The Sustainability Landscape: Recognizing the Issues

1. The Sustainability Landscape: Recognizing the Issues Missouri Department of Education Before and Afterschool Coordinators and Directors Meeting Lake of the Ozarks Resort May 22, 2008 Presenter Joe Herrity 21st CCLC SEA Coordinator Iowa Department of Education

2. What is the current structure of the program and what direction is it going? • What ideas, beliefs, principles, or values underscore and support the program? • Who are the current champions and supporters of your program? • Which person or organization represents a negative threat to your program? Purpose or Training Outcomes

3. Which person or organization do you need to engage for support of your program? • Can you identify current strength assessments, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to your program? • Where do you want the program to ‘be’ in the future? • What will our program look like in the future? Purpose or Training Outcomes

4. SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGIES Common Misperceptions --- A major practice of grant management related to sustainability is to consider it as something that should be dealt with in an initiative’s later years once some of “the evaluation results are in”, or,

5. SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGIES Common Misperceptions --- When there is sufficient time after the initiative’s start up and early implementation has begun, it’s time to consider the questions of “what should be sustained” and “how”.

6. SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGIES Unfortunately, what really happens is the time for doing something to support sustainability may never come, and if it does, it may be too late. Expecting or hoping for sustainability does not always translate into doing something about it.

7. SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGIES A discussion and a plan of sustainability needs to be started early enough and maintained throughout the grant award in order to avoid the “elaborate dance” of trying to fit their organization or activities within the next funder’s priorities.

8. SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGIES Group Activity Question #1: What is it in your program that you want to sustain? Question #2: What ideas, beliefs, principles, or values is the program based upon or promotes, and what results or outcomes would you like achieved over time?

9. Why Sustainability Planning is Important • Because many funding sources supporting initiatives serving children, youth, and families are short-term in nature • Because we operate in a rapidly changing environment (political, economic, and demographic changes) • Because we can’t afford to lose quality programs and important innovations

10. SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGIES “ You can’t just keep doing what works one time, because everything around you is always changing. To succeed, you have to stay out front of that change. ” Sam Walton CEO and founder of Wal-Mart

11. Why Do Sustainability Planning? • To clarify where we are and where we want to go • To develop strategies for long-term success • To provide benchmarks to measure progress • To demonstrate to partners and other stakeholders the value of our work

12. Uses of Sustainability Plan • Overarching guidance for our initiative over time • In bringing new partners on board • In convincing investors to support our work

13. 8 Key Elements of Sustainability • Vision • Results Orientation • Strategic Financing Orientation • Adaptability to Changing Conditions • Broad Base of Community Support • Key Champions • Strong Internal Systems • Sustainability Plan

14. 1. Vision • Know what we want to sustain • Know how our initiative fits within the larger community • Know what we mean by sustainability • Scope of activities • Scale of operation • Timeline

15. 2. Results Orientation • Adopt a results framework • Be clear about the results we want to achieve for children, families, community, state, and state systems • Use indicators to track status of children and families across the state • Use performance measures to track our own work and improve performance

16. 3. Strategic Financing Orientation • What are the expected fiscal needs? • Make the best use of existing resources (funding and in-kind) • Maximize available sources of revenue • Create greater flexibility in categorical funding • Create public-private partnerships • Explore new state and local revenue sources

17. 4. Adaptability to Changing Conditions • Monitor announced opportunities for funding • Consider new ways to frame our work to interest different funders • Identify opportunities to improve policy climate • Participate in collaborative advocacy to encourage change • Work to improve ability to participate in these efforts

18. 5. Broad Base of Community Support • Develop a plan to create a desired identity • Nurture a community presence and support • Encourage family involvement • Support public education and engagement • Build partnerships that foster collaboration rather than competition

19. 6. Key Champions • Identify key decision makers and opinion leaders • Develop an effective outreach plan • Cultivate a broad base of champions • Elected leaders • Business leaders • Peers • Community leaders • Philanthropists

20. 7. Strong Internal Systems • Know and involve the people we need to carry out our mission: staff, steering committee, volunteers, etc. • Develop strong fiscal management, accounting, information, and personnel systems • Use those systems to review strategies, make changes as needed

21. 8. Sustainability Plan • Develop a comprehensive plan that takes account of short- and long-term needs • Identify challenges and/or obstacles • Identify strategies to garner needed resources and overcome challenges • Identify and communicate with key partners

22. SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGIES Only three things matter about educational reform: üDoes it have breadth: can the reform be extended beyond a few schools, networks or showcase initiatives to transform education across entire systems or nations? üDoes it have depth: does it improve important rather than superficial aspects of students’ learning and development? üDoes it have length or duration: can it be sustained over long periods of time instead of fizzling out after the first flush of innovation? Hargreaves and Fink, 2000

23. SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGIES Conclusions or Lessons Learned • Sometimes the best-laid plans can go astray. • Track and revisit the issue of sustainability throughout the initiative’s lifecycle.

24. SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGIES Conclusions or Lessons Learned • Operationalize sustainability as more than just continued funding. • Sustainability is a regular and established part of philanthropic rhetoric.