Designing Programs for Impact and Longevity
Written by Hannah Wohltjen
Nonprofits are often balancing urgency and intention. Communities have immediate needs, funders have expectations, and organizations must act quickly. But in the rush to respond, it can be easy to focus on delivering programs without fully considering how those programs are designed or whether they can last over time. This is where program design and sustainability intersect. Together, program design and sustainability ensure that programs are both effective and durable. One without the other creates wobbly programs: a well-designed program that cannot be sustained will disappear, while a sustainable program without strong design may continue without producing any meaningful impact
What We Mean by Program Design and Sustainability
Program design refers to the intentional process of defining what a program does, why it exists, and how it creates change. It includes identifying the problem the program addresses, defining the population served, clarifying activities, and articulating the expected outcomes. Good program design connects daily activities to a larger purpose and provides a roadmap for how impact will occur. Sustainability, in contrast, is all about a program’s ability to continue delivering value over time. Sustainability is not simply about securing funding (though, let’s be honest, funding is a big part of it). It also involves ensuring that programs are aligned with organizational capacity, responsive to participant needs, and adaptable to changing conditions.
Why Program Design Matters
For nonprofit organizations, program design and sustainability are foundational to mission fulfillment. Every program represents an investment of time, energy, relationships, and resources. Without intentional design, programs risk misalignment with community needs or organizational goals. Without sustainability, even effective programs may disappear just as they begin to demonstrate impact. Sustainable program design strengthens both impact and organizational resilience.
As evaluators, we also know that strong design and sustainability create the ideal conditions for learning. They allow organizations to test assumptions, refine approaches, and build programs that can become more effective over time. But evaluating impact becomes difficult when programs lack clarity in their design or stability in their implementation. When program design is strong, we can clearly identify intended outcomes, measure progress, and provide meaningful feedback. Evaluation becomes a tool for learning and improvement rather than guesswork. Sustainability matters because evaluation is most valuable when programs exist long enough to learn from evidence and apply those lessons. Programs that frequently change direction, lose staffing capacity, or end abruptly limit opportunities for continuous improvement.
The Characteristics of Good Program Design
While program design will vary depending on context, strong programs generally are:
Clearly Defined: Strong programs begin with a clear problem and a specific population they intend to serve. They articulate not just what they do, but why they do it and what outcomes they seek to achieve.
Rooted in Research: Good programs are based on the research around how to address the specific problem they are trying to solve. They articulate their linkages to known best practices that have documented results.
Responsive to Participant Needs: Research provides grounding, but good programs also blend best practices with an understanding of the local context where programming will occur and participants’ experiences and needs. They incorporate feedback and remain responsive to changing conditions.
We recommend creating a Program Manual when planning out your program to ensure your program design is solid. A Program Manual is your organization’s handbook for program implementation and creates consistent internal documentation about what the program offers, to whom, and how it should be deployed. Program Manuals should be living documents that evolve with your programming and serve as a shared communication source for all staff involved with programming. A sample Program Manual can be found here.
If you are launching a new program, you might also consider coupling your Program Manual with an Implementation Plan. An implementation plan is a detailed roadmap of resources, goals, and anticipated timeline to effectively design and stand up a new program or initiative. You can find an Implementation Planning Guide here.
How Organizations Can Proactively Think About Sustainability
Sustainability is not something that happens after a program is launched (or is nearing the end of its funding). It’s actually a key part of the planning and implementation process!
Design with Sustainability in Mind: Where possible, organizations should consider sustainability during initial program planning. At a minimum, this includes doing a loop on alignment and integration with the organization’s mission and vision as well as getting clear on the resources (financial, human, etc.) required to implement the program. For a deeper dive, we like the Program Sustainability Assessment Tool (PSAT), developed by researchers at the Washington University in St. Louis. It takes more than just money to sustain programming, and this free tool outlines a set of organizational and contextual domains that can help build awareness around what other factors you may need to consider for program longevity.
Build Evidence and Demonstrate Value: Programs that can clearly demonstrate their impact are more likely to attract ongoing support. Collecting meaningful data and sharing outcomes with stakeholders strengthens the case for continued investment. Evaluation plays a critical role here as a tool for sustainability.
Plan for Adaptation, Not Just Continuation: Sustainability doesn’t mean maintaining programs exactly as they are forever. Sustainable programs evolve in tandem with the people they serve and the communities they operate in. Organizations that create structures that allow programs to adapt while preserving their core purpose and effectiveness tend to see greater success over the long term.
Evaluation, program design, and sustainability are not separate functions. They are interconnected tools that help organizations learn, improve, and fulfill their missions more effectively. When organizations design their programs intentionally and plan for sustainability from the beginning, they strengthen their ability to deliver meaningful impact, not just once but consistently over time.
