The defunding of higher education at the state and national level following the 2008 recession created the need for administrators of public higher education institutions to develop and implement funding strategies to maintain organizational sustainability. State government administrators reduced spending approximately 26% per student across the nation, leaving higher education administrators challenged with adjusting organizational budgets to compensate for the reduction in state monetary support. A multiple case study design was used to explore funding strategies that community college business leaders used to support budget decisions that maintain organizational sustainability. Four leaders from 3 community colleges in Central Texas participated in semistructured interviews. Interviews were triangulated with reviews of historical school board documents. Data analysis included documents review, member checking, coding data by participant, and electronic data analysis software to determine the most frequent responses. The theory of organizational change was used as the conceptual framework for exploring strategies community college business leaders use for sustainable futures. Two themes that emerged from the analysis were business-focused planning and student success identifying that community college business leaders need to focus on offering affordable education that meets stakeholders' needs while implementing funding strategies to support budget decisions for organizational sustainability. The findings may impact social change when budget decisions are made with a focus on affordable and quality education that improves the lives of individuals, meets local workforce needs, and promotes economic development within communities.

Construction industry leaders who neglect to implement appropriate project funding strategies harm business operations and lose profits. Inadequate funding is also a significant cause of project failures in the global construction sector. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore strategies construction project owners use to secure sustainable funding for the successful conclusion of infrastructure projects. The population comprised 5 leaders of organizations owning construction projects in the Middle Eastern Gulf Cooperation Council states, with successful strategies to acquire adequate funding for completing infrastructure projects. Data were collected from semistructured interviews with the business leaders and reports published by prominent organizations involved in funding infrastructure projects. The modern portfolio theory formulated the conceptual framework. Through thematic analysis, 5 themes emerged: address project funding issues promptly, select projects with high returns and low risks, use project financial management processes to manage project funds, apply a project finance structure for large-scale projects, and implement an Islamic finance scheme for eligible projects. The potential contributions of the study include communities benefitting from improved well-being and construction business employees enjoying higher job security, enhanced working conditions, and better standards of living for their families.

Small firms struggle to survive competition with limited resources, and about 50% of start-up organizations fail after 5 years. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore the strategies some beauty salon owners in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States use to access financial resources to support growth for longer than 5 years. The conceptual framework for the study was the resource-based view theory of the firm. Data were collected from 6 beauty salon owners who had succeeded for longer than 5 years. Semistructured face-to-face interviews and review of archival and transcript data yielded data saturation in combination with member checking. Data analysis was conducted using methodological triangulation with keyword-in-context analysis, comparison analysis, and content analysis. The 4 emergent themes from the study were personal savings, formal education and professional training as keys to funding, funding strategies, and small business challenges in acquiring funding. Findings from this study may contribute to social change by providing best practices and funding strategies that leaders of small- to mid-sized enterprises may use to access funding to ensure business survival for longer than 5 years. In addition, the findings in this study may reduce small business failure rate, increase sales revenue for the government, and increase employment in the region.