O/T Fire Dept.

Im on the local volunteer Fire Dept. and our trustees dont hardly give us any money to do anything, was wondering if any of you guys on here were on the Fire Dept. or know of any good ways to raise some money for the Dept. we hold a chilli and oyster supper every Feb. but its a town of 400 people and not much of a money maker.
Thanks Poor Farmer

Cans located conveniently at checkout counters, bars, etc with a nice sign to the effect of.
Current funding allows us to respond to 2 fires, 3 auto accidents, yada yada per month. We've reached our limit on fires and can afford one more accident.

[size=24:0c1473880c]DONATIONS ACCEPTED!!![/size:0c1473880c]

Not on VFD, not a memebr of the in crowd. Not a trustee, not a third generation mega farmer. Not that these fellas are bad mind ya, just a close bunch and frown on outsiders. You want a wacky bunch try the skool board. Anyway, The VFD holds a fish fry every Friday night and do pretty good in a town of 500 or so. All funds go to VFD minus cost of food only) All workers/servers volunteer and get to pay for there meal as well. As does any trustee, sherrif or township employee. Kind of the thing one does around here on Friday night. Usally get 100 folks over a three hour period on average paying 7 bucks for all you can eat. However it helps the next closest place to eat out is 15 miles away.

Does your town have some kind of an annual celebration? Like "Prairie Daze" or "Potash Festival and Blessing of the Forklift"? Do a little publicity ahead of time for "Fill the Boot"(about how poor you are), then have firemen (or attractive fire girls, if you have any*) in full fire garb at the main intersection(s) with a boot in hand- approach each car with a smile and ask for donation- most will be shamed into it. Signs as cars approach will help them get their money out to minimize backups.

* A little recruiting before the event can be helpful- I can't overstress the advantage of young firegirls over aged and cranky fireguys)

To me, its a question of figuring out what the needs are. Raising money to raise money is kind of pointless, it will get spent but will it do any good. I was on the VFD for years, we had a fish fry every Friday night and a rook tournament once a month. If kept us going. When we needed a new truck the county matched our money on it. Thats a poor way to fund fire protection. We lobbied and got a local tax levy passed. That let us buy gas and make sure everyone had decent turnout gear.

But, it has evoloved. Tax levy has grown by 500 percent in two decades and the fire district has all almost new class A pumpers, all the latest toys, etc. Its a giant hole of spending, yet they cant keep people. Thats what we lost with all that spending. The community connections.

I guess thats my question. Are you needing to raise money to buy gas for a fire truck and other operating expenses, money for safety equipment, etc. Is it money for capital purchases or other stuff.

(quoted from post at 09:34:01 12/21/09)
* A little recruiting before the event can be helpful- I can't overstress the advantage of young firegirls over aged and cranky fireguys)

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You'd be surprised at the donations a few guys in a tube top, mini skirt and high heels can drum up :roll: Don't even have to shave or wash for the occasion............

Around here it's 2 pancake breakfasts a year.
They start real early, and go til noon pancakes
eggs sausage gravy on biscuits coffee orange
juice bacon and sausage patties. I love that biscuits and gravey They also have a 50/50
raffle at the same time. and all it takes is a
donation no set price Saw one woman pay $20 for
1/2 of what I would eat. I usually pay twice
what I would for half as much at a restaurant.
The FD needs all the help it can get.
Most of the food is donated by local business.

Do alot of looking for grants, FEMA has bought alot of equipment and trucks for alot of departments in the last few years. Also have open houses at your firehall to show the people the equipment you use and what it cost, also if you have some new equipment in mind make sure you justify it to the people and give them a $$$ amount. Its also a good idea after a fund raiser to put up a poster thanking the people and telling them how much was made and how much more $$$ to go for the goal. A lot of people have no idea the $$ it takes to run a department.

We get enough from the county to more or less keep us going here. We have a 45's card game every week that's a steady money generator. We'll do a 'loonie hydrant' or coin card type campaign every other year or so to raise money. Sometimes a supper. Occassional dances through the year and a new years dance every year along with some other small concerts. Our other big fundraiser is two draws on a dozen market lobsters in may and july when they're in season here. That and the card games are our biggest money makers tho. That all just goes for repairs/renovations to the hall and purchasing new equipment.
The community here is probably about the same size as yours. They've always been very good to the fire department here as well.
We're also now considering a new truck in about 5 years time... and ti's looking like that will be the better part of a quarter million of which the county will probably pay 125K... so that still leaves us on the hook for another 125.

