Sustaining

"Good news!!" - many HPPAEs have found that once the program becomes part of "business as usual," the costs diminish, and that the primary expense is student stipends. The other good news is that you don’t have to be a professional fundraiser to help sustain your HPPAE. The foundation of successful fundraising is relationships. Relationship-building is a major cornerstone of effective social work as well, and many of the same principles apply, including understanding your audience, cultivating trust and open communication.

Even with limited time and fundraising experience, there are several reasons to be optimistic about your ability to sustain your HPPAE:

Be
Optimistic
About Sustainability

  • Resource diversity: There are many different ways to draw from to build sustainability
  • A track record of success: Other schools are sustaining their programs
  • Funding trends: More grant makers are giving to aging issues
  • Awareness: Public recognition of the aging boom creates opportunities


Planning for the future

The first step to sustainability is to develop a sustainability or fundraising plan that will help you achieve your short- and long-term goals. We recommend establishing a funding timeline, with an end goal of institutionalizing your program within four years, setting benchmarks along the way. As part of this planning process, you will need to engage with a number of groups. These include:

  • University or school development officers (Internal)
  • University deans and program directors (Internal)
  • Executive directors of community-based agencies (Internal)
  • Development officers at community-based agencies (Internal)
  • Faculty (Internal)
  • Alumni (Internal)
  • Foundations (External)
  • Government funding (External)
  • Local businesses (External)
  • Major donors (External)