The Program Sustainability Assessment Tool has been reliability tested. The Center for Public Health Systems Science is beginning the process of validating the tool. Learn more about the reliability testing.

The Program Sustainability Assessment Tool has been used by over 1,000 individuals from over 320 unique programs. These programs have operated at the local, state, national, and even international levels. These programs addressed a range of topics, such as tobacco control, obesity prevention, diabetes, or HIV/AIDS.

Yes. The Program Sustainability Assessment Tool is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-Share-Alike license. You may adapt the tool, but you must acknowledge Washington University as the original creator of the tool, you may not make a commercial profit off of your adapted tool, and you must share your version under the same terms. You can adapt the tool by changing the phrasing, adding, or dropping questions, etc. Keep in mind that when you make these changes the revised tool may no longer be reliable. If you make changes, please send us a copy of the adapted tool at sustainabilitytool@brownschool.wustl.edu

The tool has been tested with community-level and state-level programs. The tool has also been used by national-level programs. The tool can be used with international programs, though the tool’s language may be less applicable.

We recommend that multiple staff and stakeholders take the assessment individually for a more complete picture of your program. When you create an account, you have the option to set up a Group Assessment and invite multiple people to individually complete the assessment tool. Results are then averaged together in a Group Sustainability Report.

When identifying participants, choose people who are knowledgeable about the program and invested in its mission. For example, front line staff, volunteers, program managers, organizational leadership, and budget officers could all bring different but valuable perspectives. If community support or partners are essential for the services you provide, consider involving representatives from these groups too. After you receive your Group Sustainability Report, it is important to discuss differences in opinion over the scores.

The tool was originally designed for public health programs. However, we believe it is also relevant for social service and clinical care programs.

We also use the term ‘program’ loosely. A program is a set of formal organized activities.

Taking the online Program Sustainability Assessment Tool is quick and easy; you only need 10-15 minutes!

The Program Sustainability Framework and Assessment Tool are grounded in a comprehensive literature review and expert-informed Concept Mapping.

Program staff, leadership, evaluators, partners, and funders are all encouraged to use the Program Sustainability Assessment Tool and engage in sustainability planning. In fact, we recommend that multiple staff and stakeholders take the assessment individually for a more complete picture of your program.

The Program Sustainability Assessment Tool has a total of 40 likert scale questions and looks at 8 different sustainability domains.

The Program Sustainability Assessment Tool is a 40 item self-assessment that program staff and stakeholders can take to evaluate the sustainability capacity of a program. We define sustainability capacity as the ability to maintain programming and its benefits over time. When you take the assessment online you will receive an automated summary report of your overall sustainability. You can use these results to engage in sustainability planning.