A funder asked how the work keeps going. You know the answer. It is not on paper.
Build the answer from your real costs, the unpaid work that holds it up and every source that could pay.
For community organizations whose work has to keep going after the grant ends.
Here's what you finish with
- The cost of keeping the work going. Cash costs, cost per participant and unpaid labor kept separate.
- A multi-source revenue plan. Your grants, fees, contracts, individual giving and events side by side, with the next source to add.
- A downloadable Sustainability Plan PDF. Your costs, evidence gaps and sustainability paragraph.
- Your numbers in Excel. A six-tab workbook filled in from your answers, with live formulas.
$149 · One time. No subscription.
Eight saved modules. Two files built from your answers.
Already bought it? Open your room · Looking for Medicaid?
One organization · internal use only · $149 one-time. License and institutional buyers
The sample uses invented planning figures, not client evidence.
Download the sample PDFBefore you pay
Free tools or the $149 room?
Free, no account
- Go / No-Go Decision Pack: test one grant's match and cash gap before you apply.
- Medicaid Revenue Wayfinder demo: a starting route and what-if numbers for one service.
- Operations Kit: budget, invoice, calendar and board checklist.
Good for one decision. Kept in your browser only. Nothing saves to an account.
Sustainability in a Box™, $149
- Eight modules on your real costs, saved to your account
- Unpaid labor valued separately, never counted as cash
- A revenue mix across more than one source
- Two files built from your answers: Sustainability Plan (PDF) and Sustainability Numbers Workbook (Excel, 6 tabs)
Good when a funder or board asks how the work keeps going.
After you buy
- Pay on the secure Stripe form on this site. One charge of $149. No subscription.
- The confirmation page checks your payment with Stripe before it says "Order confirmed."
- Sign in, or create an account, with the email you used to pay.
- Open your room. Answers save as you go. Stop and come back any time.
- Download your files whenever you like. Anything you skip prints as "Not yet answered," so you can download again later.
Questions about access, a charge or a refund? Email deenastrategies@gmail.com or call 614-537-7276. Include the email you used to pay.
Medicaid
Medicaid is not part of this purchase.
From November 12, 2026, Sustainability in a Box™ does not include the Medicaid Readiness & Revenue room. If you bought before that date, you keep it. Nothing else about your purchase changes.
The eight modules price your work and compare grants, fees, contracts, individual giving and events. They do not test Medicaid rates, enrollment or state rules. No Medicaid product is for sale here.
Free places to start:
- Medicaid Revenue Wayfinder demo: a starting route and what-if numbers for one service, in your browser.
- How do I get Medicaid money?: plain answers, with the steps and the risks.
- Capital Signal No. 002: reimbursement grants, Medicaid and the cash you carry while you wait.
- Go / No-Go Decision Pack: check the cash gap on a reimbursement grant before you apply.
Is this you?
A funder asked how the work keeps going. You know the answer. It is not on paper.
Build the answer from your real costs, the unpaid work that holds it up and every source that could pay.
Bring
- What the work costs, item by item
- Unpaid hours people give
- Revenue you have now or could pursue
In your guided workspace
- Eight saved modules, one at a time
- Cash cost and unpaid labor kept separate
- Grants, fees, contracts, individual giving and events compared
You keep
A downloadable PDF Sustainability Plan for your funder or your board.
Included tools 6 ready
- ReadyTrue cost with unpaid labor kept separate Cash cost and the value of unpaid hours shown apart, plus an overhead allowance you set.
- ReadyRight-size the ask and revenue mix Request against budget; grants, fees, contracts, individual giving and events compared.
- ReadyManaging the money, credibility and proof Checklists and a stronger count of people reached.
- ReadySustainability Plan PDF Built from your eight saved modules.
- ReadySustainability Numbers Workbook Your costs, unpaid hours, ask, revenue mix, activities and next steps in a six-tab Excel file with live formulas.
- ReadyOrganization facts from your other rooms If you also own Get Me Ready or a grant room, your saved organization name and budget fill the blank fields in modules 1 and 3 when you press the button. Disagreements are shown.
- Not builtOrganization-wide 12-month cash flow planner Not built. The plan does not project month-by-month cash.
