Upcoming Events

Quicklinks/Hot Topics

EMS Resources

OVFA Grant Program

Oregon Volunteer Firefighters Association
Grant Program

Each year, OVFA will offer grant funds in the amount of $6,000 to support member emergency service organizations as they strive to meet the demands of providing quality public service. These grants will be divided into three grant opportunities of $2,000 each. The grants will be awarded in January, April and September.

Priority will be given to programs that were designed to provide maximum cost to benefit relationships. For example, programs that involve neighboring fire department staff in training opportunities will be given precedence programs that impact very few responders.

Financial need will also be a deciding factor in the selection of a winning application. A worthy program from a fire agency with verifiable financial need will be given consideration even in the absence of matching funds.

The committee may, in special circumstances or in response to a particularly worthy application, chose to exceed the $2,000 of the grant period in order to fund a well conceived and directed program.

Each application will consist of the answers to general questions and a program narrative.

OVFA will rank all eligible applications based on the answers to the category specific questions. The selection committee will then review these answers in combination with the project narratives to ascertain the financial need of the applicant and the benefits to be gained from the programs implementation and completion. The narratives will serve to verify the answers to category specific questions. Discrepancies found between the two components of the application will result in a reduction of the final score.

Rating criteria and priorities for each of the grant categories are provided in the narrative outline section. Below are descriptions of the type of items awarded in each category. These are just examples and the exact items you apply for are based on your agencies needs.

Training:
This category is intended to help offer training programs that otherwise are unavailable to an agency. Some examples of course topics may include ICS, Officer Development, Incident Safety Officer or EMS training. These funds may be used to cover out of area instructor cost, training materials or other related equipment. It is not intended to cover the cost of food service, student travel, or other items of that nature.

Equipment:
This category is targeted towards smaller equipment items. Examples maybe exhaust fans, nozzles, adapters, boots, gloves, helmits, hand tools and appliances. Small quantities of wildland gear or spare SCBA masks and some EMS equipment would also be included in this category. Training equipment may also fall in this category such as projectors, laptops or manikins.

Injury / Fire Prevention:
This category is intended to reduce the loss of life or injury targeted at the younger and older members of your jurisdiction. The purchasing of training materials, videos, and books are all eligible. Sending someone to a Train-the-Trainer program may also be considered with the understanding that whoever attends such training will come back and teach others the skills they have learned.

These funds can also be used to off set the publishing and mailing of a prevention newsletter in your jurisdiction.

• Preferred training materials are the NFPA Fire Prevention Curriculum.
• Part of the original guidelines in OVFA acquiring these funds required us to gather any statistics we could based on the used of this grant money. Therefore, agencies that apply for these funds are requested to submit any data documenting injuries before and six (6) months following the implementation of this program.
• Rosters for programs that are the result of a Train-the-Trainer class are requested to be forwarded onto the OVFA office

Matching Funds:
This category is intended to be utilized to allow a agency to use up to $1000.00 for in-kind matching in applying for a larger grant.

An example would be your agency applies for a $10,000.00 grant that requires a 10% match. You would apply to OVFA stating the timeline for the larger grant. If you were successfully in receiving the OVFA grant, you would note on your application that you have that amount to match with. When you have been notified that you received your $10,000.00 grant, OVFA administrative office will contact the appropriate agency to transfer the funds directly to them.