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Part 2 of 2: Patience, Perseverance & Planning: How a Department Overcame Severe Financial Hardship in Less Than Three YearsThe Fund Finder News
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Their CHIEF Grants Seminar training taught SARS to turn cash donations into equipment donations. When one organization offered a $2,000 check, SARS worked with them to turn it into an equipment donation of EMS bicycles, valued at over $4,000. |
In Part 1, we told you how the Pennsylvania's Second Alarmers Rescue Squad (SARS) had lost a $2 million building fund, due to embezzlement from one of their own. Efforts to bounce back failed, and for years SARS barely stayed operational. Jamie Haddon, a third-generation fire fighter with a B.A. in Business Administration and over 1,000 logged hours of external fire and EMS training, took on the task of bringing SARS back from the ashes. While his initial efforts failed, he persevered, came up with new ideas, and used some CHIEF Grants seminar training to bring SARS back better than ever before.
In this second installment, Jamie will tell you in his own words how he and his agency worked together to connect with their community and put CHIEF Grants training into action to get the funding they needed.
One of the very first things emphasized in the CHIEF Grants Seminar was that grant writing is not extremely complicated, it just appears that way. I previously had experience in grant writing for private foundation money but, I was getting turned down all the time for the DHS money. Most of the time I could put a grant together in a relatively short time, turn it in and I got what I was asking for.
Kurt explained that applying for the federal funding streams was an entirely different animal. The biggest reason for this is that we are, for the most part, very unorganized in how we approach the grant writing process. That's understandable, since we are busy with the day-to-day tasks of running an EMS service.
Approximately 75% of the actual work involved, in developing a successful grant application, lies with knowing your organization and community and conducting the research to gather that data. Grants get funded based upon need, and need is justified almost entirely by statistical and demographic data.
The main problem I was experiencing was that my agency and I were disorganized. As I would find out about a grant opportunity, it would take me days to properly research the statistics or locate data that were germane to proving my point. Kurt stressed to us the importance of becoming more organized.
About This StoryThis special edition of the Fund Finder is in two parts:
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I learned that almost without exception, every grant program or funding opportunity is going to ask for certain data every time. Things like...
Gathering and compiling this information once, and then keeping it readily accessible, reduced the time that I had to spend trying to gather all of this together when I was facing a two-week deadline looming on the horizon. It takes time to get some of this information compiled from other sources, but you can't rush those that have to gather this information for you, just because you have a deadline.
The seminar prepared me in organizational skills. Grant writing is 1% of what I have to do as the executive director of SARS. Being organized, both in my computer and hard copy files, was invaluable in saving me time so that I could actually focus on the grant narratives, instead of the minutiae that is required in these applications.
Nowadays all I have to do is look to these files. Other than updating a few figures from year to year, I have this information accessible at my fingertips at all times.
I also discovered that I had to educate my leadership staff on budget processes and how they relate to grant strategy. Knowing what the grants will or will not fund is critical to the budgetary planning process. We were wasting money in our budget by purchasing items that the grants would fund... and then asking for items in the grants that were not high priority areas for the funding sources.
Prioritizing our needs through a proper needs assessment and educating my staff properly allowed us to start capital improvement funds and maximize the use of the budget dollars we had. This freed up funds for our building project, for which there was very little grant funding available.
This prioritization led to literally re-evaluating our entire level of service to our community, which was often being overlooked by local organizations. This enabled us to go out and seek money from additional community resources and foundations whose previous funding priorities had not considered funding fire/EMS projects.
We established a "wish list" from our members' input for items that we had need for but for which there was no budget designated. This "wish list" allowed us to quickly suggest items or projects to individual donors or companies wishing to make a spontaneous donation to us.
Kurt also taught us not to be so quick to simply accept a check from a donor. Oftentimes asking them to actually donate a specific item, or merchandise that could be raffled away, increased the actual dollar value of the donation to us.As an example; one local charitable organization wanted to just give us a check for $2000. I insisted on meeting with them to come up with a specific project that they could underwrite so they could get those "warm and fuzzy feelings" associated with helping to obtain a tangible item.
