Develop Sustainable Programs
A sustainable program is one that you can maintain long term, to help achieve your agency’s mission.
Continually monitor each program independently. Consider the following questions:
Meeting the need
- What are the key objectives?
- What are our indicators of success?
- What individual gains will participants make?
- What data will we collect to monitor progress and impact?]
- How will we process and report this data?
Costs
- What are our exact program costs?
- Will any costs increase (or decrease) over time?
- What in-kind support do we receive?
- What if that in-kind support is discontinued?
- Can we make specific changes to operate more efficiently?
Funding
- How do we currently cover costs?
- What funding changes do we anticipate (grant cycles ending, etc.)?
- What if we face unanticipated changes in funding?
- Are there funding sources we should approach for new support?
Personnel
- What positions (staff and volunteer) are responsible for this program?
- Do we have planned staff or volunteer transitions?
- What is our succession plan for unplanned transitions?
- Can we make specific changes to operate more efficiently or effectively?
Participation
- Has attendance been steady, increased or decreased?
- If steady, will current participants continue or must we recruit new participants?
- If decreased or increased, why?
- Do we anticipate any trends in participation that will affect programming?
Community
- Do community members know about this program?
- Does the community support it?
- What community partnerships can we initiate or grow?
- Do we need to limit or end any current partnerships?
Evaluation
- Are we meeting our key objectives?
- Are we reporting measurable gains?
- Is there data we need to start tracking?
- Based on participant and community feedback, what improvements can we make?
- How often do we evaluate this program?
Resources:
Action Plan Template from County Health Ranking
