EmailMe Form - Firewood Bank Assistance: New Applicant Grant Form

1. Organizational and Contact Information

a. Firewood Bank Name

b. Firewood Bank Physical Address

Street Address City State / Province / Region Postal / Zip Code

Firewood Bank Mailing Address

Note: Only fill out if this is different from the physical address above.

Street Address City State / Province / Region Postal / Zip Code

c. Phone

### - ### - ####

d. Email address

e. Your name

f. Your Position/Role

g. Secondary Contact Name
(We like to have more than one name and contact information on record.)

h. Secondary Contact Phone

### - ### - ####

i. Secondary Contact Email

j. Secondary Contact's Position/Role

k. Describe the organizational structure of your firewood bank (non-profit, government, tribal, faith based, business, or other institution)

Note: All for-profit businesses seeking a firewood bank grant must have a written letter(s) of support from tribe(s) or community partner(s) (e.g. local government, non-profit, faith, tribal committee, etc.) who will serve as the fiscal agent.

l. List your main organizational partners, if any.

m. Does your group have a written liability waiver form for volunteers?

Note: We require all recipients to have a liability form. Click here to view our sample form. You are welcome to use ours by downloading and adding your firewood bank’s name. If you already have a liability form, we ask that you please add the Alliance for Green Heat to it.

Yes

No

Attach Waiver

n. Does your group have liability insurance? If yes, please attach it below.

Note: This is not a requirement, but we do recommend it.

Yes

No

o. If you do have liability insurance, please list the name of the policy holder.

Attach Insurance Policy

Section 2: Mission and Operations

a. Please describe your mission. Explain why the firewood bank was started and how the bank assists the heating needs in your community.

b. How long has your firewood bank been distributing firewood?

c. Approximately how many cords (4' x 4' x 8' stacks) of wood do you deliver/provide each year?

d. Approximately how many households do you serve each year?

e. How many volunteers do you have and how do you recruit and manage them?

f. Do you have paid staff?

Yes

No

g. If yes, how many paid staff do you have?

h. What does your firewood bank do to get the word out about the firewood that is available? Do you advertise your firewood bank or does your firewood bank have a social media presence? Please share link(s) here or attach a flyer or advertising materials below.

Attach Advertisement/Promotional Material

i. Do you have a budget from the most recent year showing income and expenses? If so, please attach it below or describe it here.

Attach Recent Budget (optional)

Section 3. Safety, Health, Equipment, and Impact

a. When you distribute your wood it is...

Seasoned

Unseasoned

A mix

b. Do you have a wood shed or a way to cover your wood while seasoning?

c. Do you have a moisture meter?

Note: All grant recipients must have a moisture meter or purchase one with their grant money.

Yes

No

d. If yes, what type of moisture meter do you have? Click here for a fact sheet on moisture meter use.

e. Describe your system for seasoning your wood and how you will use your moisture meter in the process to help ensure wood that is delivered is sufficiently dry. Click here for a sample moisture content log that can be used at your firewood bank!

f. Which of the following does your group have, if any? (Check all that apply)

g. Which of the following safety equipment do you use at your firewood bank? Check all that apply.

Note: All grant recipients must have the basic safety equipment listed here or purchase them with their grant money.

h. Where do you store your safety equipment?

i. Describe where you source your wood. Do you have to buy wood or is it all donated? Do you get any wood already cut and split?

j. How is the firewood distributed? Is the wood self-serve? If not, how do you decide which households get wood?

If applicable, attach any form/application/voucher that your firewood bank uses to determine edibility for firewood.

k. When during the year do you begin and end firewood deliveries (if applicable)?

l. How do you decide how much firewood each household receives?

Section 4. Application Requirements

a. Does your firewood bank have a bank account or a fiscal sponsor?

Yes

No

Name of Fiscal Sponsor (if applicable)

Name of Bank/Financial Institution

Name on Bank Account

b. Do you have a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI)?

Note: This is a requirement to receive funds.

Yes

No

Please list your UEI or the UEI of your fiscal sponsor below.

Note: UEI's are assigned by the federal government (sam.gov) and are a 12 character alphanumeric value. A UEI is required to receive a grant.

Section 5. Proposed Grant Request Budget

Grants for existing firewood banks are available on a sliding scale up to $20,000 depending on the needs and capacity of the firewood bank. Examples of eligible expenses include chain saws, splitters, logs, building materials for firewood sheds or tool sheds, protective equipment, wheelbarrows, and many other items. All grant recipients must have or purchase a moisture meter and have a plan to test and track firewood moisture. Grant funding may also be used to purchase insurance, fuel and transportation expenses and related equipment. First aid kits, moisture meters, and sufficient safety equipment (helmet, chaps, eye protection, gloves, etc.) are required on site, so these items must be added to the budget if they are not already owned by the firewood bank. Products made in the United States are preferred. Also, since this is federal money, no single item can cost more than $5,000, and funds cannot be used to cover food, drinks or entertainment. Note: we can only cover costs for materials – not labor. Please let us know what you need, and we can determine if it’s an eligible expense. Please provide a simple budget with links to the items you need. Any tax and shipping fees should be calculated separately and included in the total item cost. Remember, if you forget to include taxes or shipping, you will be required to cover those expenses on your own. (Each state is different. The average state tax is 5.6% and the average local tax is 1.9%. If your budget has items totaling $10,000, the average sales taxes would be over $700. You can find your state sales tax here ). (You can adjust the budget before the grant is finalized if it is accepted).

Click here for a sample budget that you may download and use.

Attach Grant Request Budget

Section 6. Reporting requirements

We have created a simple and straightforward reporting process. All groups receiving funding must provide an interim and final report describing how the money was spent and what was achieved. Please note that 80% of funds must be spent (or equipment ordered) within two weeks of receiving the grant funds. Groups will need to provide receipts for their major expenses (items over $250), describe outcomes (e.g. how many cords of wood were delivered etc.) A screenshot showing the completed purchase can serve as a receipt for online purchases.

Section 7. Reasons for Denial

There are not many reasons that your renewal grant application would be rejected. Our goal is to expedite funding to as many existing firewood banks as possible. If the application is not properly filled out, we will work with firewood banks to get it right, not deny funding.

Section 8. Photos

Please attach a photo of the firewood bank/firewood bank operation to be used for our website to highlight grant recipients.

This funding is made possible from the USDA Forest Service through section 40803(c)(17) of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

This institution is an equal opportunity provider.