Check presentations are good, but they don't make for very good photo ops for the local press. Media exposure and public relations are something that Kurt had told us really mattered to foundations and charitable giving organizations.
That $2,000 donation suddenly jumped up to them donating $4,000, when they saw that they could help us buy EMS bicycles.
Kurt had emphasized follow-up with a donor. When you identify and publicize the need, people will rise to the occasion - but never forget to give them that recognition. People and companies like to get recognition, just as we do. Unfortunately, good deeds often times go unrecognized, but it is that "60 seconds in the spotlight" that let's them know that what they are doing matters and is appreciated.
The positive public relations they, and we, received from the EMS bicycles donation has moved them to promise us a donation for another project next year. I will have a $5,000 project to present to them because we took the extra effort to make sure they felt appreciated.
Kurt said a good grant writer typically gets awarded 33% of the grants they ask for. Getting funded from a private or corporate source sometimes does not happen overnight. Sometimes you are placed on their list and you just need to be persistent and keep asking.
Many times, private donors or corporate donors simply run out of money or other more needy projects take priority. But, if they see the same need being presented over and over again each year, sometimes you will rise to the top of the A-list.
We send out our applications to Kurt and other contacts to review and give suggestions on improvements. We aren't perfect, and all help is welcome. It's about filling the need, not inflating the ego. Believe me; it is much easier to accept rejection and failure when you can spread it out amongst many, instead of having to take the "Dear John letter" as a single individual.
The importance of properly networking with others, to let them know what you truly do accomplish, was also pointed out to us. We introduced ourselves to our political leaders at all levels - local, state and national. They didn't really know us, except when someone wanted to complain that our ambulance took all of 5 minutes to respond to their call for service.
We helped to hold legislative breakfasts and did one-on-one tours with them. This oriented them to the good things we've done in the past and what we wanted to do in the future.
One legislator is now good for a $5,000 grant to us every 90 days. That's over $50,000 in the last three years! We have upgraded all of our 14+ year old litters and stair chairs to Stryker top-of-the-line products. We keep the legislator advised with follow-ups on the decrease in back-related injuries to our members.
SARS was even highlighted in an hour-long video made by one of the legislators on "Hometown USA" (check out our website www.sars.org to see it).
We started networking with the top people in politics and business for our area, and they started to connect us to their peers. Without these connections, we may have never been able to meet them. Kurt's lesson on networking and getting your number put on their "speed-dial" list was pivotal in gaining us exposure to additional possible funding sources.
We also discovered that we were our own worst enemy. We lived in our own "First Responder" world and assumed everyone knew how great we were. Unfortunately, this also created the perception that we were without need, when in fact we were struggling financially. Kurt said to "get the message out". We were doing great things, but we were not letting people know.
The public needs to see your whole organization for what it is and they need to see it frequently. That way when a need happens, they already know we are running a great service and we must really need the help.
To accomplish this we started the "SARS NEWS" newsletter. It now goes out every two weeks, to nearly 1,000 people in the community. The newsletters increased our staff morale by including and keeping them in the know; it's hard to keep over 200 people on the same page all the time. We include "attaboys" on staff with their photographs. We include summaries of every thank-you note we receive and use this document as a selling tool to donors.
As you know, Public Safety is often a thankless job, and pats on the back are sometimes few and far between. Giving ALL our members, career and volunteer, a little "recognition", not just in-house but to the entire community, instilled pride and a sense of belonging to them, boosting their morale.
The best part of this project was the idea of sending it out to our residents. We send out a donation mailing to all 42,000 households we serve each year, and we added a line where residents could get safety tips and the SARS NEWS via email. As a result, a huge amount of people have signed up for the bi-weekly email. We also put a lot of effort into keeping our website very current and professional-looking at all times.
You too can receive the SARS NEWS for ideas. Subscribe on our website, www.sars.org, by clicking on the "news" button and looking for the link to subscribe.
