A Blueprint for Long-Term Continuation
of Positive Results for the Community
[DRAFT/FINAL]: [Date]
Table of Contents
Introduction
Purpose of this Plan
What is “Sustainability”?
Vision and Desired Results
Vision
Desired Results
Strategies for Achieving Results
Community Relationships
Building Community Support
Key Champions
Strategic Partnerships
Internal Capacity Building
Internal Strengths and Capacity Building Priorities
Strategies for Capacity Building
Adaptability to Changing Conditions
Strategic Financing
Resource Requirements
Cost Management
Revenue Enhancement
Long-Range Financial Forecast
Turning Plans into Action
Implementation Plan
Revising the Sustainability Plan
Conclusion
Introduction
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Introduction1
Purpose of this Plan
This document is a blueprint for how [organization or collaboration name] will work to ensure the long-term sustainability of the positive effects it is producing for children and families in Stanislaus County.
[A short description of the organization or collaboration covered by the planshould be placed here so it is clear what (and who) the plan applies to.]
What is “Sustainability”?
As used in this plan, the term “sustainability” is defined as the continuation of community health or quality of life benefits over time. Sustainability is a holistic concept – the ability to create lasting improvements in health and well-being for an extended period of time despite ongoing changes in funding sources, program models, service providers, community demographics and other factors.
A critical point to note about this definition is that sustainability is not about indefinitely perpetuating current programs and services at current funding and staffing levels. As communities change over time, the demand for services may grow or shrink. New, more effective approaches to providing services may be discovered and implemented. Changes are also certain to occur in sources of funding, public policies, and other forces that affect the initiative. Long-term sustainability is about ensuring that the positive results that the initiative achieves for children and families are continued for years to come despite all of the changes that are occurring in the environment in which the initiative is operating.
Research by The Finance Project, corroborated by analysis from many large national foundations and other groups, has identified eight essential elements to sustaining community initiatives. The eight elements are:
- VISION: Clarity exists about fundamental issues such as what is being sustained, for how long, and at what level of activity; all partners in the initiative embrace the vision.
- RESULTS ORIENTATION: The entire focus is on the health and well-being of the people being served and not specific programs, organizations, and systems.
- STRATEGIC FINANCING ORIENTATION: A long-term perspective is taken to financing activities, cultivating multiple diverse sources of revenue to maintain financing at sufficient levels.
- BROAD BASED COMMUNITY SUPPORT: Community members show solid support through volunteerism, donations, advocacy and other forms of involvement.
- KEY CHAMPIONS: Effective internal leadership plus visible external champions in the form of business, political, media and/or other community leaders exists.
- ABILITY TO ADAPT TO CHANGING CONDITIONS: Flexibility is maintained to change strategies, services, systems etc. over time without losing sight of the end results sought.
- STRONG INTERNAL SYSTEMS: Internalorganizational functions – governance, finance, human resources, evaluation, and others – are reliable and effective.
- SUSTAINABILITY PLAN: A written plan has been developed and agreed to by the organization or collaboration covered by the plan, and is used to guide actions to promote long-term sustainability.
This plan explicitly addresses all eight elements.
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Introduction1
Vision and Desired Results
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Vision and Desired Results1
The two most fundamental elements of sustainability are Vision and a Results Orientation. Clarity is needed on key questions such as, exactly what are we trying to sustain? For what purpose – what do we seek to accomplish for children, families and communities in the long run? This section of the plan addresses these fundamental questions.
Vision
[The vision statement and any other important descriptors of the vision for the organization or collaborationshould be placed here.]
Desired Results
[The results or outcomes to be achieved for children, families and communities will be described here.]
Strategies for Achieving Results
[The service delivery strategies to be used in the long term will be outlined here. These do not have to be limited to strategies currently being used by the organization. Instead, it should reflect how strategies are envisioned to change over time (to the extent changes can be anticipated) in order to align strategies with the vision and desired results. Other key questions to be addressed here are, for how long are we planning to sustain the strategies? At what level of activity or service?]
