Grant sustainability plans: how to show the work will last

Every funder knows its grant will end. The sustainability section tells them what happens then. Candid's proposal guidance flags it as a core part of a strong proposal: be sure to explain how you will continue to support and sustain the project beyond the grant you are seeking.

Reviewers read this section for realism. They know you can't guarantee future funding. What they want to see is that you have a specific plan, that some of it is already in motion, and that you are not building a program that collapses the day the grant ends.

What funders mean by sustainability

"Sustainability" can mean different things, and it helps to say which you mean:

Not every project needs to last forever. A planning grant, a pilot, an equipment purchase, or a time-limited response may be designed to end. In that case, say so, and explain the lasting value: the plan produced, the evidence generated, the equipment in service.

Sustainability is more than money

Public health researchers at Washington University in St. Louis developed a Program Sustainability Framework and the free Program Sustainability Assessment Tool (PSAT), which measures sustainability capacity across eight domains. They are a useful checklist for any sustainability section:

The PSAT has 40 questions (five per domain), scored on a 1–7 scale, and can be completed online or on paper. Taking it with your team before writing a sustainability section is a quick way to see where your plan is thin. The 2014 Preventing Chronic Disease article on the tool describes a three-part process: assess, use the results to prioritize sustainability action planning, then implement the plan and track progress.

Financial strategies that read as credible

Strategies are most credible when they are specific, already underway, and matched to the type of cost you need to cover.

For building a real prospect list, see grant prospecting, corporate giving, and government grants.

Show a declining reliance on this grant

For multi-year requests, or when you're asking a funder to start something new, a simple phase-down table makes your plan concrete.

Show the percentages. A funder can see at a glance that its share falls each year while others rise, and the specific sources make the plan credible.

A full worked example

Questions to answer before you write

Sustainability sections go wrong when they are written by one person at the end of the process. Get answers to these questions from your leadership, finance lead, and board before drafting:

1. Which parts of this program would we keep if funding fell by half? Which are essential to results?
2. What does the program cost per year once start-up is complete?
3. Who else benefits from this program and might share its cost: schools, health systems, employers, local government?
4. What commitments do we already have, in writing?
5. Is this program in our strategic plan and our board-approved budget projections?
6. What evidence will we have by the end of the grant period, and who needs to see it?
7. Who on staff owns the sustainability plan, and how will the board monitor it?

If the answers are thin, that is useful information. It may mean you should strengthen partnerships before applying, scale the request, or frame the project honestly as a pilot.

Before and after: a weak sustainability paragraph rewritten

The "before" paragraph could appear in any proposal for any program. The "after" paragraph names commitments, amounts, dates, and a cost distinction, all of which a reviewer can check.

Sustainability in federal applications

Many federal NOFOs ask applicants to address sustainability, sometimes as a scored criterion and sometimes as part of the project narrative or organizational capacity section. Read the review criteria closely: some programs want a plan to continue services after federal funding ends, others want evidence the project will be integrated into existing systems, and some say little about it. Use the NOFO's exact language as your heading, and answer every element it lists. See how to read a NOFO.

How to write the section, step by step

1. Decide what you're sustaining: the full program, core elements, benefits, or capacity.
2. Separate one-time from ongoing costs in your budget.
3. List realistic sources for ongoing costs, and gather any commitments in writing.
4. Address non-financial factors: partnerships, capacity, evaluation, communications.
5. Build a phase-down table for multi-year or new initiatives.
6. Assign responsibility and milestones.
7. Connect to evaluation: explain how results will support future funding.
8. Keep it brief and specific.

Common mistakes

• "We will seek additional grants." The most common and least convincing sentence in the section.
• Listing every possible source without evidence of progress on any.
• Assuming the organization will absorb costs without board commitment.
• Ignoring the difference between start-up and ongoing costs.
• Overlooking non-financial sustainability, especially partnerships and embedded practice.
• Promising permanence for a pilot. If it's a test, say how you'll decide whether to continue.
• Treating the current funder as permanent. Some funders do renew grants, but assuming it in writing can read as dependency. Talk with your program officer about renewal expectations instead; see funder relationships.

For how sustainability connects to the rest of your proposal, see the anatomy of a grant proposal. Your board plays a central role in sustainability; see the board's role in grants.