Fundraising for your Fire Department

Need some tips for raising money for a Thermal Imager? 

This is the site for you!

All over Ontario, Fire Departments seek to purchase Thermal Imagers. The benefits of this technology are becoming widely known among firefighters and the general public as the stories of lifesaving incidents and significant property damage prevention hit the headlines. 
Class “A” Fire and Rescue is now working with Fire Departments throughout Ontario to support their Thermal Imager fundraising efforts.   The means by which departments raise funds range from pancake breakfast, raffles and bake sales.
Whether your department has a well-defined plan or is just beginning to construct plans for fundraising, I hope this information is useful.

Fundamental # 1 Building a team. Several key elements are needed to raising money for Thermal Imagers.  An excellent plan, a focused team and a highly effective kickoff program. Building a Team:  Don’t attempt to do everything yourself.  Different people have different talents and you’ll need a lot to them to cover your bases.  Send an email to everyone in your fire department. A Chairperson should co-ordinate the team but make sure you consider other tasks as well. Media Relations Public speaking Event Planning Promotions Fund management. Everyone has different skills, and you should match who you got, to what you need... Look to the outside of your fire Department to find people who have the skills and want to help and utilize those.  Set up a meeting to come up with goals. Don’t sell yourself short once your get started.  You can do this! If you are still short handed, look outside your Fire Department Volunteers can be team members also.  Build a team, and assign responsibilities to team members.  Use the individual skills and talents of team members to plan and carry out your campaign.

Fundamental #2: Plan your campaign There are a number of actions you’ll need to take as you plan your campaign.  Major decisions should be made at the first team meeting. All members should receive initial assignments before they leave.  This is when  to schedule dates and times for regular weekly or bi-weekly meetings. Keep the schedule simple for members and everyone involved.  Use meetings to review progress  and to make plans for upcoming events and activities. At this time a goal should be set.  And stick to it! What do you need to purchase!  Why do you need it! When fundraising, this question will be asked a lot. Don’t lock yourselves into one source of funding.  Do a letter campaign soliciting money from area businesses. How about your insurance company?  You will be surprised where money will come from.  People like to give back to their community.

Fundamental 3#: Conduct an Effective Demonstration If you are trying to raise money for a Thermal Imager, realize that the average person has no idea of what it is like to fight a structure fire.  They envision firefighters running into a structure, seeing lots of fire and encountering minimal smoke, as portrayed in the movies.  An important part of your campaign is to educate the public on the realities of firefighting.  Your campaign kickoff demonstration must enable community leaders, media members and potential donors to see for themselves how thermal imagers can positively impact the important work your fire fighters perform. When you do the kickoff demo, have the media talk with the VIP’S you have invited and ask them what they think of the technology.  That way people hear about thermal imaging from a community leader who’s outside the fire department. Local VIP’S might include, City Council Members, local service club members and business owners.

Involve the Local Media at Every Step Regardless of how you have decided to raise funs to buy equipment for your Fire Department, attempt to gain publicity for the fundraiser and the organizations involved.  Strong involvement from the media can make an enormous difference in the success of your campaign. Ask your local newspaper about FREE Public Service spots for Community Events. Educate the public about what you’re going to do.  They’ll be more likely to support you.  When the fund raiser is finished invite the media to cover the delivery of the equipment so people know it has been purchased. A few critical, but simple points will need to be made with each of your potential funding sources.

A few critical, but simple points will need to be made with each of your potential funding sources. 

What is Thermal Imaging?

Thermal imagers are devices that use infrared sensing technology to show firefighters a “thermal picture” or “heat picture” of the scene.  With this technology, they can see through smoke to identify victims, pinpoint fires and see structural dangers before they put firefighters at risk.
A technical explanation: all objects have a certain temperature and emit waves of thermal energy called infrared radiation.  The hotter an object, the more energy waves are emitted.  A thermal imaging device translates these energy waves into a viewable image to display a black and white “picture” of a scene.  On the screen of a thermal imager, hottest objects show as white, coolest objects show as black, and features of other objects show as varying shades of grey.

How do firefighters use Thermal Imaging?
1: Saving civilian and firefighters lives
2: Preserving property by quickly pinpointing fire sources
3: Detecting structural dangers to help firefighters stay safe on the job.

Proof that Thermal Imaging Works
A nationwide study of the effectiveness of thermal imager carried out in 60 test burn around the country proves:

Without a thermal imager:
1: 60% of the time, firefighters were unable to locate the victim
2: 30% of the time, firefighters couldn’t find their way out of the burning house before running out of air.

With a thermal Imager:
1: 99% of the time, firefighters’ were able to locate the victim
2: 100% of the time, firefighters fund their way out of the burning house.
The time required to complete a search dropped by 75% with a thermal imager.

In another nationwide study fire depts. found that a victim search without a thermal imager took eight minutes, 38 seconds.  With a thermal imager the same victim search took three minutes, 30 seconds. Use of the thermal imager resulted in an increase of nearly 60 percent in search efficiency.

If you are interested in doing a fund raiser for a Thermal Imager, please contact cheryl@classafire.com. She will assist you with the following resources:

Fundraising for the Fire Department:  This is a 22 minute video which illustrates the four basic fundraising fundaments.  You can learn from the experiences of several fire departments that have conducted successful fund raising campaigns.

Fundraising Brochure: This piece is designed to be distributed to potential donors.  It includes a brief explanation of thermal imaging, along with stores about low thermal imagers haves assisted firefighters in saving civilian lives, protecting property and staying safe on the job.

Priorities Video: An eight minute fundraising video which illustrates the three major benefits of thermal imaging. Helping campaign leaders convey they importance of thermal imaging to potential donors.  It is ideal for using a city council meetings civic club meeting, and other public events.

Media material: To help in your effort to work effectively with the media during your fundraising campaign. We can offer sample press releases and a sample invitation to a kickoff demonstration.

Direct Mail support: we offer customizable letters to potential donors, a one sheet document that provides a visual explanation of the major applications of thermal imaging.

Online resources:

www.thermalimager.com

PowerPoint presentation: this customizable PowerPoint presentation demonstrates how thermal imagers work and makes a compelling argument for why the technology is so important to Fire Departments.Photo Gallery: Find thermal imaging action photos. These visuals can help you put together customized materials to support your fundraising campaign.

Begin with “the end” in mind.  The end of a successful fundraiser program just might be the rescue of an innocent victim, a life saved because you cared enough to make it possible. 
If you an see the fire thru the smoke, you can get to it faster, put the water in the right place and stop other damage in it’s tracks.  One imager can pay for itself, in one fire.
Now get out there and make it happen.  Start your Fire Departments fundraiser today!

 Some Great Ideas for Fundraisers 

• outdoor concerts
• white elephant sales                                                       
• silents auctions
• head shaving
• dinner auctions
• road rally ATV'S
• craft fair/bakesale
• firefighters calendar
• gift basket auction
• BBQ contest
• 50/50 raffles
• donation containers
• carnival
• crockpot cook-off
• golf/baseball/hockey  tournament
• cookbooks
• dance-a-thon
• garage/yard sales

for more information contact

cheryl@classafire.com