Question for BC79er

[cellarsaver62]

Does every FEMA grant need a "DUNS number or is that just for the fire prevention grant?

[BC79er_OLDDELETE]

From the looks of it, every entity applying for Federal Assistance is going to need a DUNS #, not just the FireACT Program. HUD, Dept of Interior (Forestry), etc, all will require said number. From a tracking point of view it makes sense. All info can be kept in one database and verified quickly and easily no matter what you're going for. Kinda like the SSN is for people.

[sgvfccaptain]

A question for our 2004 grant

BC79er,

I have a question about our 2004 grant. We are a small company in Virginia running about 150 calls a year. We have received 2 out 3 FEMA grants. Next year the Company would like to apply for a Pumper. We have a 1980 pumper/tanker (1000 gal tank, 1000 gal pump), we also have a 1973 pumper (750 gal tank, 850 pump). We want to get rid of the 1980 pumper/tanker because of a weight issue (52,000 pounds on a single axle). The 1973 pumper is the first engine of the company. My question is are we better applying for a pumper (less than 1000 tank) or a pumper/tanker?

Matt

[BC79er_OLDDELETE]

I'd need more than that to give you a complete breakdown without giving you the equivalent of a coin flip. I'd need all 3 applications from year's past, plus a bunch of other info off of a questionaire I'm throwing together for anyone that wants to hire me as a consultant for 2004. I was told by the FEMA rep I talked to the other week that I'll be the cheapest by far at only $50/hour. Some of these people are charging flat fees in excess of $2000. Some even topped the $10K mark.

Unfortunately, since there are paying customers involved, I can't in good conscience charge them and dole out the same info here for free. Honestly, I'm not doing anything that anyone else couldn't do after spending 1000s of hours of research. My web site is free, and will always remain free to use because everyone else "donated" their narratives to be learned from by others.

Sorry for not answering up front, but I'm trying to be fair to everyone. Email me offline or wander to the web site www.firegraphics.org for info on hiring.

[SWFD94]

hire me as a consultant for 2004

I assume this means you won't offer to review narratives next year now?

[BC79er_OLDDELETE]

Unfortunately no. It takes me about 2 hours to do a good review (which I want to do), and to edge out someone who is hiring me to work on someone asking for free advice prior to the deadline isn't fair. I didn't think when I said I'd review narratives that I'd end up with nearly 300 requests. But I said I'd do it for free then and I wouldn't go back on my word to do it. A lot of narratives I had no recommendations that would have made any difference in scoring in my mind. But to put it simply, my commitment to my word to review all of those applications nearly cost me my job since I spent so many nights with little sleep. I think $50/hour is a mighty good bargain considering I've got easily 1500 hours worth of research to pull analysis from. If all you want is a one or two hour analysis of your application, I'll limit it to that. I'm not here to rip anyone off. I tried to do it on contingency, but since that would amount to fraud, I'm not going to jail for anyone's grant.

Besides, if you wrote a successful one before, I don't see where I really need to review yours anyway. This program was meant for everyone to do it themselves since some grant writers took advantage of the system and charged outrageous fees. It's not hard to figure out. It's a simple program. If you think you have it figured out, you probably do, trust in yourself then have at. If you want a little help, I can do that, or use the web site. If you need a lot of help, I can do that too. I'm not trying to be a jerk about it, but there's a limit to how much help I can hand out for free. I mean I already helped raise close to $2.5 million for departments other than mine. $1.2 of it this year, and I may have very well helped others to the point that we don't get our grant. I think I've given out quite a lot for free. But I turned down OT and some other side jobs to fulfill my word to review all narratives for free. I figure charging a little bit for helping out others for 2004 will do more good than taking the higher paying software jobs that won't do near the good that the grants will. So yes, I would actually be losing money in the long run by being hired by more people to write grants.

[SWFD94]

Simmer down! I was just clarifying my impression of what you said. You are right, being succesfull 2 out of 3 years, I have a handle on what to say and how to put it. Besides, all the information you need to know can easily be found in the Federal Register and by asking questions, including the forums like this.

[BC79er_OLDDELETE]

Can't simmer down. At least I can't simmer down since I'm not simmered up.

Just fully explaining how I came to the decision I came to.

[Flochief]

Hey Brian, another question. Have you heard what the depts. that applied for medical applied for. ie equipment like AEDs Jump Kits, Back boards, or medical training like first responder or EMT etc. I just know there has not been many medical grants awarded yet.
I do appreciate all your help and I have read several of the narratives that were posted on your site.