Mabey your community needs some awareness about what is involved with maintaining a fire department today too? We spend 10K a year on insurance alone. Another good chunk like that on heat and lights... and another bunch on maintaining trucks and equipment.
A lot of people don't understand that. They also don't understand that if you don't have class A pumpers with proven ability to move water, you then have higher insurance rates in the area as the rate structure changes to basically cover them to 'rite you off'....
The days of running with made up trucks that used to be milk tankers and oil trucks, adding PTO pumps and red lights, no SCBA's, etc are over, dead and gone. What it's been replaced with requires a massive amount of money.... and a lot of BS that goes with it.
That crap is probably one of the biggest reasons why we have a hard time getting and keeping guys. It's gotten to be a second full time job that you don't get paid for...

Rod

Our local VFD sends out a donation card to every address in their district, once a year (November).

If you send $35 donation, they make no charge for a fire call to that address in the following year. It's a money maker. I hear very few complaints, and it is a voluntary donation. I have one tightwad friend who refuses to donate - sez his insurance covers fire calls as mine does also.

I was a member of the VFD until I moved out on the farm, and I have to say that the money has been well spent on equipment and protective gear. I remember when they had one 1953 Chev fire truck - now there must be six or eight trucks of all sizes.

Folks will give a positive response to a fund raiser if they see the money is well managed.

Good luck.

Paul

The Springfield F.D. uses several methods to raise $$$$$$$
1.The town contributes 5000.00.
2.We have fire protection contracts with 4 other towns in about the same amount
3.We have a food shack at the local fair which raises 6 to 7 thousand over labor day.
4. FEMA grants have been good to us.47000.00 for gear in 2004 100,000.00 for new pumper in 2005 and 137,000 for new tanker this year. Clue you need a good grant writer and pay them well.

I would suggest to ditch the chili and oysters and try something a little more appealing.

I should have also mentioned that they have a food stand at the yearly homecoming, and a couple shooting matches each year. Lots of expenses and manpower with the foodstand, and prizes at the matches.

Stamps and postcards are cheap.

Paul

I am a volunteer fireman and EMT with over 40 years of experience in a small rural fire department. I have done fish fry"s, chili suppers and provided funds out of my own pocket for decades to allow me to engage in one of my passions and to make that part of what I give back to my community.

The plain fact is that the MINIMUM costs of operating any kind of fire department today can not be met by traditional local fund raising anymore. I"m talking insurance, fuel, maintainence and providing the minimum required safety equipment for the firefighters. Let alone any hope of banking some money for future equipment purchase or replacement.

Volunteer firefighters provide tax relief to their communities that can be valued in the hundreds of thousands of dollars for paid responders not employed. In addition to that the time for training required today to maintain federal and/or state minimum standards as well as practice and training with your local equipment and other departments is a substantial commitment by your neighbor. This is before they get the chance to get up at 2 AM in January when it is 10 degrees outside to fight a fire, maybe yours.

In the early 1990"s our department decided to go to the mat with our trustee regarding funding. He was resistive almost as a knee jerk reaction since it would require a MODEST increase in taxes. Since he never did the math, we had to educate him to the fact that the money we were asking for amounted to about 5 cents on the tax levy. He already paid himself and his family more than that to administer what was very little money to begin with.

It wound up that we ran our own candidates in both parties on a platform of modest tax increase to directly fund the fire department and won both primaries. A proof of public support for the funding of the VFD in real terms. This is in rural Indiana, a place not known for supporting tax increases.

Today we have a new firehouse, several pieces of new equipment (we had never purchased a new fire truck before)adequate protective gear and we devote our time to training and responding, not fundraising.

The volunteer labor is a precious resource that can not be wasted. You only have so much time to volunteer for what ever you decide to do. (Everyone owes some service to their community, be a firefighter, coach little league, join a service club- nobody should ride for free)

To spend time in fundraising, if you look at how much cash is raised, means most people are working for $2-3 per hour. We didn"t think that made much sense as it ate into the time available for volunteer work.

Besides, the tax base means that everyone will pay their share in some way. In Indiana, the trustee is personally responsible to provide fire protection to the township. In rural areas, this usually means that he contracts with a volunteer department. We simply refused to contract with him for the amount he offered. He countered with trying to form his own department. It did not work and he spent more money than we were asking for to try and do it.

We took it to the people and prevailed through the democratic process.

We also learned a lot of things, like most homeowners insurance policies will pay a VFD for a response. Do you bill for service? We don"t hound people who have no insurance but if you don"t bill them the claim will never be filed.

There is also a lot of post 9/11 federal money around. You have to NIMS certified as a department but that is not hard to do. There is also state money around if you look for it. Especially in rural areas there is often DNR money for wild land fire fighting.

Volunteer firefighters are a noble tradition that goes back to revolutionary times. Another contribution of Ben Franklin to our nation. Even today, we protect 85% of all the property in America savings billions of dollars in public expense. It has simply gotten to the point where the minimum operating expenses of a VFD must be met from public funding. If volunteers continue to be required to do this, the volunteers will find other things to do.

Sorry for the long rant, this is a subject that I have spent most of my life involved with, but as I get older, I want to know that someone will answer the call if I find I need assistance.

