AFG applications are highly competitive – Success starts by picking the right project

 

In any given week, multiple fire departments inevitably contact us about preparing an AFG application for a new apparatus. As firefighters, we totally get it: your truck is 20-something years old, the pump leaks like a sieve, the door latch is broken, the body is rusting out, and it all just doesn’t make sense to continue repairing. However, the unfortunate reality is that only a handful of vehicle applications are awarded by AFG every year. In fact, there were only 128 vehicles awarded last year through AFG – across the entire country – which shows how incredibly competitive the vehicle activity is.

 

Be skeptical of grant writers who are quick to sell without assessing your chance of success

 

While we would love to help every department that has a need, we sometimes have to discourage departments from pursuing select projects. Don’t worry, it’s not because we don’t like you or that we’re not fans of your truck’s color scheme! The real reason is that we don’t want to see you waste your time, your effort, or your department’s hard-earned money on a grant application with a low chance of success. Chances are that your vehicle application will never make it past the computer round of scoring if your truck isn’t 30+ years old, your department doesn’t run a reasonable number of calls, or if you serve a very small community. The same goes for PPE or SCBA that’s just at or hasn’t quite reached the 10 year mark. Similarly, your rescue tools might be old enough, but your MVA and extrication call volume is too low.

 

Increase your grant funding success with high-priority projects

 

Since we’ve been preparing emergency services grants for some time now, we have lots of experience figuring out which projects have the best chance of success. Of course, anybody can look in the program guidance to see a project’s priority level, but the actual scoring is often based on a combination of factors including project priority, call volume, population served, and more.

 

When you win, we win

 

Sure, we could try to sell grant preparation services for lots of low-priority projects just to make a buck, but we’re firefighters too, and we have far too much integrity to waste your time and money. We want to work with you to find a project that is a high priority for your department AND a high priority for the grant program. When we can come together to identify that opportunity, your chance of success and our ability to deliver a positive grant outcome increases substantially. Ultimately, you benefit from a sizeable grant award while we notch a win for another happy client.

 

Developing a strategy for success with grants is just as important, if not more important than the actual application, so don’t risk your chance of getting funded to any grant writer who won’t take the time to evaluate the entirety of your project, call volume, population served, financial need, and other critical factors.

 

If you’d like a grant funding assessment, head over to our website and fill out our free assessment form.