- Not builtThree-year revenue scenarios Not built. The plan does not project three years.
Fictional preview Fictional: program cash cost $142,000; unpaid labor value $38,000 shown separately; one source carries 71% of revenue.
Your work product: A downloadable Sustainability Plan PDF and the same numbers in an editable Excel workbook.
Look inside · Fictional sample
Look inside Sustainability in a Box
Eight saved modules. Shown with an invented community organization and invented numbers.
Made for you if
A funder asked how the work keeps going, and the honest answer is that people are carrying it on unpaid hours.
Community health workers, food and family programs, youth programs and clinics that need to show the full cost of the work and more than one way to pay for it.
You do not get to call it priceless and fund it at zero. This puts a real number on the work, including the hours nobody has paid for yet.
Not this: It does not include Medicaid tools, bill Medicaid, enroll you as a provider or promise a payment.
What you get, counted
1 finished file1 worksheet you keep
Finished files, worksheets and the places you work are counted separately, never added together. Every file is built from your answers the moment you download. Anything you skip prints as Not yet answered, so you can download early and again later.
What you bring
- What the work costs, item by item
- Unpaid hours people give, and the hourly value you choose
- Your budget, your ask and money by source
- Your activities and how you know they work
Finished for you, built from your answers
1 finished report
- Sustainability Plan (PDF)
Worksheets you keep and reuse
6 tabs in the Sustainability Numbers Workbook (Excel)
Filled in from your answers. Cash cost, unpaid-labor value and economic resources stay separate.
- Start here
- Cost lines
- True cost
- Revenue mix
- Activities & evidence
- Next steps
Where you work
8 saved modules
Each one saves to your account as you go.
- Resilience Check-in
- True Cost
- Right-Size the Ask
- Revenue Mix
- Managing the Money
- Credibility Footprint
- Proof
- Say It Out Loud
Free templates that pair with it
Free for everyone in the free template library. Not part of the purchase and not counted above.
You bring
- What the work costs, item by item
- Unpaid hours people give, and a fair rate for them
- The money you have now or could pursue
How it works
- Name what must keep going and why it is fragile.
- Price the full cost. Unpaid labor is counted separately, never as cash.
- Right-size the ask and map every source of money.
- Check that your numbers agree with each other.
- Download your Sustainability Plan PDF and your numbers in Excel.
You leave with
A Sustainability Plan PDF: what continues, itemized costs, priced unpaid labor kept separate, your revenue mix and the next source to add. The same numbers in an editable Excel workbook.
Price the whole program, including labor never billed.
Cash costs and the value of unpaid hours are kept apart, so the plan never overstates what you spend.
Download the actual sample files
Made by the same generator buyers use, with the invented organization above. Nothing in them is real.
What it does not do. Medicaid tools are not included. No DSG review, no enrollment, billing, claims or payer contracts. No payment, contract or eligibility is promised.
Who I am
Fredericka Wallace Deena. Founder & Managing Principal. Executive, author and speaker.
Thirty-plus years of senior institutional leadership, United Way allocations, corporate and major gifts, and program design. Executive coach of United Way presidents.
I have raised more than $75 million across my own career. These rooms bring that discipline to your numbers.
Career record attested by Fredericka Wallace Deena; not a Deena Strategic Group company fundraising result.
Meet Fredericka and Deena Strategic GroupTry three questions free
From Module 1, the Resilience Check-in
What is inside
Eight modules. Each one saves your answers.
Resilience Check-in
Ten plain questions that separate the symptom from the cause.
True Cost
Price the whole program, including the labor you have never listed.
Right-Size the Ask
Check whether your request fits the size of your organization.
Revenue Mix
See where your money comes from and the next source to add.
Managing the Money
The checklist that shows a funder their money is handled with care.
Credibility Footprint
What a funder checks about you before they read a word.
Proof
Turn a single number into evidence a reviewer can trust.
Say It Out Loud
Your sustainability paragraph, written from what you entered.
You leave with a downloadable Sustainability Plan: what continues, your itemized costs, the assets you never billed for: including priced unpaid labor: and your revenue mix across more than one source, with the next source to add.