[BC79er_OLDDELETE]

EMS was limited to basic (i.e. EMT-B) level training and equipment, so most of what I've heard people going for was exactly what you listed. AEDs, BLS Supplies, EMT-B courses & other training supplies, and the occasional ambulance in the vehicle category, but those were tossed from the get go probably. The rules are really stacked against funding ambulances.

Other than that stuff there isn't a whole lot that anyone could go for in the EMS category. It was really a last minute add-on to even include EMS since it is the "FireACT", but those that I've talked to said there was no getting around most fire departments are heavily involved in EMS anyway, and in many areas ambulances have to come from many miles away when the FD is close by.

[cellarsaver62]

Got our Dear John Letter today. Just wanted to thank you for all of your help on this forum. We are starting Next Year Narritive now. Are you for hire and if so How do I get ahold of you?

Again, Thanks for all the answers to our questions.

"Stay Safe"
Jim
Beekmantown Vol. Fire Dept.

[BC79er_OLDDELETE]

Jim, sorry to hear about the letter. I've been expecting one myself figuring that lightening won't strike twice, but it looks like they're going to drag me along since I didn't get one today. Probably show up tomorrow, my AOL account is always off.

Anyway, I've got two avenues for help. The first is free, which is my web site: www.firegraphics.org/grants.htm It's full of narratives for all sorts of projects. Maybe you've been there already, maybe not. If you just want to pick up some narrative tips, head there.

If you want more in depth assistance, there is also a Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) contract that you can download, basically my hiring papers. FEMA's recommendation was an hourly rate since not everyone needs the same amount of help. According to the FEMA rep I talked to my rate of $50/hour is less than 20% of the average they've been seeing. I'm not here to retire off of this, just justify sleepless nights. The assistance I can give is a range: I can do anything from just a narrative review (last year's average was about 2 hours), to a complete analysis of all of your statistics and give you probabilities on the different projects that you have in mind (closer to 15-20 hours depending on projects). It's really up to you how much you want me to be involved. If you already know what you want to apply for, I'm not saying I can get you through computer scoring, but I could probably help figure out what your odds are based on my analysis of who's gotten what before. I will not push you towards one project or another. I'll just present my analysis (if that's what you wanted), and then it's up to y'all to decide what road to go down. The rate is the same no matter what the cost of the project, so there should be no fear of me steering you towards the more expensive one like I heard that some other "professional" grant writers did.

[BB3939]

Bc (or anyone else)
Is there any reliable information on how many additional DJs went out and/or what the total amount of DJs to date.
I assume (and we all know what that can do) all of the latest DJs went out in a wave and are done for a while again....or is that an incorrect assumption?
Just want to do the probability on possibility of getting a grant for those of us wishing and hoping...
Sorry to all who got DJed.

[BC79er_OLDDELETE]

It was probably on the order of 1000 Dear John's.

I think CharlieRFD did a similar breakdown in another thread for a different reason but same basic numbers.

20,000 applications
6,000 no peer review
5,500 awards so far
--------------------
8,500 left in a holding pattern

At the current rate, probably end up close to 10,000 awards, so there's 4,500 awards left. Leaving 4,000 Dear John's waiting to go out before Round 2. They don't send the letters until they have enough people accepting the money to basically rule out the Dear John recipients no matter what else happens. In other words if there's $350 million available, they'll keep adding up the list of remaining people. Say #5501 through #8000 add up to $350 million. Odds are all of those people will accept the money, but figure that half won't take it for some reason or another (like insanity). #8801 through #10000 also add up to $350 million. So at worst case if none of the front runners take the money, then the second batch will get it. So they will send letters to #10001 through #13000 or whatever is left because the odds are pretty decent that they are out of the running. Obviously my numbers are just for sake of argument because they're estimating 10,000 awards, so the correct numbers would be #5500 through #10000 add up to $350 million. And #10001 through #13000 add up to $350 million, so maybe they just sent #13001 through #14000 knowing that the odds are very skinny for those people. And they're trying to notify people ASAP, so Dear John's should be a more frequent occurence as we go on.

[jjccoonn]

I just know there has not been many medical grants awarded yet.

In the last round, Northampton MASS was awarded $267,015. for emergency medical service.


Good Luck