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Vision and Desired Results1
Community Relationships
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Community Relationships1
This portion of the plan addresses two essential elements of sustainability, the need to build and sustain broad-based community support and the importance of cultivating key champions both as leaders within the organization and as visible outside advocates.
Building Community Support
[Strategies for building and sustaining broad-based community support should be described here. This can include inserting, or referencing, a public communications plan if such a plan has been developed.]
Key Champions
[Strategies for identifying, cultivating and sustaining a group of key champions to serve as advocates in the community, with funders and policymakers, etc. will be placed here. Also to be covered here is the issue of ensuring effective internal leadership and internal champions; this is particularly important in larger organizations such as county agencies and school-based programs where the community results to be sustained under this plan are viewed as a relatively small part of the larger mission of the organization.]
Strategic Partnerships
[With few exceptions, creating positive results for the community depends on the coordinated efforts of multiple organizations. Strategic partnerships, including ongoing collaborations, are therefore important to consider in a sustainability plan. This section should list the strategic partnerships that are important to achieving and sustaining the desired results, and then describe strategies to build and sustain strong strategic partnerships.]
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Community Relationships1
Internal CapacityBuilding
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Internal Capacity Building1
In order to be fully effective, the organization(or partners in the collaboration, in the case of a collaborative sustainability plan) must have strong internal systems to ensure that the necessary fiscal, personnel, evaluation and other internal capabilities are in place and functioning well. Closely related to strong internal systems is the importance of continually adapting to changing conditions so that emerging opportunities are seized and problems are proactively avoided where possible. This section of the plan defines priorities and strategies for how these two essential elements of sustainability will be addressed.
Internal Strengths and Capacity Building Priorities
[A summary of internal strengths and capacity building priorities for the organization shouldbe placed here, drawn from a structured organizational self-assessment, should be placed here.]
Strategies for CapacityBuilding
[Strategies for addressing the current internal capacity building priorities and ongoing future capacity building needs should be explained here.]
Adaptability to Changing Conditions
[Strategies for how the organization will work together to remain open to change will be placed here.]
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Internal Capacity Building1
Strategic Financing
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Strategic Financing1
This portion of the plan defines how the organization will ensure that it has sufficient financial resources in the years to come to achieve its goals. Financial strategies are defined for how costs will be managed as well as how revenue sources will be expanded and diversified over time.
Resource Requirements
[This section should summarize the resources (service capacity, support resources, communication systems, etc.) that are needed to carry out the strategies described throughout all of the preceding sections of the plan.]
Cost Management
[Strategies for coordinating resources and controlling costs in order to be as efficient as possible should be placed here.]
Revenue Enhancement
[This section should contain a profile of current funding sources along with strategies for diversifying and sustaining future funding streams. If the organization has a fund development plan that already contains this information, the fund development plan can be referenced here (after making sure that the fundraising goals and strategies in the fund development plan are fully aligned with the elements of the sustainability plan).]
Long-Range Financial Forecast
[A long-range financial forecast of revenues and expenditures should be prepared that incorporates all of the resource requirements, cost management strategies and revenue enhancement strategies from the preceding sections. This section of the main plan document can be used to explain the assumptions used to develop the forecast, with the numeric forecast attached as an appendix to the plan.]
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Strategic Financing1
Turning Plans into Action
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Turning Plans into Action1
The preceding sections provide a comprehensive blueprint for sustaining positive community results. However, having a good plan is only the starting point; getting results requires that the plan be carried out diligently. This final section describes how the organization will implement the sustainability plan and make ongoing revisions to the sustainability plan as needed so that it remains a meaningful blueprint for many years to come.
Implementation Plan
[This section should provide a brief description of the implementation plan. It is recommended to maintaina one-year implementation as a separate document so it is easier to use and update.]
Revising the Sustainability Plan
[Agreements by the organization or collaboration regarding how and how often the sustainability plan will be reviewed and (as needed) updated should be placed here. It is important to be explicit about who has the responsibility to ensure that the plan is updated as needed; otherwise, there is a greater risk that the plan slowly becomes obsolete and stops being used.]
Conclusion
[A short concluding statement can be placed here to wrap up the plan.]
Contacts1