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The 2010 Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) application process opens Monday, April 26, 2010. As trees throughout Iowa are now in full bloom, so too is this important funding stream for fire departments across the country.
A few notes of interest for your AFG planning:
1. $390 million in funding is available nationwide, compared to $520 million last year
2. Your application must center around the program purpose, "To protect public and fire service personnel from fire and all other hazards."
3. If your department needs a Priority 1 item, that is your best chance for potential fit and funding with the AFG program
4. Make sure each item you click on the online application process is very carefully selected, including how you categorize your department. Careful selection and a clear need calculated automatically by your question responses will make you more likely to get to panel review
5. Avoid using any model numbers or brand names in your application to demonstrate your commitment to a fair and open bidding process if your application is funded
6. Review your guidance document in detail at this link. Print out your application and carefully review it before final submission.
7. Relate only local information in your narrative. Write concisely for your peers. Include a clear statement on the consequences of not receiving an AFG award. A two page narrative is ideal based on the volume considered at peer review
FlashPoint Fundraising provides grant writing services for AFG and other programs on a project fee, not-percentage basis. Contact Dawn Svenson Holland to discuss whether your department may be a fit for this program today!
This is Isabella. She's four. She is in a state of perpetual motion. Because of this state, the lens on my camera phone represents a moment's hesitation. The lens just doesn't open fast enough to keep up with her energy without creating the blur impact of the photo.
Being a part of the Fire Service family means being in a state of perpetual "readiness" motion. Whether dinner's on the table or you haven't slept yet all night, the pager call must be answered. The only difference between your service and the limitations of this camera phone, as you know, is that moment's hesitation cannot exist.
At the recent Association of Fundraising Professionals International Conference in Baltimore, MD, one of the keynote speakers was Lee Woodruff, who shared her inspiring experience of perseverance and family first in the aftermath of her husband Bob's traumatic brain injury while embedded with our brave troops in Iraq. She and Bob have started ReMind.org to raise awareness of and support the impact of traumatic brain injury in our US Military.
Lee credits the medics who ignored the safety warnings while the convoy her husband was part of was attacked by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) with saving her husband's life. Throughout the experience, she felt gratitude for the reality that "No one hesitates."
Those medics, all service men and women and the civilian medical personnel who go over for six month tours together form a cocoon of care for the most critical war times. Please pause as you read this and know you are part of the stateside cocoon of care at the most critical times here at home.
Thank you, with extra thanks to those of you who have served with our military, too! The quality of life in our communities is stronger because you honor the call that, "No one hesitates."
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