Wouldn’t it be great to get that answer on a grant application? I would probably recommend that applicant for funding purely on the intuition that we could develop a productive relationship. Seriously, why do we keep asking that question? There is something about the sustainability question that triggers grant applicants to spin into unclear directions, hand-wave about untested pay-for-service models, wishfully forecast government policy change, or promise magical capacity transfer. It’s not their fault. What are we getting at?
Asking the sustainability question implies that the obvious answer is not the correct answer. The obvious and generally true answer is that the work will be sustained by charitable donations, private grants, corporate support, and government grants. Those are respectable, responsible, well-established, and successful tactics for non-profits. From applicant replies, you can tell the question is interpreted to mean either ‘what will you do when our money runs out?’, or ‘how will you wean yourselves from grants?’ Those are weak questions to drive creative actions for growth and impact.
I inherited the sustainability question on a grant form and asked it of applicants for many years. We rarely received a substantive answer, nor did external reviewers ever comment on the limp replies. However, when we asked grantees with multi-year grants to submit a Sustainability Plan as a living appendix with each progress report it proved very helpful.
We collaborated on that progress report appendix beginning with a blank page. The real question that became clearer over time is: “What activities (scheduled and budgeted) will ensure that you raise funds, develop internal capacity, maintain partnerships, and foster political support to maintain and grow your work?” Even a light roadmap in those areas refined the tactics of outputs, outreach, training, measurement, and stakeholder engagement for the remainder of the project.
Asking about fund-raising calls upon the donor to be candid about the path and probability for continued funding. The questions about outreach and allies ask how the donor might open doors, provide platforms for communications, and make complementary investments. A foundation’s uncertain commitment to a program might generate empathy between donor and grantee – both are in a dance of constant reinvention to ensure relevance and institutional sustainability.
Asking the donor “what is your plan for sustainability?” may seem cheeky but is a valuable discussion given the aligned interests in success, field-building, and partnerships. Shifting power in philanthropy from donors to grantees takes viewing sustainability as a shared objective. Donors should be wary of building a ‘bridge to nowhere,’ and their grantees have every right to ask, “what are your long-term plans and how will you support our long-term plans?”
“The key to understanding the future is one word: sustainability.”
Patrick Dixon, FutureWise (2007)