Writing for the NVFC
Every fire department’s strategic plan should include a goal of fostering community partnerships. These partnerships provide opportunities for department growth by creating allies in problem solving, innovation, expanded resources, funding and non-wage benefit support, increased community trust, brand awareness, and recruitment efforts.
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Partnerships between fire departments and the community may allow the fire service to draw on community assets as a cost-effective way to meet operational needs. Instead of spending the funds to buy a piece of equipment that is rarely used, the department can form a partnership to borrow that equipment on the rare occasion it is needed. For example, establishing a partnership with a local farm or construction company may lead to the use of heavy equipment during an emergency. One winter, our department responded to a man alive but partially frozen in a creek on the backside of a field. We could not reach him by ambulance, and the snow was too deep for us to get there by foot. A local farmer became our partner and accompanied us with a skid steer to help retrieve the patient.
It is not uncommon for local businesses to contribute, without an ask, water and food for first responders during large-scale incidents. When a disaster occurs in a community, people want to help. These acts of kindness are beneficial but can pull needed resources during an emergency if there is no pre-established plan in place. Trying to coordinate these donations during an active scene may lead to responders being unintentionally short with those trying to provide aid and can result in broken stakeholder relationships. Instead, work with businesses, churches, and community organizations to establish a procedure before it is needed, including how these partners can serve as coordination and distribution points and work efficiently with busy responders. Establishing these partnerships in advance will help improve the quality and effectiveness of support.
Nonwage benefits for the retention of first responders are something else that community partners can offer fire departments. Examples of these include free or discounted gym memberships and educational opportunities. Our fire department partnered with The Ohio State University Extension Office to offer a free Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program for firefighters and their families. Participants learned how to eat healthy on a budget, were introduced to easy recipes, and were educated on food safety. Providing speakers to talk about mental health, financial planning, and other community resources are additional ways partners can support the fire service.
It is important to remember that partnerships should not be one-sided but rather bring value to both organizations. As you develop partnerships within your community and see and hear of needs from others, you can offer support or link them to another partner that can help. Solving a community issue may take multiple organizations partnering to develop a solution.
These seven steps can help you establish partnerships within your community:
- Establish a call for shared resources. Communicate with local groups such as other government entities, civic groups, churches, businesses, and nonprofits your desire to connect to pool resources. Many external organizations are unaware that they have resources that can be useful to the first responder community.
- Host brainstorming sessions. Meet with community and business leaders to brainstorm department needs and resources available. Invite leaders to attend future department planning meetings to allow them to weigh in with innovative solutions. Each partner can offer a unique set of resources. Identify the strength of each partner and think beyond physical assets. For example, there might be a partner that excels with social media that can assist with developing a fire department plan for spreading fire prevention messages.
- Develop a resource database. Create shared drives listing individual resources, what organization has them, and the affiliated point of contact. Communicate with the partners regularly to update their resources and points of contacts as equipment and personnel change. Indicate on the database any limitations to using the resource.
- Build relationships and roles. Building solid relationships with your partners can add value and satisfaction to both sides. Treat each partner as a valued individual, not just a group asset. Categorize partners by area of resource and assign them roles. This will allow you to create custom communication channels with specific groups versus sending out mass communication to the entire roster of partners, preventing an overload of emails and notifications. It also demonstrates that you are familiar with what the organization offers. Sending frequent emails that do not pertain to a specific partner may make the partner not feel valued and stop reading your emails. Unread emails may lead to your call for help being unintentionally ignored.
- Continue engagement. Engagement with community partners should not be a solo event. Departments should foster long-lasting partners by continued engagement. Get to know your partners, their strengths and weakness, what motivates them to engage within the community, and what types of events they like to support. Find ways to let your partners know you care about the partnership and their support.
- Hold joint events. Identify opportunities to host joint events and fundraisers with a shared mission. Engaging in joint events that help another organization fulfill its mission demonstrates that you care and are listening to the needs of your partners. Partners who feel like they are always giving and not being supported may lose trust. Joint events may also introduce a new audience and untapped funding streams to your department. Strategic community partnerships not only build credibility and awareness but can also increase your pool of financial supporters.
- Promote success stories. Store videos and photos of partnership resources in action. Provide partners with updates and look for opportunities to share partnership success stories with the community and memberships. Leverage membership bases and social media followers from all organizations partnering for a greater reach. Be sure to include a call to action at the end of each story to encourage readers to get involved through volunteering with the fire department or as auxiliary support.
Your department can also use the partnerships made by the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) to support volunteer responders through scholarships, giveaways, free training, and more. For example, the NVFC partners with Anheuser-Busch to provide emergency drinking water for wildland firefighters, with MSA and DuPont to give away turnout gear and helmets to volunteer fire departments, and with CHEMTREC® to provide grants to volunteer departments to increase hazmat response preparedness. To learn more about NVFC resources and to join, visit www.nvfc.org.
Dr. Candice McDonald is a former federal agent and has served for almost two decades as a firefighter, EMT, EMS officer, CE instructor, fire inspector, and PIO. She is the deputy chief executive officer of the National Volunteer Fire Council, incoming president for the Cumberland Valley Volunteer Firemen’s Association, and an adjunct marketing professor for Eastern Gateway Community College. She holds a doctor of business administration degree with a specialty in homeland security, a master’s degree in organizational leadership, a bachelor’s degree in organizational management, and an associate degree in human services.
