How to close down a project with intention

Endings are often bittersweet.

 

When a project reaches its end, there are often things to mourn as well as things to celebrate. And that’s especially true when a project or partnership closes down unexpectedly, perhaps due to financial stress, politics, or a change of leadership.    

 

In this article, we’ll explore how to close something down with intention. And we’ll signpost you to brilliant resources that can help you to steward thoughtful endings.

 

By learning to end with intention, we can build a stronger charity sector for everyone.

 

 

Respect the importance of endings

 

Endings are often considered taboo. As Anneesa Mahmood and Iona Lawrence write in Campaign Bootcamp’s closure report: “Endings are a taboo for British society in general. The end of life, relationships, jobs, and organisations all too often come with associations of shame, disappointment, and failure. Societally we don’t have the language to describe them in their fullness or the rituals to fully anticipate and process them collectively.”

 

Endings don’t need to be shrouded in shame and secrecy. They can be a rich source of learning, meaning, and opportunity.

 

 

Learn from experts

 

We’re lucky to have some incredible resources available to us, as more and more attention has turned to the art of ending in recent years.

 

We particularly want to highlight the work of Stewarding Loss. Stewarding Loss is an initiative established in 2019 to support and influence civil society at all levels to dedicate the time, energy, care, and resource to endings that it does to beginnings, uninhibited by fear, stigma, or prejudice, and rooted in best practice.

 

You can plug in to a wealth of resources, from practical toolkits to more expansive and exploratory blogposts.

 

You can also follow thinkers like Louise Armstrong, Cassie Robinson and Iona Lawrence, to learn direct from them.

 

 

Acknowledge loss

 

When a project ends, the consequences can be enormous.

 

Whether it’s a community left without vital support, or former employees bereft of financial security, purpose and a sense of identity, don’t underestimate people’s sense of loss and grief.

 

Resist the urge to dress endings up in celebratory language or joyful metaphors.

 

Not everything is a new beginning. It’s often more helpful to call it what it is: an ending.

 

 

Give it the time it deserves

 

Endings don’t need to be dismal. But that still doesn’t mean we can or should rush into them.

 

As the authors of the Sensing an Ending toolkit say: “Without thought to legacy, programmes and hard earned intelligence of organisations can disappear overnight; without time for emotions, staff can go out into the world and to their new organisations carrying the burden and trauma of a bad ending; without careful planning, the money and assets which are left are inefficiently dispensed of in the haste of a poorly designed ending; and without knowledge of the complex legalities, well meaning-ed mistakes can easily be made leaving staff and trustees the wrong side of the law after deleting governance records that should remain.”

 

These risks can also point in the direction of success. They can spur us to harvest wisdom, curate valuable resources, and honour the deep mission that underpins our work.

 

 

Over-communicate

 

When we experience loss, grief, or anxiety, it’s common to struggle to focus, think in a linear way, or remember details.

 

If you’re updating project or community members on how the closure is coming along, keep things simple.

 

Be clear, direct, and don’t be afraid to repeat yourself.   

 

 

Create space for choice

 

When drastic change rocks our world, many of us feel powerless. While huge changes are likely to affect us deeply, there are some ways to help people process. 

 

Learn more about the principles of trauma-informed care. Two aspects that can be particularly helpful are creating space for choice and collaboration.

 

“Choice may not prevent uncertainty or ambivalence in facing change but it is likely to reduce the sense of powerlessness that comes with loss” – Working with Loss and Grief.

 

Perhaps you can engage the people who are most affected by this closure, and empower them to decide things like:

• How to reflect on the project or initiative as it comes to a close
• What resources you have available to you as you bring things to an end
• Who will be most involved in reflecting and gathering learnings
• How to collect what you learned
• Where to store learnings
• What successes you can celebrate
• Who you’ll share them with

 

Think cyclically

 

Endings can symbolise failure and loss. Or we can see them as part of a normal cycle of growth, change and renewal.

 

“The narratives of organisational endings could move away from failure, shame and blame, towards recognition of natural life-cycles” – Staying Close to Loss.

 

Focusing on life cycles can direct our attention to the issues that matter most.

 

Instead of focusing on a single organisation, we might think about the sector as a whole.

 

Perhaps a single charity has grown larger and larger, sucking resources away from the grassroots. Closing down could cause resources to flow to smaller organisations that need support more.

 

Instead of driving resources into one project because it’s always existed, we can think about our mission more broadly.

 

Perhaps a project worked brilliantly for years, but its methodology now feels out of date. Instead of insisting on a single way of operating, we might close down the outdated initiative, take time to reflect, and develop something that meets present day needs better.

 

As the Stewarding Loss team write: “Organisations that are deeply committed to their mission should be constantly asking themselves the questions: are we still the right people to do this work? Is this still the work that is needed? Are we being effective in creating the change we seek with the communities we work with? Are there others we should be collaborating with, or getting out the way for, in order to better achieve our mission?”

 

Success is often thought to mean more. More income, more staff, more programmes.

 

But success can also mean: less. Less striving. Less insisting that there’s one right way to tackle injustice. Less distraction. And perhaps a little less ego, so we can tell when we’re no longer needed.