Whether benefits exceed costs
Estimate a project’s benefits over its useful life, such as avoided damage, fewer service disruptions, and reduced emissions, and compare their present value with project costs.
Benefit-cost analysis
We compare the costs of infrastructure and resilience investments with the benefits they provide to residents, businesses, and communities. Agencies use our benefit-cost analyses in FEMA hazard mitigation grant applications, alternatives analysis, and capital planning.
What a benefit-cost analysis tells you
We work with public agencies, utilities, nonprofits, and planning and engineering teams on projects that reduce flood, wildfire, drought, and extreme heat risk.
Which alternative performs best
Compare design alternatives and combinations of investments on the same basis, so partners can see the tradeoffs.
What existing risk costs today
Estimate expected annual losses from flooding and other hazards as a baseline for measuring what mitigation could avoid.
FEMA hazard mitigation grants
Radbridge has helped communities access more than $40 million in FEMA funding for mitigation planning and projects, including the benefit-cost analysis for a $37 million BRIC grant.
FEMA benefit-cost analyses
Full benefit-cost analyses for FEMA Hazard Mitigation Assistance applications, using the BCA Toolkit and FEMA-approved methods.
Nature-based solutions
We supported the research behind FEMA’s 2022 guidance on ecosystem services and green infrastructure in the BCA Toolkit, and we quantify these benefits in client applications.
Screening and strategy
Screening-level assessments identify which projects are likely to be cost-effective before you invest in a full application.
How we do it
We combine data science with economic analysis and share findings through reports, maps, concise summaries, and web-based tools. Our studies make sources, assumptions, and limitations clear.
Benefits we measure
Avoided damage to buildings and contents, displacement costs, travel delays and collision risk, service disruptions, emissions, ecosystem services, and health co-benefits.
Methods
Present value calculations, sensitivity analysis, and uncertainty assessment, following FEMA and OMB guidance and other agency requirements.
Tools your staff can reuse
When staff need to rerun the analysis, we build Excel and web tools, such as the Watershed Benefit-Cost Screening Tool and the GSI Impact Calculator.
Benefit-cost analysis projects
All projects- Arroyo Mocho Flood Risk ReductionZone 7 Water Agency · Alameda County, California Three flood reduction alternatives with benefits exceeding costs
- Sonoma Valley Flood Risk AssessmentSonoma Water · Sonoma County, California $18.2 million in estimated average annual flood losses
- Climate Resilience Investment Tool for Water UtilitiesThe Water Research Foundation · United States Framework and Excel tool for comparing adaptation investments
- Watershed Benefit-Cost Screening ToolThe Freshwater Trust · Cosumnes Watershed, California Lowest-cost combination of 12 actions to meet watershed targets
- GSI Impact CalculatorThe Nature Conservancy in Pennsylvania and Delaware · Pennsylvania Web application comparing green stormwater benefits and costs
Common questions
Can you prepare the benefit-cost analysis for our FEMA grant application?
Yes. We prepare benefit-cost analyses for FEMA hazard mitigation applications using the BCA Toolkit. We can start with a screening-level assessment to see whether a project is likely to be cost-effective.
Can nature-based projects pass a FEMA benefit-cost analysis?
Often, yes. FEMA’s BCA Toolkit includes ecosystem service benefits for green infrastructure and nature-based projects, and documenting them well can make the difference for projects such as floodplain restoration.
How is a benefit-cost analysis different from an economic impact study?
A benefit-cost analysis asks whether a project’s benefits to society exceed its costs. An economic impact study asks how spending moves through a regional economy. Funders such as FEMA require benefit-cost analysis.
Do you work with engineering firms?
Yes. We often join teams led by engineering and environmental firms, using their designs, cost estimates, and hazard modeling in our analysis.
Discuss your project
Tell us about the project or funding application you are working on.
Contact Radbridge