Self Written or did you Pay a Grant Writer

[Archer131]

My questions are these?

Last years FIRE ACT grant did you complete the application, and write a proposal yourself or did you pay someone to write it for you(i.e. professional grant writer)???:confused:

[dvutah]

I wrote our own grant proposal and was awarded a grant for new turnouts and SCBA.

I took the time to contact FEMA and got an idea on what they were looking for and wrote my grant towards that way.

Most of my successful grants have been from using that approach.

[900Chief]

WE wrote our own grant and got $42,388 for ppe.I feel like you just need to show them you have a real need.

[dragonfyre]

I wrote our own and got $33,800 for new Hurst tools and a set of air bags.

I did however go to a seminar from one of the "professional" grant writers, Rodney Slaughter, and it helped a lot. It was worth the money and time spent.

[bjlffire]

I wrote 2 last year for our department, 1 for a new truck, we need and did not get.
The other was for PPE again we needed and recvd 31,xxx. to purchase new turnouts and SCBA's.


I am writing aain this year, again for a truck. The one we had (1958 GMC) blew the engine last year and could not be repaired with the state the pump was in. thi was the only truck we had. We have been depending on auto aid from the rural department since then.

[firefitr4fun]

We hired a pro grant writer, not saying that it is better, but we got $92.000 for ppe on last years grant. Our rural dept hired the same writer for this year we will see if they have the same results.:)

[rob734]

For those that did....where did u go to find professional grant writers and were they knowledgeable in the fire service??

[dcheverton]

My company provides public agencies/districts with (among other services) grantwriting and grantsmanship consulting. As a pro bono service, we maintain a listserve that delivers information on current federal, state, and private funding opportunities to your e-mail address every business day. Interested individuals can subscribe at our website: www.frommgroup.com. www.frommgroup.com

[hotgyrl]

I wrote the narratives for last year's grant and this year's. The chief and I attended two workshops on the grant writing process and got tons of information. One thing that stood out in my mind as we sat there listening was spoken from one of the narrative panelists. He said it was obvious which were written by professional grant writers as the language in it proved they had no clue what they were really talking about. He stressed that it was not necessary to hire someone to write the grant for you as long as you followed the guidelines, looked into exactly what they are awarding high value to and write to that. You have to prove a major degree of need and show that you have little to no outside funding available to help you out. After attending the workshops and writing this year's narrative, I feel very confident in our proposal.

[Engine683]

I wrote our narrative and sent it to our county's Council of Government, which among other things does a lot of grant work. They made some very good suggestions, which I incorporated, then submitted it. So if we get the grant, it's all because of me. If we don't, it's the Council of Governments fault ;-) Can't loose! But seriously, I'll bet there's a lot of help out there for us if we know where to look for it. Good luck!

[N2DFire]

I did everything but the narritave.

One of the Administrative folks from the local private college contacted us to see if we needed any help with our grant(from the folks on staff wjo write all their grant applications). After a little Q&A session with the grant writer, he ripped off a surperb 4 page narritave in less than a day.

So I'm not sure how to answer the poll because we (I) didn't write it, but we didn't pay anyone either.

It's just like Engine683 said - good help is out there - you just have to know where to look (and I'll know better next time ;) )

[firemandougie]

Our "County" Department had a full time professional write our grant. Haven't heard back yet.