To create a program that works, your sustainability plan should be specific. What role will parent fees play? Where will you seek funds? How can you use in-kind resources? Who are your logical partners? Who will approach donors and/or write proposals? How can you take the long view to stay in business? Check out strongnonprofits.org for some great tools to help with this.

Start from your mission statement and strategic plan. Allocate adequate time to meet with stakeholders, review data and do some thinking about a plan to sustain (and possibly grow) your program. Sources related to planning for sustainability and finding funds may be found here, under “Funding & Sustainability”.

Research is required to identify your most likely funding sources. Some grant sources are listed to the left, but there are thousands more. Find your local Foundations Center repository and plan to spend some time identifying prospective funders.

Plan to evaluate. Few programs get funded without showing that they are serving a real need and are able to perform. Expansion and even continuation is usually impossible without evidence of quality. Organize data you already have (waiting list numbers, etc.) and community interest as well as the value of what you are already delivering. Use data from the school district, Connecticut State Department of Education, and organizations like the United Way to help establish need.

If you want out-of-school time programming that is high quality and you need to know how to budget for it, this website can help. This online calculator lets you determine the costs of a variety of options for high-quality out-of-school time programs. With other resources on this site, it can help you make informed decisions so you can plan for programming in which children flourish.

Looking for a small grant to fund a special project? Check out our November 2011 webinar for specific how-tos and resources.

Additional training can be helpful in improving your skills raising money. Check out trainings by the Connecticut Association of Nonprofits, nonprofit resource libraries, or the free, on-line GrantSpace.org are all good places to start. The Connecticut After School Network’s Resource Library (a free resource for professional members) has numerous resources to help improve your sustainability skills. Contact us to find out more. Consider hiring a grant writer, or finding a volunteer editor to review your grants. Everyone can benefit from an outside perspective on how to tell their story in a more compelling way.