When the funding stops: Do grantees of the Local Initiative Funding Partners Program sustain themselves?

Foundations often provide short-term seed funding to social service demonstration programs with the presumption that successful projects will be able to replace funding from other, often public, sources when their grants end. It is unclear whether this model actually works. This article explores the sustainability of foundation-funded projects—whether they can survive the loss of their initial funding and continue to operate. To do this, we focus on the Local Initiative Funding Partners Program (LIFP) of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). After tracking the survival of 112 LIFP projects that ended their RWJF funding during the period 1986–2001, 92% survived at least 1 year, while 80% were still operating in 2002. Thirty-four percent of the projects were replicated by another organization. Project-related factors that contributed to survival include host organization support and strong project management that secures local philanthropic support, develops revenue-generating activities, builds up individual donor pools, capitalizes on technical assistance on fundraising, and disseminates stories of project success. Environmental factors include public awareness of the social problem and recognition of the project as a solution, external championship by community leaders, and the involvement of local funders.