Financing

Many people equate sustainability with obtaining dollars to fund the programs once a grant has ended. Although money may indeed be required to sustain your program's positive outcomes, it is possible to sustain outcomes without any funding beyond the original grant, or with far less funding than the original grant provided. Financial planning will enable you to identify what resources you need to sustain program outcomes.

Creating a Financial Plan

Think of your financial plan as the foundation for sustaining the programs and activities that are succeeding in your community with tribal youth. While a small part of your Tribal Youth Program financial plan will require additional funding, the larger part of your financial plan involves creating strong partnerships, developing capacity building opportunities for other agencies and community members, and a marketing plan to inform and garner community support and buy-in.

To create a financial plan think strategically; review and evaluate all the possible sources of program support (family, community, tribal government, county, state, federal and private sector) available to your program. List them, prioritize them, and build the bridges of support that can assist you to sustain your program outcomes beyond the grant period.

The Finance Project: Resources for Sustainability and Financial Planning
http://www.financeproject.org/all_pubs.cfm?cat=6&p=1

The Finance Project: Information Resource Center
http://www.financeproject.org/index.cfm?page=22

Thinking Broadly: Financing Strategies for Comprehensive Child and Family Initiatives (Report) http://www.financeproject.org/Publications/ThinkingBroadly.pdf

Finding Funding for injury and violence prevention: An overview (Report)
http://notes.edc.org/HHD/CSN/csnpubs.nsf/0/07f12e066bff841c852570
91005d9058/$FILE/FUNDING.pdf

UCLA's School Mental Health Project: Resources
http://www.smhp.psych.ucla.edu/

US Dept of HHS – Center for the Application of Prevention Technologies: Resources
http://captus.samhsa.gov/western/resources/grant/index.cfm

True Sustainability: A New Model to Aid Nonprofits in Developing Self-Sustaining Revenue Streams: (Article).
http://www.guidestar.org/news/features/sustainability.jsp

Government Funding Streams (local, state, federal)

Tribal youth programs may find potential government funding in the areas of education, mental health, and delinquency prevention.
National Center for Mental Health and Youth Violence Prevention Resources http://library.promoteprevent.org/browse.php?catid=116554

US Department of Education Funding - General
http://www.ed.gov/programs/gtep/index.html?src=fp

Forecast of funding opportunities under the Department of Education discretionary grant programs for fiscal year 2008.
http://www.ed.gov/fund/grant/find/edlite-forecast.html

Federal Grants
www.grants.gov

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention: Funding http://ojjdp.ncjrs.org/funding/funding.html

Securing Foundation Grants

Data shows that most public and private foundations give very little funding to Tribes, mostly because they are not asked. Foundations are in the business of grantmaking and many want to contribute to tribal communities—especially youth programs. Foundations' funding requirements vary greatly, from simple to relatively complex, but generally are less cumbersome than government grant requirements.

Finding the right foundation fit for your program requires solid research. Foundation websites post their grant guidelines, which outline funding criteria such as grant size, timelines and processes, geographic focus, programmatic areas, and past awards.

The Foundation Center
http://www.foundationcenter.org/

GrantStation
http://www.grantstation.com/

Grassroots Fundraising Journal
http://www.grassrootsfundraising.org/

Neighborhood Funders Group
http://www.nfg.org/about/list.htm

Channing Bete Company Funding Opportunities
http://www.channing-bete.com/funding/index.php

GuideStar – Researching public non-profit organizations (including foundations)
http://www.guidestar.org/about/index.jsp?source=dnabout

Native Americans in Philanthropy
http://www.nativephilanthropy.org/

Potlatch Fund
http://www.potlatchfund.org/