Deep fried Halibut with chips and beer would work for me.

We have a hamburger feed on Sept 11th. How could anyone no give on that day. We also host pancake feeds, dances, & wild game feeds as previously suggested by others but we find that if you charge Lets Say $7.00 per person to get into a dance that is all a person gives is $7.00 BUT if you just have a coffee can at the front door with a sign FREE WILL DONATION you will recieve WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY more that the $7.00 per person. Try it !!!!!!! It works well for us. Gerald

Thanks for all the ideas, and to answer some of your questions our town is a divided little town hardly anybody gets along, we dont have any type of celebrations, our trustees are all farmers which is not a problem but anything that has to do with raising taxes they go crazy, we are wanting to raise money for some of the basics like maintinance maybe a new building ours is about shot had a huge fire right next to it a few years ago and trustees did bare minimum to fix it,
but thanks again for all the ideas, hope all of you have a safe and merry christmas and a happy new year and god bless

You did not say haw you were funded or where you are. Are you taxed based, subscription, or donations ONLY? Here in MISSOURI, there are set STATE LAWS on what a Volunteer Fire Department can charge to none dues paying member. If this is how you are funded, DUES, and you have many in the community NOT paying due, YOUR board need to start charging. Many boards do not want to do this because it will make people anger BUT does the community want fire protection or not. About a year ago the department I respond with got a tax levy passed and became a tax based district. The vote for and against was the same ratio as what we had dues paying people in the community. We were just got out new ISO ratings. It is 5 here in the city of Pleasant Hope and 8B outside of the city. The "B" means NO HYDRANTS. You need support from your trustees. I feel our board is doing a good job. If I did not I would NOT have left home at about 2100 17 Dec. 2009 and got home at 0300 18 Dec. 2009 hauling water to a neighboring Departments fires for Mutual Ad. Before we became taxed based many of the voter for the board members around here were responders. If this is your case, you need to vote new one in. If it is a county wide vote sometime the only way you can change things is vote with your feet. If the board will not support the responder, you do not need the frustration. Pack-up and leave. They might get the point when they look around and there in no one there.

Kent AKA 279

Poor, the suggestion about grants is probably your best bet for serious money. You will need to have all your stats, numbers of runs and types of calls, etc.. Also, do you have any Interstates or State highways or railroads in your district? That may be a factor. And don't forget mutual aid calls to neighboring fire districts.
You may also want to try to contact some of the closest "Big City" fire departments. They may have some perfectly good used equipment they can give you, or sell you for a token fee.
As for fundraisers, We've found the Pancake Breakfast is the biggest profit margin event. Not necessarily the most money from a single event, but costs less than our fish fry and takes less people to run. We have ours the morning of the community yard sale. That gets people into town, once they're there, you got 'em. See if the town would be willing to promote the community yard sale, and then tie in the breakfast. Hope this helps.

There has to be county,state and Federal grants and funds to apply for.
Rounding up the stats and making the local tight-wads personally accountable in court. Should you or the public suffer harm,extra injury or lack of aid for sub-standard emergency service works.

There is one thing that might be brought up and I don't know about your state but property owners insurance rates are governed by fire department response ratings and I'm sure if people knew that if you fold or can't maintain you're rating they pay more because on your property insurance form the fire district carries a lot of weight.
Most of all I would like to say the VFDs have the utmost respect from me and my son has been a volunteer for sometime and I'm not sure I could have done that because your sleep gets interrupted and yet you're still expected to perform your regular job. Hats off to you folks!

You would be lucky to cover the cost of the tin can in Livingston county, Michigan.

It took a while here but the town gives a sum of money every year to the dept.

Do you have any other groups in the area you can "team up" with? Lions Club, Kiwanis, Moose Lodge, etc?

Sometimes they have better established fundraisers going, and will promote your Fire Dept needs to bring in more people. You will need to help with it (obviously).

Our Lions club here also works closely with the Kiwanis club sharing equipment. Pancake feed is always a big money maker that is also in conjunction with a fly in at our local airport. Pilots flying in eat free, people just love to see the planes. Takes both clubs to make it work. DOUG

We have a bigger tax base but have had pretty good luck with raffles - ATVs, riding lawnmowers, guns and cash. Members can sell tickets whenever and wherever they like (work, home, family events, etc.) and start selling months before the drawing. It helps to have donors for the raffle items. One gun raffle we ran had 4 guns in it, one of which was donated. Like others said do a bulk mailing of raffle tickets to ALL homes in the territory with the option to buy the tickets and mail back the stubs for a chance to win and help purchase rescue equipment for the department at the same time.

