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You want to be sure your department has the equipment necessary to fight
fires and save lives. When looking for funding to purchase fire equipment, like
thermal imagers, be sure to take a comprehensive approach and look at all
aspects. Grants, (federal and private) and local fundraising are great places to
begin. Find information about local fundraising at
http://www.bullard.com/Thermalimager/Get_funding/
- Keep it clear, keep it simple, keep it right. Your proposal should leave no room for interpretation of what you
are saying. Be clear, concise and accurate.
- Deadlines show no mercy. If your application is not in by the
deadline, it's not being considered, period.
- Beat the calendar, with the calendar. If a grant application deadline
is March 31, write it down as March 24 or March 17. Set an earlier "personal
deadline" to give yourself some buffer time. This will cut down the chances of a
last-minute rush, or worse, missing the deadline – and your department's shot at
that funding.
- Those who fail to prepare, should be prepared to fail. Before a grant
application period opens, gather information. Where could your department best
use the money? How has a lack of
funding affected your department's ability to respond, train and operate? What
information and data would make your case stronger? Work on bits and pieces like
this beforehand, and when the application period opens you'll be ready.
- Type your application and narrative in any word processing software, such
as Word, Word Perfect, Notepad, etc. This allows you to draft and revise
many times, and allow others to read and proof-read your application prior to
you submitting it. When you're ready to submit everything, copy and paste it
into your program narratives. Also check the application guidelines to see if
they specify file formats you can use, if you may send via e-mail or if there is
an online submission process.
- Use the Internet to make the application process easier. More and
more grants are using the Internet to make the grant application process easier.
Be sure that you complete and are
satisfied with your grant before you submit it online. Many times, you cannot go
back and change something on your application once it has been submitted.
- Get members of the community to read and comment on your proposal. If
it does not make common sense to them, it won't make common sense to a reviewer.
Write using an 8th-grade level of education as your standard. Keep your language
simple. Leave out jargon or
technical words; the reviewer might not know them.
- Will it meet standards? If the grant guidelines talk about meeting a
standard, then make sure in your narrative that you quote that the equipment,
training, etc., will meet the standard.
- “Should” or “Shall” = “MUST”. Whenever you see the words "should" or
"shall" in a grant
application, interpret that word as being "MUST". For example, if your grant
application states that you “SHOULD” or “SHALL” provide demographic data of your
city that support your problem statement in your narrative, then you “MUST”
provide the demographic data.
- Eligible activities change. Activities that may not have been funded
in previous years may be
allowed this year. Review your past unsuccessful grants to see if those
activities may now be eligible.
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