Exactly what you get for $149
- You receive: sign-in access to the eight-module room. Your answers save to your account. You download a PDF plan built only from what you entered.
- Not included: the Medicaid Readiness & Revenue room, a written DSG review, Medicaid enrollment, billing, claims filing, payer contracts or any system integration. No payment, contract or eligibility is promised.
- After you buy: after payment is confirmed, sign in with the checkout email to open your room. You can save, return and download. If access or the receipt is delayed, contact DSG with your checkout email.
- Your next move: use the plan to choose which revenue to pursue first: grants, contracts, earned revenue or giving. If you want help, talk with DSG. You never have to.
An organization can list this $149 cost as an expense only if a funder's rules, budget period and actual payment allow it.
Read with The Underneath™. Written Out Loud™.
Before you buy
Is Medicaid included in the $149?
No, not for purchases from November 12, 2026. Buyers from before that date keep the Medicaid Readiness & Revenue room. For Medicaid questions, start with the free Medicaid Revenue Wayfinder demo. No Medicaid product is for sale.
How do I get access and download?
Buy once, then sign in with your checkout email after confirmed payment. Open the eight-module room, save your work and download the PDF and the Excel workbook.
Who sees my answers?
Your saved room belongs to your account. Sponsorship gives no automatic access to private answers. You choose whether to share your report. Never enter patient names, IDs, birth dates or diagnoses. Pattern checks cannot catch everything.
What is not promised?
No grant, contract, eligibility decision or Medicaid reimbursement is guaranteed. Policy rules are not verified unless expressly sourced and reviewed. Your assumptions are not official rates.
Can I share the report?
You may share your own report with your board, staff, funders and advisors. The proposed one-organization license does not permit resale of DSG methods or templates. Read the proposed terms; they await counsel review and checkout incorporation.
Is this recurring, and where do I ask for support?
The $149 is a one-time purchase, not a subscription. For access or product questions, email deenastrategies@gmail.com. No additional consulting is required to use the rooms.
Sustainability in a Box™
Who this is for
For you if a funder asked how the work continues and you do not yet have a real answer.
The root, not the symptom
"We need more grants" is the symptom. Underneath it, costs were never fully priced, one source carries the load, or the proof lives only in people's heads.
What people try instead: and where it stalls
Sustainability in a Box™ builds the plan from your own numbers, step by step.
About 1 in 4 nonprofit professionals already use AI for grant writing. Source: State of AI in Nonprofits 2025, Tapp Network.
What you walk away with
- A named root cause, in plain words
- A true-cost budget, including unpaid labor priced
- Your revenue mix by source, with the next source to add
- Your sustainability paragraph, ready for a grant
- A downloadable Sustainability Plan and receipt
What to have ready
- Last year's budget or expense list
- A rough count of unpaid hours
- Where your money came from last year
Time it takes
About two to three hours, in as many sittings as you like. Answers save as you go.
Price, credit and your receipt line
$149
What you paid is credited toward the room.
Receipt line for a future grant budget: Organizational systems and sustainability setup: $149
What this is not
This is a self-guided plan, not a DSG consultant writing it for you.
Your next step
Three short questions
- Can I stop and come back?
- Yes. Every module saves your answers to your account.
- Can I put the $149 in a grant budget?
- Your receipt includes a budget line you can use. Check each funder's rules.
- Does it include Medicaid tools?
- No. From November 12, 2026, the Medicaid Readiness & Revenue room is not part of this purchase. Earlier buyers keep it. The free Medicaid Revenue Wayfinder demo is a starting point.
Read with The Underneath™. Written Out Loud™.
Common questions
What people search for
- How do I write the sustainability section of a grant?
- Say what continues after the grant, what it really costs, including unpaid labor, and which other sources will pay for it. Sustainability in a Box™ walks you through each part and writes the paragraph from your answers.
- What goes in a sustainability plan for a grant application?
- What continues, itemized costs, assets you never billed for, and where the money comes from now across more than one source, with the next source to add.
- Is there a nonprofit sustainability plan template?
- A template gives you a format. Sustainability in a Box™ gives you the format filled with your own numbers, for $149.