STEP 6: Financing The Program

 
1. To ensure that your program will continue operating over time, design it to pay for itself.

Examples

Claremont interested a local Boy Scout troop in providing their home visits.

Go Boulder's transit pass program, once set up, took a minimum of resources to maintain on an ongoing basis.

The Great Strathcona Exchange tied theirs into Environment Week.

Peterborough GreenUp's Ecology Park was partially staffed by volunteers. The volunteers were offered a selection of 12 workshop topics, and could attend as many sessions as they wanted. Each half-hour session was followed later by one to two hours of hands-on field work, scheduled at the volunteer's convenience. Certificates were issued on completion of any six topics.

Tip: See Developing Partners.

Tip: See the Tool Building Motivation Over Time.

Tip: Business managers often use two key measures to help determine if a project should receive funding. The first is the payback period, which is the amount of time it will take for the benefits of a project to pay for the investment made. The second is return on investment (ROI), which assesses the value of the project benefits compared to the project costs. The question is: Where can the organization's money be placed in order to get the most "bang for the buck."

Tip: See Measuring Achievements.

Tip: What costs would your program save? Can you show a direct and profitable link if you achieve your objectives?

Your Program

Which of the following would work for your program?

  • Assess the value of and charge for the promotional opportunities you provide (coupons, demonstrations, referrals, advertising, and public relations opportunities). What other promotional oppportunities could you offer?
  • Assess the value of and charge for the products and services you provide. What other products and services would add value for your participants?
  • Obtain funding from partners who benefit from your program or who want to encourage what you are doing.
  • Choose low cost/low maintenance/high impact program activities.
  • Tie program activities to ones already being carried out by your organization and its partners, such as Scout badge programs and annual festivals.
  • Establish partnerships with program delivery organizations, such as service clubs and community associations, who can offer volunteer labour on an ongoing basis.
  • Provide leadership as well as other volunteer opportunities to encourage participants to help carry out the program.
  • Measure the achievements of your organization’s and your partners’ objectives, compare the benefits with the costs, and let people know!

 

More on Financing Your Program

Resource Mobilization: A Primer for Social and Behavior Change Organizations. This toolkit walks through the steps organizations can take to secure new and additional financial, human and material resources to advance their missions. Inherent in efforts to mobilize resources is the drive for organizational sustainability. http://sbccimplementationkits.org/resource-mobilization/