Maintaining the coalition is a major issue - you want your coalition to have a long and healthy lifetime and to accomplish amazing things in the world. This won't happen overnight. The coalition effort needs to be sustained. (Berkowitz & Wolff, 2000)

Sustainability has many meanings depending on the person using it. In the world of community anti-drug coalitions, it is often used to mean funding. Ultimately, however, funding is just one aspect of a successful coalition. It takes deliberate effort to keep the organization together. Leadership and relationships are critical. These lead to structure and organization or capacity. Membership from a broad range of the community is important if the work is ongoing.

The work of sustainability is less about the development of high generation fundraisers or entrepreneurial ventures, than about a systems approach to the creation of value throughout the organization, which creates the potential for contribution.

Of course, funding is necessary along the way to ensure that your coalition reaches its greatest capacity and finds success in helping your community become safer and healthier.

Useful Publications

• One of the best ways to ensure that you get funding for your nonprofit is to describe a very well designed program plan in your fundraising proposal, including how that program will be evaluated. The Field Guide to Nonprofit Program Design, Marketing and Evaluation will guide you through every step to carefully design a comprehensive program plan and corresponding evaluation plan, along with a credible grant proposal.



• Coping With Cutbacks: The Nonprofit Guide to Success When Times Are Tight will give you lots of ideas about what to do when your nonprofit doesn't have lots of money, has lost a major grant, etc.



• A healthy nonprofit organization often has highly diversified sources of funding, for example, from individual donors, foundations, corporations and governemts. Nonprofit leaders who are looking to diversify their funding base and decrease their reliance on donors often develop earned-income ventures where they generate profits which, in turn, are spent on improving the nonprofit's services to the community. Earned-income is a form of social entrepreneurship, an increasingly popular topic among nonprofits. If you are considering an earned-income venture or to improve an already established earned-income venture, then obtain the publication, Venture Forth!: The Essential Guide to Starting a Moneymaking Business in Your Nonprofit Organization.



• If you are a nonprofit service provider (management support organization) that is considering capacity building programs for nonprofits in your area, then obtain the publication, Strengthening Nonprofit Organizations: A Funder's Guide to Capacity Building.



• If you are just getting started with your nonprofit, then you should plan and set up your financial accounting system before you begin fundraising. The publication, Bookkeeping Basics: What Every Nonprofit Bookkeeper Needs to Know, includes step-by-step guidelines to set up your system and to conduct effective and efficient bookkeeping.



• Field Guide to Nonprofit Program Design, Marketing and Evaluation will guide you through every step to carefully design a comprehensive program plan and associated program budget.



• If your nonprofit has been struggling and needs to address a variety of complex issues, then see the Field Guide to Consulting and Organizational Development With Nonprofits (for consultants and internal leaders in USA and Canada)



• Useful Publications comes from the library of Carter McNamara: http://www.authenticityconsulting.com/about_us.htm