Three Worthy Bookmarks for Your Department's Community and Fundraising Efforts

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Fire department fundraising is a time-consuming process. Promptly acknowledging gifts to your department, planning and executing your community meals and other special events all demand considerable effort. 


Here are three tools that might help make that process a little bit easier:
1. http://thesaurus.com - Great site if you're writing a grant application, donor thank you or other piece and want to find a new or better way to describe something.

2. PsPrint or http://www.vistaprint.com  If you don't mind an extra email from time to time, sign up for the great printing deals these sites offer. These options are particularly helpful if you're not located close to a local printing company. 


3. http://www.nametagcountry.com offers reasonably-priced name tags with your department's logo. You may order generic tags for each member, name-specific tabs for officers and/or members, or whatever works for you. Great community relationships start with comfort with names.

What websites do you use in your department's community and fundraising efforts efforts? Please comment below. 

Help Hold Your Community High: A Fundraising Message Idea

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Later this year the Keota Fire Department will join with thousands of other volunteer fire departments across the country as they prepare for their community pancake breakfast and golf tournament. The proceeds of these special events support fire department training and operations.

Often with such events, messages are prepared to reinforce gratitude to the donors who support the fire departments. Without such generous community donors, fire department mission progress beyond property tax proceeds would not be possible.

Here's one idea for a message and visual that might work well for your community event or fundraising campaign:

1. Stage a photo with members of your department similar to the example above. If you know of a grateful service recipient who would be willing, consider involving them in the photo.
2. Use a message something along the lines of, "Help us hold our neighbors high during their time of greatest need." Most people who have ever had to summon your response know it was an hour of greatest possible need.
3. Bridge to information the specific need (additional training, specific equipment, etc.) their donation will make possible.
4. Place this information on large posters and/or small printed take-aways throughout your event.

What fundraising messages are working well for your department?

Firefighters Checkoff: An Opportunity to Invest in Iowa Volunteers

As the receipts on your desk probably indicate, it's Iowa income tax filing season. This filing offers you an opportunity to reinvest in our state's emergency preparedness through the Iowa Volunteer Firefighters Checkoff.

There are thousands of details that need effective response connected to the 40,0000 times Iowans call 911 each year for fire, medical (for those departments providing medical response) and related emergencies. More than 15,000 of your fellow Iowans stand ready for those calls as volunteer firefighters. Contributions to the Iowa Volunteer Firefighters Checkoff enable the volunteers in your community to be even better prepared for what lies ahead.

Using the information researched by Independent Sector, each hour spent by each volunteer trained to the Firefighter I-level each of those 911 calls provides $20.85 in value to the community. 

Using a conservative average of three firefighters and one hour per call, your fellow Iowans are delivering $2.5 million each year in time value by being prepared and responding when the pager calls.

To every volunteer firefighter who answers the pager call, thank you.

Investments of $1 or more may be made through the ease of your Iowa income tax return on Line 58c of the Iowa Form 1040 or Line 15 of the Iowa Form 1040A.The Firefighter Checkoff is now combined with the Veterans Fund Checkoff. All donations on those lines will be split evenly between the two causes.

You will find the 2011 checkoff flyer here. Additional details on the program are available here. Thanks to the Iowa Firefighters Association for providing these details.

Your consideration of the Iowa Volunteer Firefighters Checkoff is truly appreciated!

Account Balance? Consider Planting an Emegency Response Seed

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In recent visits and Fire Service conversations, I've heard a common thread of future positive potential. Members have shared that they feel blessed to have balances in their association and/or auxiliary checking account. That feeling of blessing is countered by a slight frustration about lack of consensus among members of what to do with that balance. 

If you're in this blessed situation, consider bringing up the idea of  an endowment up at your next meeting.

The scope of the tools and tactics you and your members use in your emergency response shift significantly and continuously with improvements in technology, communities and safety. 

There's no way to determine with perfect accuracy what emergency response will look like in a few decades or a few generations. However, the human condition virtually guarantees the need for effective emergency response to keep communities stronger in perpetuity. 

Forming an endowment to benefit future emergency response needs in your community effectively addresses that ongoing need that can't be perfectly defined today. 

Once an endowment is formed, a specific percentage of the principal is made available to you each year to support your mission. Every year. In perpetuity.  A common percentage of principal made available in endowments is 5%.  The larger your endowment balance, the larger the amount available each year to help fully fund your mission. Talk about planting a seed for the future!

The State of Iowa has created a program, Endow Iowa, that makes gifts to endowments especially attractive for any of your donors in need of tax credits. More details on the program may be found here.The size of nonprofit endowments in Iowa has grown substantially since the creation of this program. 

The professionals at your area community foundation are outstanding resources as you consider an endowment for your department. Your area foundation may be able to send a staff person to your meeting to discuss the details with you. 

To connect with your local community foundation in Iowa for a discussion on the possibilities, visit the Iowa Community Foundations website and select your county from the orange box in the mid-right hand side of the page.

In addition to the Endow Iowa program, professionals at your local banks, credit unions and other investment firms will likely be able to provide you with detailed investment options for starting an endowment. Fees and opening deposit requirements vary by company. If these details aren't made clear in any proposal you receive, insist you receive them before making any purchasing decision.

Does your department have an endowment? What are your thoughts on this idea? Please your thoughts below.