Good fundraising,
Bill

Here the township runs the VFD, and they are tax supported - by a millage (propery tax.) If necessary to buy equipment, etc. a vote is required to raise the millage. Our TWP also provides coverage to adjoining TWP with no dept of their own. They were considering setting up their own, our chief told them they needed a million dollars to get started. Equipment, training ain"t cheap. Insurance company pretty well tells us what vintage equipment we have to run.... Have seen perfectly good equipment that was "too old" sent down river. Training is required and expensive. Not just watering the fire, but safety, medical, etc. A VFD is an expensive item to run and maintain. I cannot imagine supporting one with fish and pancakes.

Biggest selling point for a good FD is that your homeowners/farm insurance rate is partially the quality of your FD.

Brunswick Stew is the only way to go!

Naw to much start-up cost.

Seriously the guys that suggest grant funding are right on the mark.
Todays cost totally exceed the amount the small people base can put out. Don't make no difference if its taxes or Brunswick stews the same people only have so much to give.

I remember buying my first turnouts from Slagle Fire Equipment out of my back pocket so I didn't have to wear that rubber coat anymore. 1973 right out of high school. Even back then we got grants for air packs and even one from the Va. Forestry Dept for a portable pump for a brush truck.

I think they even have courses in college for the grant writers. Might check with local community college for a reference.

(reply to post at 16:40:24 12/21/09)

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am a 33 year active member of our VFD. I know how hard it is to raise money. We are saving for a new Class A apparatus.

We currently have a private company doing our annual fund drive mailings and have had very good results.

We also work hard at grants. State, Federal and major corporations.
If you have a member or someone in your service area that works for a major manufactur, ask them to see if grants are available from the company.

Sometimes you can find someone who needs a tax write off and will donate above and beyond the normal.

In 2005 we were able to purchase a new tanker with a federal grant.
$247,000.00

Good Luck,
Rollie, Asst Chief and Trustee
www.jacksonfire.com

I work a bit in the fire investigation side, is your insurance for workers comp type coverage for accidents? I've been in a number of cases where the FD mistakes cost people a lot of money but in practice nobody will pull them in on a claim. I suppose its a gentlemans agreement?

Lots of people left the local VFD as some of the boys running it are only interested in buying equipment instead of training. Shiny truck is nice but the days of hosing down basements is over. VFD's are working fires that would have only been seen in cities before.

No... that insurance is simply the liability on the 'department', trucks and people, directors liability along with fire/loss on the station/hall. You remember it?
Our comp would be over and above that.
I think the municipality has something like a dozen lawsuits on the go here right now in various stages of bickering with various insurance companies. This is to do with various vol. and paid departments within the municipality....
The insurance companies are coming after volunteer departments and the county over losses on certain structures if they think they can screw something loose...
IIRC, the county seems to have a desire to settle some of these things out of court. Personally I think they ought to tell the insurace companies to go pound sand and fight them right to the jury box....

Rod

I agree with DaveK(In) there has to be some sort of levied local funding. My department in Baldwin County Al did with little to nothing until a county property tax was levied in 1990-91. I joined in 1992. We still do some fund raising for items that tax money cannot be spent on, but without that tax funding out department would have vanished. Any community cannot raise the money needed through charity. Make sure your organization is registered with the IRS-you have a taxpayer Id#, and you go ahead and get 501C3 recognized. The recognition gives you assurance donations will be recognized by the IRS. At somewhere around 20,000 dollars a year in income you will have to file a 990 report within a certain time period from the end of your fiscal year. If you get a fire act grant, your organization will have to file run reports monthly I believe to the US Fire Administration-thats why I would rather use only local funding. However, contact the local office for the U.S. Department of Agriculture they have rural community loans, and grants available for fire departments. They are good to work with. My department has a loan through them for 4 trucks. Sorry this ran long.

Hey Spook,Wheree you at in Livingston county? My middle son lives northeast of Brighton.
Paul

Poor
I am also a member of two small Vollunteer
Fire dept's in Indiana. And We did without for a long
time. A post by Dave K has a lot of good points.
One of the more successful fund raisers we do
is a "Direct Mail" fund raiser,
Get a Mailing list of all property owners in
your Township and send them a letter asking
for donations. Explain to them the cost involved
in running a vollunteer fire dept, The amount of Manditory training, and give them an idea what
a 1st class engine costs.
You'll be surprised how many will donate. Most
people don't know whats involved.
And if push come's to shove, The Trustee candidate backed by the Fire Dept. usually wins.
Steve A W
28 Years in fire service.

After reading this post I talked to my son about their fundraiser and they do a restored tractor raffle and a few of the members including the chief are collectors they aren"t big ones but things like MH Pony"s AC Bs Unstyled JD Bs IH BNs etc. 5 bucks for 5 tickets. They hold their drawing during the communities Labor Day Festival. Hey it"s a tax write off for the donor and even I buy a handfull of tickets and everyone knows I"m a big tightwad! Just a thought guys and this is a tractor site!