My local CFA is struggling with operational funding. They have started a new fundraising event that they hope will help. What other ideas do people have for funding? Are there any groups that regularly have grants? 

Has anyone tried setting up regular monthly donations like many charities do? 

All ideas welcomed.    

I live in the community of Upper Plenty and there is a group working on a community emergency management plan. The coomunity was hit hard on Black Saturday with lives and homes lost. One of the committee members asked me about being able to create a map that provided details of who was residing on each property and whehter they may need assistance together with details of assets. For example i have a solar and batteries together with Starlink so if power went out people could still keep phomes charged and have comms. I also have lots of water that could be used to refill a fire truck or locals with slip ons. Others in the area have bobcats, excavators, tractors etc. I am wondering if anyone knows of similar projects and how they were managed. I could see it being done via a Google Form that feeds a spreadsheet and is then imported to My Maps. https://support.google.com/mymaps/answer/3024836?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop I would need to manage consent and privacy as well as managing access control but it is doable using freely available tech. Has anyone done it before and can you share how you did it as well as managing the non technical side of things like privacy and who can access it.

I was asked about issues faced when rebuilding after a disaster and thought i would strart a thread. This link is an article, in the Guardian, that I contibuted to about the combination of factors that made it so hard to rebuild after Black Summer. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/apr/30/disasters-in-the-recovery-bushfire-survivors-still-waiting-for-homes# On the positive side it refers tom the Rebuilding Advisory "One Stop Shop" concierge model that was set up in communities after Black Saturday that was very effective. Perhaps the key difference was the Black Saturday model was a concierge style model which helped people through the end to end process of what they could afford, what options they had, input into design and location for safety, building regulations, planning and interaction with builders and council.  The advisory service established after Black Summer was more focused on planning and council related issues. There was a concierge model established in Victoria, around January 2023 with more personalised assistance which, from some people I have spoken to who are part of it,  has had good results.rebuilding