Application for Renewable Heat Assistance
The following Alliance for Green Heat application should only be completed by representatives of existing firewood banks in the United States.
  • 1. Organizational Information

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  • Section 2: Scope and impact

    Please provide 1 – 3 sentence answers to these questions. The size of your wood bank does not have any impact on getting funded. We are mainly interested in learning about your efforts!
  • 3. Safety, Equipment, and Capacity

    As with the previous question, your answers will not impact whether you get funded. Provide 1 – 3 sentence answers so we can get to know your group.
  • 4. Application requirements

    These items will be required to receive funding, but not to submit the application. We will help groups with acquiring them, as needed.
  • 5. Budget

    These grants range from $1,000 - $15,000 depending on the needs and capacity of the firewood bank. Eligible expenses include chain saws, splitters, building materials for firewood sheds or tool sheds, protective equipment, wheelbarrows, and many other items. First aid kits, moisture meters, and sufficient safety equipment (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. Since this is federal money, no single item can cost more than $5,000, it cannot cover food, drinks or entertainment and we can only cover materials to build sheds – not labor. Products made in the United States are preferred. 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). We have attached a budget that you can use if helpful, or you can upload your own. (You can adjust the budget before the grant is finalized if it is accepted).
  • 6. Reasons for denial

    There are not many reasons that your 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. The only reason that we may deny funding is if: the firewood bank does not get a bank account or UEI; the firewood bank is not pre-existing and did not distribute firewood in the winter of 2021-22; the firewood bank does not sign the financial assistance contract that contains legal and safety provisions and reporting requirements.
  • 7. Reporting requirements

    All groups receiving funding must report on how the money was spent and what was achieved. We are creating a simple and straightforward reporting form that we will share with you. Groups will need to provide receipts for their major expenses (items over $250), document how many cords of wood was delivered, the moisture content of the wood, etc. A screenshot showing the completed purchase can serve as a receipt for online purchases. Note that 80% of funds must be spent (or equipment ordered) within two weeks of receiving the grant funds.
  • 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.