Volunteers Gain Most From Grant Programs

By Jason Zigmont

I often visit the forums of VolunteerFD.org and FireRescue1.com to see what other departments and members are thinking — and a post entitled "grant program is unfair to volunteer fire depts" has caught my eye.

The author believes that the current program is unfair to volunteers and should be replaced with a lottery. While I'm not sure about a lottery grant process, I decided to research if his points were valid and what could be done.

Fortunately the AFG process is open and all of the statistics are readily available, even if not everyone reads them. Each year there is a report on the number of grant applications by group, location and type, and there are even reports on the number of grants by type of equipment asked for.

These reports are all available at www.Firegrantsupport.com/afg/reports.aspx and are viewable to all. Not only do they give an idea of what is going on, they also can give insight into any problems that may exist.

The statistics for 2006, the most recently available report, just do not bear out any claims that the program is unfair to volunteer departments. During that year, 61.4 percent of all the AFG submissions were from volunteer departments. Volunteers accounted for 60.2 percent of all the grant awards, for a total of $273,654,657.

This means that the statement that "grant program is unfair to volunteer fire depts" is not statistically true. The numbers follow the application percentages throughout, including type of department and area served, much to the credit of the AFG program.

So if the statistics do not support the claim, why do some believe the program is unfair? In this case, the chief who posted in the forum had applied multiple times and had not received funding. Unfortunately this is true for many of the applicants each year, and many have been denied multiple times.

When departments put their heart and soul into grant applications just to have them denied, it is easy to believe that the program is unfair. When this is added to witnessing other departments funded year after year for what seems like less deserving projects, the result is a belief that the entire process is bad.

The problem is that we are blaming the system rather than trying to find ways to improve our chances of being funded. The grant process is competitive by its nature. Those grants that best meet the purpose of the program and show the highest cost benefit are most likely to be funded. This means we have to find ways to score higher so that our grants are more likely to be funded, rather than just hope and pray we get receive the award.

There are multiple programs designed to help people improve their proficiency at applying for grants including FireGrantsHelp.com and ChiefGrants.com.

The only thing that career departments may have on volunteer departments is a professional grant writer. This is due to a concerted effort to get funding, which can be the same at volunteer departments. It may be time to invest in one of your members and train them as a grant writer.

As someone who has taken a course with them, I can recommend The Grantsmanship Center and they offer non-profit scholarships. I am sure there is someone at your department who would enjoy the training and may even be able to use it at their day job in addition to helping your department.

The biggest thing that departments get wrong is applying for the wrong item for the wrong grant. With a dedicated grant writer, your department may be able to find a better fit for your needs whether it is a different grant or a different request. Put simply, when you meet the needs of the grant, you are more likely to be funded. There are other programs than the AFG, even if it is the biggest. If you haven’t succeeded in getting funding over many years, maybe it is time to try something different.

It may be a bit late to try out some of these techniques for this year's AFG, but with proper preparation 2010 may be your year to beat the odds. You can also be prepared for the stimulus money that will be coming out shortly.

And, if you want to change the system, then get involved and help lobby for additional AFG funds rather than the large cut currently proposed. Get involved: Plan ahead and you may see grant money coming your way.