With so many charities competing for a limited pool of foundation dollars, grant proposals must demonstrate how a group will be a good steward of investments. Today, many grant makers require some sort of sustainability statement to address this issue and to demonstrate that the group will be able to continue to support the project after the grant money is spent.
The sustainability section should take into consideration both macro giving trends in the organization’s field and region as well as recent giving to the organization, says Lynn English, president of a consulting firm that bears her name, who works with nonprofits on fundraising strategies. Give the potential grant maker a sense of the project’s viability when its support ends. Provide the grant maker with both an historic and forward-looking view of your charity’s fundraising but bring it back together in a way that shows why its funding will make a difference now.
Ms. English advises that a sustainability statement should:
-
demonstrate past fundraising successes.
-
share short- and long-term plans for ensuring the program continues.
-
address different revenue sources as well as other types of support, such as volunteers.
-
provide information about external factors, like pending legislation, that might enhance a group’s ability to meet its goals.
-
mention relevant future fundraising efforts.
See Ms. English’s example from an education nonprofit that engages senior volunteers below.
Sample Sustainability Statement
ORGANIZATION has demonstrated fundraising success at both the local and national levels. The national office raises more than $3.5 million annually through contributions from national foundations, corporations, federal agencies, and individuals. At the local level, our 15 Affiliates raise an additional $12 million combined each year from local funding sources. Taken together, ORGANIZATION has demonstrated the capacity to raise more than $15 million each year. This has included multiyear, multimillion-dollar investments from funders such as: INSERT NAMES. At the local level, ORGANIZATION projects have secured funding from local foundations, local corporate offices, through community-based events, and by reaching out to local individual donors. The national office provides ongoing technical assistance to local affiliates in the areas of fundraising, proposal writing, and communications and is building its capacity to help affiliates broker funding relationships, develop strong fundraising plans, and monitor resource development goals and benchmarks across the network.
ORGANIZATION’s ability to recruit and retain a viable workforce of older adults is key to sustaining the program. A consistent, reliable workforce, ORGANIZATION’s members tend to stay involved for years. Our retention rate is over 80%, and many of our members have served for seven years or more.
Looking at future fundraising efforts, ORGANIZATION is seeing increased interest and funding opportunities for the program. As our research findings further validate the program model, funders are becoming more deeply engaged in investing in the program. Unlike programs that affect a single demographic, ORGANIZATION has the ability to tap into diverse funding streams in the areas of health, aging, community development, and research and evaluation, among others. This opens up numerous opportunities to seek funds from foundations, corporations, and individuals with diverse interests and funding priorities. In addition, we are optimistic that two key pieces of federal legislation will strengthen our long-term sustainability. The Older Americans Act, reauthorized in 20xx, has new provisions for enrolling older adults in civic engagement, and a new demonstration fund has been established that may prove a source of funding for local affiliates. Newly developed priorities in the Serve America Act encourage funding for programs that take advantage of the skills and experience of older adults and call for additional incentives for national service organizations engaging older adults. We are hopeful that the increased policy interest at the federal level will have a positive long-term effect for the program.
Finally, ORGANIZATION is building an individual donor program through its board of directors, executive director’s contacts, and online fundraising.
