New fund for charity energy resilience
The Energy Resilience Fund is a £5 million fund aimed at supporting charities to reduce their energy usage and bills by installing energy-saving or energy-generation measures.
Insulating the roof space is a basic energy saving measure. Mineral wool is the most commonly used loft insulation. Installed correctly, it should pay for itself many times over in its 40-year lifetime. The recommended depth for mineral wool insulation is 270mm (about 1ft). (Photo: Tracey Nicholls, CSIRO, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0)
Charities and social enterprises can apply to a new fund designed to help organisations reduce their energy usage, stabilise their energy costs and contribute to long-term Net Zero goals.
The Energy Resilience Fund offers energy audit support and a blend of grant funding (40%) and loans (60%) to help organisations improve their energy efficiency. Eligible organisations can apply for "blended funding" of between £25,000 and £250,000 to install energy-saving measures or energy-generation technology on buildings or land and/or purchase energy-efficient or environmentally friendly vehicles or equipment.
For the loan element of the funding, the repayment term is one to ten years. Loans have a 2.5% arrangement fee and an interest rate of 8.5% fixed per annum. Loans will generally be provided unsecured.
Organisations will also have access to development grants of up to £5,000 to contribute to the costs of support work to explore potential energy-saving options. Where necessary, these grants will cover the costs of technical support and advice during the planning and installation phases.
The Fund is open to charities and social enterprises based in and delivering social and environmental impact in England. There is no deadline for applications.
Charities are falling behind on energy efficiency
Rising energy costs are a major challenge for charities and social enterprises, but the voluntary sector is improving energy efficiency swiftly enough.
Rob Benfield, of funders Social Investment Business said: "Our research shows that the social sector is falling behind the private sector in improving its energy efficiency, and there is growing urgency to act to address this imbalance.
"We understand that implementing energy efficiency measures can be challenging, and that is why this fund will be providing high-quality energy audits and additional technical support and guidance to organisations alongside the funding that is needed."
The Energy Resilience Fund could pay for energy efficiency measures such as energy-efficient lighting systems, insulation upgrades, glazing upgrades, small-scale wind turbines, solar PV panel systems, battery storage systems, solar water heating systems, heat pumps and electric vehicles. Funds can be used to pay for a wide range of related costs, including capital costs, labour costs, project management costs, revenue losses and contingency.
It should help many organisations to manage the impact of rising costs, ensuring more resources for delivering their charitable activities.
Criteria for funding
Eligible organisations must:
- Be an incorporated voluntary, community or social enterprise organisation
- Be based in England and serve communities primarily within England.
- Be constituted for social benefit and improving people’s lives or the environments they live in
- Have been operating for a minimum of two years
- Have a minimum turnover of £100,000 in their last set of accounts
- Have fewer than 250 employees.
The funds cannot be used for:
- Community energy or heating generation projects unless the primary purpose has to be to supply energy to their own building
- Community energy organisations that bring groups of people or organisations together to purchase or generate energy
- Hybrid Electric Vehicles that cannot be plugged into the mains because the engine is the main power source. Plug-in Hybrid Vehicles (PHEVS) are eligible
- Buildings or sections of buildings used primarily for political campaigning
- Buildings or sections of them used for worship/ furtherance of faith, unless more than half the building is used for community services, and the measures being funded benefit the areas of the building used primarily for community services.
For full details, visit the Social Investment Business Group website.
The Fund is delivered by a partnership made up of Social Investment Business, Big Issue Invest, Charity Bank, Co-operative and Community Finance, Groundwork UK, Key Fund, Resonance Ltd, the Architectural Heritage Fund, and the Ubele Initiative.