TEN RULES FOR WRITING A SUCCESSFUL FIRE ACT GRANT

Rule #1 – Follow the Rules, Follow the Rules & Follow the Rules

The general rules will probably be published in the National Registry sometime in February and will also be posted on under the FEMA FIRE Act Grant section. It is important that you read the rules, reread the rules, and then follow the rules!  You want to give your grant the best chance of acceptance, so give them what they want.  It is FEMA’s game and FEMA’s rules.  There is no logical argument for not following the rules.  This is NOT a first-come, first served process.  You will be graded on your ability to follow the rules.  Any deviation will almost assuredly result in your application not being reviewed, or scored low.  Take the time to fill out your application fully and neatly.  Being sloppy and incomplete in order to be the first one filed is not a good strategy.

Rule #2 – Be Prepared - Start Yesterday

Take a tip from the Boy Scouts and be prepared.  Gather all the information concerning your project.  Get a committee together to discuss the needs that the grant will fund. Never go it alone.  The more heads you get thinking about the project the better off the project is.  Get as many people interested and working on the project as you can.  Keep everyone informed. 

Rule #3 – Determine Your Needs

Grants solve problems.  What is your problem?  There is a big difference between a need and a want.  Everyone wants a million-dollar pumper.  However, very few actually need one.   Match your needs with the appropriate category.  Your last ISO rating is an excellent tool to use to help you determine your department’s needs. It is also an excellent tool to include in your application to prove to the reviewers you have a need instead of a want.

Discuss the Need Statement and the Population Served. This is where you explain the problem and how the grant project will solve it.   Agree on the specific items needed to accomplish the project.  Do you need training, equipment for the trucks, SCBA, boots, and gloves?   What exactly are you going to need?  For example: ISO wants you to have a written library in addition to a visual training library.  Detail these items.  Make sure you meet the program intent.  Asking for more (read everything you need to solve your problem) will ENHANCE, not hurt your chances for an award.

Rule #4 – Have A Budget

Get prices for everything on your list and put together a budget.  Do not go overboard.  Your evaluators will have a good understanding of what things cost. Use your quoted price plus 10%.

Make sure you know what things are going to cost.  The worst thing that can happen to you is to find out that the item you needed cost double what you thought.  Don’t think, know!  You cannot go back and ask for more money.

Rule #5 – Make Sure Your Program Meets The Intent Of The Grant Rules.

Be aware of a critical element in the grant application: the category questions.  If you read the "Program Guidance" notes provided in the grant application, you will notice that they say, "We will rank all eligible applications based on the answers to the category specific questions.  We will then further evaluate the highest ranked applications using expert panelists.  "What this means in English is, "We will give you a score based on your answers to the category specific questions. Only the applications that get a high score on the questions will go on to have their narratives read by the grant readers."

Rule #6 – Only One Application

You are limited to one application, but can request funding for various combinations of grant categories relating to one of the four main Program Areas:

1. Fire Operations & FF Safety
2. Fire Prevention
3. Emergency Medical Services
4. Firefighting Vehicles

FEMA/USFA will most likely stay with the Program Approach for 2003.  You can combine elements to meet an overall problem within your department.  This may include training, firefighting equipment, and PPE.  For Example:  You were just rated by ISO and your department did not do too well resulting in a drop of one class.  The rating bureau stated that training was lacking, you did not have all the equipment on the apparatus that you should have and you needed more SCBAs.  You can combine the visual training and training manuals needs, equipment needs, SCBA needs etc., into one grant application.

Rule #7 – Don’t Try To BS The Review Panel

The people who will review your grant are very knowledgeable Fire Service professionals.  Most have more than 20 years of Fire Service experience in many different fields.   They will have access to all the NFPA standards and the Internet.  There is not much they don’t know.  If you tell them that providing your department with new PPE will drop your ISO rating two classifications, they will probably score your application so low it will never get funded.  Know what you are talking about.  Don’t try to intimidate them.  If you write in your grant that if they don’t provide funding, you’ll have to get the money elsewhere, they’ll send you looking elsewhere. 

Rule #8 – You Must Convey Your Need In Writing

Oh no, we have to write!  Yes you do.  The inability to convey needs was the largest factor of why most grants never got funded.  There were hundreds of fire departments that have genuine needs, but if they could not express those needs in a few written pages, they never got funded.  The grant reviewers cannot read through the lines.  How the grant will solve your problem must be clearly written out.  The evaluation process is set-up to grade what is written.

Have the grant proofed by others.  Make sure of the spelling, sentence structure-  BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY - make sure it makes sense.

Don’t use jargon.  An unsuccessful application included the terms firecracker, jackrabbit and gamma goat in their application. Follow the length rules.  If they say four pages, then it is four pages, no more.  Don’t be cute or artsy fartsy.  This is a grant application, not a short story or comedy routine. 

Get to your point quickly. The reviewers are looking at 400 some odd applications each. If your narrative ignores the rules and rambles they won’t spend time with it. They will just mark down your score. Remember, there is not a shortage of departments for FEMA to give money to.

Rule #9 – Commit Matching Funds

Decide where the matching funds will come from. Do not say:  "We intend to hold a fundraising event to assist with matching funds." Matching funds are a HARD MATCH.  This means you are going to put up a portion of the grant monies.  You cannot use salaries or time as your match.  They want dollar for dollar.  Identify where the funds will come from.  “The City Council has agreed to provide the 10% Matching Funds which are required by this grant.”  “We will appropriate the 10% matching funds from our savings.”  “Four local businesses are providing us with the 10% matching funds required by this grant.”

Rule #10 – Complete All The Forms 

Send in the application via the Internet.  Have your answers ready and worded exactly the way you want them before filling out the electronic form.  Either print out a copy of the electronic form so you can practice filling out the answers and proof read them or save a copy electronically.  For example, you can type out your answers and narratives in a Word document.  Once you are satisfied that they say exactly what you want you can cut and paste them into the electronic form.  Being sloppy or failing to proof read is not good strategy.   Remember, contrary to what one application said last year, it is Fire Chief not Fire Chef.

Make sure that all applicable blanks are filled out.  Have someone who is not with the fire department read your narrative before you send it.  It is best that this person does not have any fire service experience. A schoolteacher or librarian is a good choice.  Make sure they can understand what you are trying to convey.  If they don’t fully understand, neither will the grant reviewers.

Be on time. Complete all parts of the form. Have the grant completed and submitted at the time it is required.  Failing to do so will be cause for rejection. If any part of the form is incomplete that can be cause for rejection.