-19 public health emergency funds. With the decrease in federal funding and program priorities pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic, funding and support for programs that CBOs have initiated are slowly dwindling. However, the need to provide vaccine access and education, along with other health services, has become crucial. Moreover, CBOs aim to sustain the trust and connections built within communities and further work to alleviate health disparities. Achieving sustainability involves thoughtful planning, organizational and program assessment, and maintaining diverse sources of funding.
Here we lay the foundation for the main components of program sustainability. Firstly, strategic planning and reflection where your organization will develop a strategic plan of goals and objectives and building organizational capacity to achieve these strategies. Secondly, diversifying funds to sustain the financial future and expand potential for your programs. Thirdly, evaluating and communicating results of your program performance and fostering partnerships to strengthen strategy.
Strategic Planning and Reflection
Important building blocks of sustainability include strategic planning and organizational capacity to drive program success. Strategic planning includes internal reflection and aligning your organization’s strategic plans with the priorities of your community and funders. Additionally, building organizational capacity—that is, ensuring you have trained staff to carry out the program’s mission and activities— sustains strategic planning and operations and drives internal support for program goals and strategies.
An organization needs to look internally and externally when developing a strategic plan. Develop a mission and vision based on what is most important for your organization. Also look externally to the priorities of your community to align with the priorities of those you serve.
An engaged workforce is key to organizational success. Making sure you have appropriately staffed roles performing work to advance your organization will help to implement your strategic plan.
Diversify Funding
Funding is the basis of program sustainability. Communicating program successes and developing partnerships with other organizations can strengthen requests for funding. Also consider looking beyond traditional governmental grants to philanthropic organizations and corporate entities.
CBOs should conduct evaluations to assess program performance and progress according to the program objectives. Evaluation data can support CBO’s effectively telling a story about the results of their programs to funders and policymakers to help promote their organization’s work.
Organizations can leverage partnerships to amplify their mission and message to communities and funders. Building partnerships can encourage investment in their programming and sharing the results of their work to state legislators and philanthropic organizations.
Applying for funding involves both seeking out opportunities and determining the best way to submit information. Resources in this section include lists of funding opportunities and guidance for application. For training and grant opportunities, check out the Funding Opportunities section of the Vaccine Resource Hub: Funding Opportunities | Vaccine Resource Hub.
