GrantRadar

Social Investment Business (with Big Issue Invest, Charity Bank, Co-operative and Community Finance, Groundwork UK, Hom…

Energy Resilience Fund

A blended loan-and-grant package, not a pure grant: 60% is a loan at 8.5% fixed interest and 40% is grant, for £25,000-£250,000 in total (so £10,000-£100,000 of grant), and you cannot take the grant without the loan. It helps incorporated charities and social enterprises in England with at least two years' trading and £100k+ turnover to install energy saving or generating measures in their buildings or land, or buy energy efficient vehicles and equipment. The fund also pays for an independent energy audit if you need one and offers project development support from the Centre for Sustainable Energy.

Apply on the funder’s site
You could get
£10,000 – £100,000
no fixed round
Deadline
Rolling
apply any time
Effort
Heavy
budgets, references, often several stages

Who can apply

  • Incorporated voluntary, community or social enterprise organisations based in and serving communities primarily in England: registered charities, CICs or Community Benefit Societies, or other legal forms with a social object, asset lock and profit distribution under 50% in their governing documents
  • Must be constituted for social benefit; have at least 2 years' operating activity and at least £100,000 turnover in the last year-end accounts; fewer than 250 employees, turnover up to £40m and balance sheet up to £35m; be unable to get mainstream bank lending for the purpose; not be insolvent; have a viable borrowing proposal backed by senior decision makers
  • For building/land measures you must own the freehold or have a written lease with at least 12 years left
  • Vehicles/equipment must be owned by the applicant
  • Multiple sites need one application per site, with £250,000 maximum total

What it funds

  • Installing energy saving measures or generation technology in buildings or land (including new builds), informed by an independent energy assessment
  • Buying energy efficient or environmentally friendly vehicles or equipment
  • Examples:
  • Efficient lighting
  • Insulation
  • Glazing
  • Solar PV
  • Battery storage
  • Solar water heating
  • Heat pumps and other efficient heating (including gas boiler upgrades)
  • Small wind turbines
  • Low-head hydro
  • Battery electric/plug-in hybrid/hydrogen vehicles
  • Efficient catering or manufacturing equipment
  • Eligible costs include:
  • Capital
  • Installation labour
  • Project management
  • Enabling works (e.g. roof strengthening for solar funded elsewhere)
  • Revenue losses from disruption (normally up to 15% of funding)
  • Building management systems
  • Staff and user training
  • Contingency

A free independent energy audit is arranged by the fund if you don't have a suitable one from the last 24 months.

Loan terms: 2-10 years, 8.5% fixed, 2.5% arrangement fee, optional 12-month capital holiday, generally unsecured, no early repayment fees.

What it will not fund

  • A grant without the loan (the grant only comes alongside the 60% loan)
  • Refinancing existing debt, except in exceptional circumstances
  • Costs already incurred or items already paid for
  • Building/land measures not identified in an independent energy assessment or backed by a clear evidence-based rationale
  • Untested technology
  • Community energy or heat generation projects (district heat networks, solar or wind farms, large hydro, nuclear) or projects whose main purpose is selling energy to third parties
  • Community energy organisations
  • Hybrid vehicles that cannot be plugged in
  • Facilities primarily for statutory services (hospitals, state-funded schools, universities)
  • Buildings or parts used primarily for political campaigning
  • Buildings used for worship unless over 50% of use is community services and the measures benefit those areas

How to apply

  1. Check eligibility on the fund page and FAQs; optionally call 020 4591 2400 or email loans@sibgroup.org.uk to talk it through
  2. Complete the online application form (about 25 minutes; mostly contact and organisation data) choosing a fund partner to assess you, and upload accounts, management accounts, cashflow forecast and (for buildings) title deeds or lease
  3. Stage 1: the partner checks eligibility and suitability
  4. For building projects: provide 12 months of gas and electricity bills; SIB reviews your existing energy assessment or arranges a free audit by an approved supplier
  5. Develop the proposal: choose measures, obtain permissions and quotes (with optional Centre for Sustainable Energy support); for vehicles/equipment provide quotes
  6. Stage 2: the partner assesses your organisation and proposal in full and discusses it with you
  7. The partner's internal panel, then the fund's Investment Committee, decides
  8. If approved, sign offer documents, complete due diligence, and funds are disbursed

Rolling; the fund page says 'Currently open? yes' with no closing date.

Have ready

  • Last 2 sets of approved financial accounts (showing 3 years if available)
  • Latest management accounts (P&L and balance sheet)
  • Cashflow forecast (FAQ: 12 months for the current year; form: 2-year forecast including the funding request and loan repayments, if available)
  • Title deeds or written lease with at least 12 years remaining (building/land applications)
  • Independent energy assessment dated within 2 years (only if you already have one)
  • 12 months of gas and electricity bills including tariff information (building applications, at stage 2)
  • Written consent from your board and, if leased, the landlord (building applications)
  • Site plans and asbestos register if available (building applications without an existing assessment)
  • Quotes for vehicles/equipment (3 quotes for larger items)

Bills, consents and quotes are requested after the initial application.

More like this

Other grants open to organisations like yours.