Application Question 9 - Is the Project Sustainable?
When a funder asks is the project sustainable they want to know how you will fund the project beyond the amount of money they will provide.
When a funder asks how you will sustain the project you have really only two options:
- that the project will finish at the end of the grant period and
- that the project will secure funding from other sources.
For option two it is recommended that you include expected sources of other revenue. This may be through specific trusts, corporate or lottery funding. It may be through income generation which builds through the life of the project.
Very, very rarely will any project be sustained by being ‘mainstreamed' into government expenditure. This is an unrealistic expectation and funders will not buy it unless you are a long way down the line of negotiation with government funders and have the paperwork to prove it.
The best approach is answer this question by saying you will implement a fundraising strategy. A Fundraising strategy should show how you plan to realistically access the diverse range of fundraising options open to the voluntary and community sector across grant-makers, the general public and earning.
