National Lottery Community Fund aims to make community buildings more sustainable
National Lottery Community Fund strategy makes a strategic shift toward supporting grassroots organisations and boosting climate action.
Even a small solar array, such as this one at a National Trust visitor centre, can help to reduce energy bills. (Photo: Elliott Brown, via Flickr CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
The National Lottery Community Fund has launched a £5m grant programme to make Northern Ireland community buildings more energy efficient.
This funding is part of the Community Fund's new strategy, which marks a strategic shift toward supporting grassroots organisations and includes a £9 million boost for climate action. One of the strategy's four pillars is to make community organisations more sustainable and to help them prepare for and adapt to climate change.
The Northern Ireland funding is available to voluntary or community organisations with an annual income of less than £500,000. It closes in February 2025. It is offering grants of up to £50,000 to help community groups install energy-efficient technology such as solar panels, improve insulation and install energy-efficient lighting and heat pumps. The capital funding aims to help community organisations reduce their energy bills.
Case studies: solar panels for small groups
Cloughmills Community Action Team (CAT) received funding to installl solar panels. CAT works to improve the social, economic and environmental quality of life in and around the village of Cloughmills, County Antrim.
Patrick Frew from CAT says: “In recent years, we received National Lottery funding for solar panels, which have helped save on energy costs each year. We have a men’s shed, which is used every day by older people, to make things and reduce loneliness. The savings have allowed us to buy more equipment and keep it running.”
Frew said: “I would encourage smaller groups who never thought about cutting carbon emissions to consider this new funding programme. Small steps are simple but make a big difference, and there’s lots of support, one thing leads to another.
“As a village, we are looking at how we can be sustainable and rely on our own resources; we wouldn’t have thought that was possible back at the start of the journey, and who doesn’t want to save some money, while helping a good cause, a cleaner planet for us all?”
Similarly, Rathfern Community Regeneration Group in Newtownabbey also benefited from solar panels. Thomas Kirkham, the Group's Manager, says: “Our building is busy every day, bringing people together from infants to those in older age. With ever increasing budgets, we applied for support from the National Lottery Community Fund to install solar panels three years ago, and have saved over £1,000 a year since."
He said the Group has been able to put that money towards services for the community.
Carbon literacy training
Organisations that are successful at Stage 1 of the application process will be asked to sign up to carbon literacy training. The online training will take two days to complete and will give trustees or staff knowledge and tools to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. It will help organisations look at individual, organisational and structural changes they can make and identify alternative energy sources that will reduce costs.
Community organisations will also be required to work with a sustainability expert to create an environmental plan for your organisation. The energy consultancy Action Renewables will support groups in writing and implementing an environmental action plan.
Full details about the Sustainable Community Buildings programme for Northern Ireland are available on the National Lottery Community Fund website.