Some of the additional networking we have done included hosting a CHIEF Grants Seminar locally in 2005. We had over 60 attendees from 8 different states. It grew so big, that two other departments had to co-sponsor with us. We are all best friends now, where previously we didn't even look at each other, yet we were neighbors.
We learned, and now preach, that there should be nothing secretive here. Even though grants are competitive, it should not be competitive from department to department, but competitive strictly by need. We have established a phone and email network of over 60 people in Fire/EMS that are in the same boat as we are. Through this network we share ideas (hence promoting successes in the SARS NEWS). This has increased our brotherhood and working relationships with our departments adjacent to us. This has the additional benefit of increasing our interagency interoperability, which also helps when satisfying NIMS requirements. SARS even had me personally help two neighboring squads write their grants - one amounted to $5,000 for portable radios from the state, and the other for over $36,000 in gear from the AFGP.
Forming a grants team to share the workload and responsibility was another great idea I picked up from the CHIEF Grants Seminar.
Our wish list now has over 24 items on it, ranging from $2,500 to $57,000 requests. All members are encouraged to add projects to this list, which is kept on a white board in my office. We then know whose idea it was and empower them to do the research regarding it, so my job as a grant writer is made easier.
No ideas are too small or insignificant. It is the "out of the box" thinking Kurt told us that is so critical to a successful grants team. All ideas are shared with members, so that they can keep their eyes and ears open for funding sources in the community, at their work or when they are around other departments.
SARS members identified a water rescue team as top-priority in their flood-prone community, and together the squad achieved the $25,000 funding they needed for equipment and training. |
Due too our wish list and prioritization, we made a water rescue team a top priority.
Our community floods badly. In fact, we had a flood during a hurricane in 2003. The waters took the first floor of an apartment building and caused a fire in the electrical room. The apartment building was a loss, and multiple residents were entrapped and perished due to it.
Because we had a wish list, we were prepared on selling this top priority to a donor. As a result, we received over $25,000 from a single person to buy a boat and equipment, and to train the team of 22 persons to the highest technician levels.
The boat was most recently deployed last month in Upper Makefield Township, in neighboring Bucks County, to assist with rescues along the Delaware River.
All of a sudden "me", as a single grant writer, just became 200 strong. This empowerment made it easy to quiet the "pot stirrers" when they didn't follow through on their research and their project got held up by them not following through. Success also made us know that the member who wanted the project funding would actively participate in implementing the project to its full capacity, because they were stakeholders in it. That means more time for other leaders and I to work on other funding or building projects.
So what did all this knowledge and new empowerment mean to SARS, since attending the CHIEF Grants Seminar and implementing the learned strategies? Take a look:
Undoubtedly, the assistance, training and continuing support we receive from CHIEF Grants has been in part responsible for turning this agency around 180 degrees, in less than 3 years. Was it all worth it? You be the judge!
As can be seen by the success story above, grant writers who are willing to adopt the attributes of Patience, Perseverance and Planning can reap significant financial benefit to their departments and agencies. Jamie Haddon and SARS learned some very valuable lessons in struggling to turn around a financially distressed agency. Unfortunately, some of those lessons came directly from the "school of hard knocks", a method most of us would prefer to avoid.
Even though as Executive Director Jamie had responsibility for deciding where his organization's limited budget money should be spent, he decided that attending our training seminar was a calculated risk. I can still recall seeing that "you're going to have to prove it" skeptical look on his face during the first day of the class, wondering if he had made a mistake in spending the department's small training money budget to attend.
At the close of the seminar, Jamie approached me and stated that he was putting me on his speed-dial list, and that he hoped I could keep up with his barrage of forthcoming questions and requests for assistance.
At last count, Jamie has brought in close to $180,862 to his agency since attending. That is a 402% return on the $450 original cost of attending the seminar. A little education can go a long way in increasing your ability to insure the financial health or your department.
The next CHIEF Grants training seminar is in Seattle, WA on August 29-30th. If you would like more information on our training seminars and where to attend one or, if you would like to see about hosting a grant writing training seminar, please check out our Seminars.
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