We are continuing to develop resources and ideas to help organisations and projects address the challenge of sustainability. In September we piloted two very successful workshops with Voluntary Action Fund’s Community Safety Team, generating lots of learning and very positive results (see below for participant quotes).
The learning was that the half-day workshop equips people to start developing either exit strategies or sustainability plans. The timing was also important . Coinciding with the half-way point in the yearlong fund, the workshop was timed to help people start thinking ahead for the next financial year.
The workshop is the latest tool in our suite of resources and expertise to help projects, organisations and funders ensure the sustainability of their work and impact. If you would like to know more, get in touch or look out for our upcoming workshop at the Gathering in Feb 2016.
Meantime, here’s what people said about the half-day event:
‘Useful. Informative. Thought-provoking.’
‘New way to approach being ‘sustainable’. Excellent training as usual from Graeme. Fantastic amount of learning in one day.’
‘Engaging and fun, great facilitator’
‘Helpful workshop, lots of ideas, time to reflect and think about new approaches – and activities facilitated this well.’
‘Brain buzzing with ideas/thoughts etc. to try and take forward’
‘Useful. Session starts me thinking of how to plan post-project legacy’
‘Checklist for project sustainability really inspired me to think about issues in my project. Then to have the space to explore this was extremely useful.’
‘Thanks for squeezing our brains, very good reflective exercise!’
‘Today’s session was very interesting. It made me think about not just the sustainability of the work, by all the projects overall in the organisation. I liked Graeme’s delivery style, it has definitely got me thinking!’
‘Valuable discussions and good opportunity to share approaches and ideas in sourcing funding to remain sustainable’
‘Great to have dedicated time to spend on this subject!’
‘Really enjoyed the opportunity to do the prep work and complete the Sustainability Plan’
The workshop commissioners noted:
‘Everyone who gave feedback rated the events at the highest possible level and the comments showed that they had been valuable in providing a dedicated time and space to discuss and reflect upon on the issue of sustainability. Participants saw the events as useful in harnessing the support of peers and in gaining the understanding that the issues faced by all were very similar. The project sustainability checklist appears to have resonated with many people and there was a high level of energy and commitment to planning for the future in a different and exciting way.’