Grants

When looking for funding to purchase a thermal imager, Bullard encourages departments to take a comprehensive approach and look at all aspects of funding, including grants. Bullard offers support to departments seeking funding for thermal imagers through available grants. This section provides tips for grant writing and available grant opportunities. Learn which grants your department may be eligible for and how you can increase the chances of getting them.

What Grants Are Available?
Need to know which grants support funding for fire service equipment without spending numerous hours searching the web? Bullard has you covered. Find available grant opportunities here.

How to Write a Successful Grant

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.

To read about departments who have been successful in obtaining grant money, click here

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