Charities and social enterprises, especially those based in disadvantaged areas, struggle to find investment for energy resilience and to make the transition to Net Zero. To help organisations access the right funding and improve their energy efficiency, Social Investment Business has joined up with Big Issue Invest, Charity Bank, Co-operative and Community Finance, GMCVO, Groundwork UK, Key Fund, Resonance, The Architectural Heritage Fund and The Ubele Initiative to launch the Energy Resilience Fund. It’s a fund worth £15m funded by Better Society Capital, Access – The Foundation for Social Investment, and Social Investment Business Foundation.
The new Energy Resilience Fund (ERF) provides a blended funding package of loan (60%) and grant (40%) to bolster the energy resilience of eligible charities and social enterprises in England. The ERF succeeds the pilot Energy Resilience Fund managed by Key Fund.
Eligible organisations can apply for blended funding of between £25,000 and £250,000 to install energy saving measures or energy generation technology. The ERF could pay for a range of energy efficiency measures, for example, 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. The fund could also be used to pay for related costs including capital, labour and project management costs, revenue losses and contingency.
The ERF opened to applications on 6 November 2024. Full details about the ERF and eligibility criteria are available via the Social Investment Business website.
