Client Results
Recent outcomes from the churches, schools, and nonprofits we work with. Client names are withheld to protect their security.
Over $840,000 in One Grant Cycle for a Two-Building Church Campus
Programs: Federal Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP) and California State NSGP
The Organization
This church operates from two buildings it owns on adjoining properties. On a typical week they host worship services, children’s and youth programs, and several partner ministries that share the space, including a separate congregation and a weekday Bible study. That means people are on campus most days of the week, not just Sunday mornings.
The Challenge
The church’s leadership had already started on security themselves and paid out of pocket for the first phase of a new camera system. Finishing the job across both buildings was more than the budget could carry. Funding was available from both the federal NSGP and the California State NSGP, and each would fund each building separately, so there were four possible awards. But that meant four applications in one cycle, under two sets of rules, scored by two different review panels.
The church’s team was small: the executive pastor, the operations director, and the accounting lead. None of them had written a security grant before. The operations director had one firm requirement: nothing that would add a monthly fee or cloud subscription after the grant ended.
Our Approach
We ran one intake covering both buildings, so the church answered each question once. We worked with the operations director to turn his wish list into a priced, defensible budget for each building, with every item tied to a finding in the facility’s vulnerability assessment, and we scoped every system around his no-monthly-fees requirement.
Then we decided which program would fund what. Each program funds different things well, so we put each part of the scope in the program where it fit best and kept the federal and state requests from overlapping. At one building, for example, lighting, vehicle barriers, and door upgrades went to the federal NSGP, while cameras, electronic access control, intrusion detection, radios, and security window film went to the California State NSGP. The camera request was built to finish the system the church had already started, so the grant built on their own investment instead of replacing it. Each of the four applications was written separately to its own program’s scoring criteria.
The Result
All four applications were funded: two federal NSGP awards and two California State NSGP awards, totaling more than $840,000. Both state awards were for the full amount requested. Together they fund a complete security upgrade across both buildings that the church could not have paid for on its own.
A Three-Campus Church in Illinois: Every Campus Funded, Every Dollar Requested
Program: Illinois State NSGP
The Organization
This church serves its region from several campuses in the suburbs west of Chicago, each with its own weekly services, children’s ministry, and community programs. Its operations director oversees facilities and security for all of them.
The Challenge
The church wanted security upgrades at every campus at once, not one building per year. Each campus needed its own application, its own vulnerability assessment, and its own budget, and all of them had to be ready in the same short application window. The operations director knew roughly what each building needed, but he didn’t have firm quantities, vendor pricing, or a clear way to connect each item to the program’s requirements.
Our Approach
We ran one intake covering all of the church’s sites, then helped the church decide which campuses to apply for this cycle. For each of the three, we turned the operations director’s wish list into a priced budget. We counted doors, measured the areas that needed vehicle barriers, collected vendor estimates, and settled on final numbers.
Every line item was matched to a specific finding in that campus’s vulnerability assessment, and where the assessment and the request didn’t line up, we resolved it before submitting. The scope ranged from entry door replacement and vehicle barriers to access control with lockdown capability, security window film, cameras, and train-the-trainer security training for church staff. We then wrote a separate application for each campus.
The Result
All three campuses were funded, and the church received the full amount it requested: more than $340,000 in Illinois State NSGP awards in a single cycle.
A New York Synagogue: Three Security Grants, Won and Managed Start to Finish
Programs: Federal NSGP and New York SCAHC
The Challenge
This synagogue needed new doors, access control, and a camera system, more than any single grant would cover. And winning the money was only half the job. Each grant comes with its own contract, its own deadline, its own budget rules, and its own reimbursement paperwork.
Our Approach
We wrote and won three grants for the synagogue: a federal NSGP award and two New York SCAHC awards, for more than $235,000 in total.
Then we managed the awards. We combined all three budgets into one plan, so the synagogue always knew how much was available for each part of the project. We ran competitive bidding for every part of the work and documented each decision. That bidding paid off: quotes for the same access-control work ranged from about $34,000 to more than $128,000. Once the work was done, we prepared the reimbursement paperwork for each grant. When the state sent one package back over how costs were categorized, we fixed it and resubmitted.
The Result
Three grants, one coordinated security upgrade, and a synagogue that never had to figure out the paperwork on its own.
Two Long Island Catholic Schools: First-Time Applicants, Both Funded at the Maximum
Program: New York Securing Communities Against Hate Crimes (SCAHC)
The Organizations
Two Catholic schools on Long Island: an elementary school serving about 400 children from nursery through eighth grade, and an all-girls college preparatory high school with nearly 600 students. Both sit in busy neighborhoods alongside churches, synagogues, and other schools, and both host large events throughout the year. Graduation alone brings 800 to 1,000 people to each campus.
The Challenge
Neither school had ever applied for a security grant. Both faced the same core problem: campuses that were too easy to walk or drive onto, and both had dealt with repeated trespassing over the years. SCAHC is a competitive state program. Applicants must first complete New York’s prequalification process and assemble a full set of organizational documents, then make a scored case for the threat, the vulnerability, and how the proposed project fixes it.
Our Approach
We took both schools through New York’s prequalification and document collection, then worked from each school’s vulnerability assessment to build a focused project. Each plan creates a controlled perimeter: anti-climb fencing, access-controlled vehicle and pedestrian gates with video intercoms, and vehicle barriers around the areas where students gather. Every item was priced and tied to a specific, documented weakness.
We researched the threat picture for each school, from state and FBI hate-crime data to recent attacks on Catholic churches and schools on Long Island and across the country, and wrote each application to the program’s scoring criteria. Although the schools had similar needs, each application was written separately for its own campus.
The Result
Both schools were funded for the full $250,000 program maximum on their first application: $500,000 in total to secure two Catholic school campuses.
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