Safe Councils proposed Funding for the CFSCI Federal funding The California Fire Safe Council, Inc. receives reimbursement for direct and indirect expenses for administering the block grants that go through the Clearinghouse. These funds are "restricted" in that they can only be used for activities associated with administering the Clearinghouse funds. These activities include conducting grant writing workshops on how to apply for Clearinghouse grants, convening the annual Review Committee that selects projects to fund and providing administrative support for that Committee, disbursing funds to the grant recipients, processing status reports from recipients, and other tasks required by the funding agencies. Operating expenses incurred by the CFSCI outside of grant administration, such as lobbying and fund raising, must be funded from other sources. In addition, the CFSCI has received direct grants, both for Clearinghouse operation and for other projects. Some, but not all, of these grants are listed on the fedspending.org database. Note that some grants are listed multiple times in this database. Non-governmental funding From time to time the CFSCI has received grants from non-Federal sources, primarily insurance organizations. These funds may be restricted to specific activities or unrestricted. In some cases, funds that were originally restricted were changed to unrestricted at the request of the CFSCI so that the monies could be used for CFSCI operating expenses other than those associated with grant administration. Through 2008, some of the non-Federal funds received include: 2003: $200,000 from Pacific Gas & Electric for the development of an updated "Fire Safe Inside and Out" video [This video was released under the title "Controlling Nature's Wrath"] 2003: $2,500 from Chemco 2003: $3000 from Thermo Gel 2006: $100,000 from Allstate to conduct three media and safety fairs and to provide capacity building grants to several local fire safe councils 2007: $5,000 from Farmers Insurance 2008: $250,000 from State Farm Insurance, with $150,000 to go to CAL FIRE for hydration packs and fire shelter holsters. The CFSCI will act as the fiscal agent for the CAL FIRE funds. Uses for the remaining $100,000 include newsletters, regional public relations and media workshops, and distribution of excess copies of the "Controlling Nature's Wrath" DVD to local FSCs. 2008: $150,000 grant from Farmers Insurance for 4–5 workshops on effective partnerships, including partnering with Farmers, for fire prevention activities. 2011: $4,000 grant from Pacific Gas & Electric for the complete redesign and update of the CFSC organizational website,