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Opportunities for Making Energy Improvements at Nonprofits
September 2024
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Calling all nonprofits! See below for information on federal opportunities to support energy efficiency and clean energy improvements. Get help building healthier community spaces and saving money, so that your nonprofit can focus resources on mission-driven work.
This month, the Renew America’s Nonprofits Program is pleased to highlight an upcoming webinar on incentives and rebates, economic development programs in regions across the country, and advisories to protect solar customers.
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Featured Events
SCEP Two Years After the Inflation Reduction Act
On August 16, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of State and Community Energy Program (SCEP) celebrated President Biden’s signing of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) into law, marking the largest-ever climate investment in history. Two years in, SCEP catalyzes investments to help people and nonprofits save money on energy bills and improve conditions of homes and buildings, increases the capacity of local governments to pursue their clean energy goals, extends the reach of Tribal nations to steer their cleaner future, and opens doors for clean energy opportunities and improvements in K-12 public schools, nonprofits and community-serving institutions. Learn more here!
Nonprofits focus on serving their communities, which may make their building need improvements a low priority. To support organizations with energy upgrades which boost efficiency and save money, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is hosting a webinar series on “Funding Strategies for Nonprofits.”
On October 8th at 2pm (ET) join the DOE Office of State and Community Energy Programs (SCEP) for the second webinar in this series, which will focus on utility rebates information. Learn about the value of rebates and incentives and how they can be part of an organization’s capital stack for infrastructure projects. Speakers will highlight resources available to identify local programs, to demonstrate the tangible first step to accessing this funding.
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Funding Opportunities for Nonprofits
The DOE Office of Indian Energy Policy and Programs (Office of Indian Energy) seeks collaboration with up to four regional nonprofit intertribal organizations as a pilot program to coordinate, collaborate, and partner with the Office of Indian Energy. Eligible intertribal organizations may request up to $300,000 annually to execute proposed activities for up to 3 years (36 months).
Funding will support communication, internal organizational capacity-building, and engagement activities, with the goal of building long-lasting effective working relationships with Tribal elected leaders, key staff, and DOE.
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Eligibility: Regional nonprofit intertribal organizations with a focus other than public health or gaming
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Deadline: September 24, 2024, at 3:00 PM ET
This program targets efforts within Continuum of Care geographic areas to address and reduce homelessness by adding new units of permanent supportive housing through new construction, acquisition, or rehabilitation through one-time INSiDE awards.
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Eligibility: Eligible activities include projects that reduce homelessness, ensure access to and increase the production of affordable housing, increase the supply of housing, and advance sustainable communities by strengthening environmental justice and integrating health and housing.
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Deadline: Applications open until November 21, 2024.
This program funds investments by Appalachian States into ARC's strategic priorities, focusing on critical infrastructure and business/workforce development. Interested entities must be ARC support counties and must communicate with their ARC State Program Manager to apply.
Eligible uses include broadband, downtown revitalization, education/outreach, energy infrastructure, entrepreneurship and business development, healthcare access, local food systems, natural and cultural heritage, transportation, water and sewer infrastructure, and workforce development.
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Eligibility: Nonprofit organizations, institutions of higher education, state and local government entities (including counties, cities, towns, Local Development Districts, school districts, public authorities, and other governmental entities), and Indian tribes.
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Deadline: Open on a rolling basis.
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Cost Share: The match requirement is between 20 – 70%, depending on the economic status of the county. Match rates can be found here.
This program funds planning and local technical assistance investments to support economic development, foster job creation, and attract private investment in economically distressed areas of the United States.
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Eligibility: Eligible uses include the creation and implementation of regional economic development plans designed to build capacity and guide the economic prosperity and resiliency of an area or region.
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Deadline: Applications are accepted on a continuing basis and processed as received.
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Cost share: The match requirement is between 20-50 percent of the total cost of the project, depending on the average per capita income or unemployment rate of the most economically distressed county within the project.
The DOE Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) intends to issue up to $400 million for “Energy Improvements in Rural or Remote Areas FY24”. As announced in the Notice of Funding Opportunity, the program intends to funds projects for the following activities:
A. Improving overall cost-effectiveness of energy generation, transmission, or distribution systems
B. Siting or upgrading transmission and distribution lines
C. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from energy generation in rural or remote areas
D. Providing or modernizing electric generation facilities
E. Developing microgrids; and
F. Increasing energy efficiency.
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Eligibility: Non-profit entities, labor unions, farming associations and cooperatives, institutions of higher education, for-profit entities, state, territorial, and local governmental entities, and others.
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Details: OCED anticipates each selected project will receive a $2M–$50M contribution from DOE.
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Cost Share: There is a 5–50% minimum required non-Federal cost share (i.e., from applicant). Amount depends on applicant type and topic area.
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Deadline: To be announced when the funding opportunity opens.
Search All Federal Funding Opportunities
Learn about what types of funding are available from the federal government. To view all open funding opportunity announcements, access:
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Tools and Resources
DOE Releases New Guide for Federal Funding in Rural and Remote Areas
Interested participants can enroll and begin the course at any time, and complete as few or as many modules as desired. Learn more here.
DOE Develops New Advisories to Protect Solar Consumers
In addition to thehas partnered with Treasury, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Federal Trade Commission, and other agencies to coordinate efforts to monitor and identify market trends and propose solutions for fraudulent and predatory behavior in the rooftop solar industry. Explore the resources DOE is developing to educate consumers.
Atlanta Residents Celebrate the First Community-Owned Resilience Hub
Using the Groundswell-led Breaking Barriers project as a blueprint, the Vicars Community Center at Community Church in West Atlanta, Georgia, created one of the first community-owned resilience hubs in the state. The site’s solar energy system will maintain reliable power during emergencies, providing a safe gathering place for the community. Find out more about West Atlanta’s energy resilience hub that integrates microgrid technology, on-site solar generation, and battery energy storage.
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Events
📅 Oct. 17 | 1 – 2:30 p.m. ET
📅 Nov. 21 | 1 – 2:30 p.m. ET
📅 Jan. 16 | 1 – 2 p.m. ET
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Renew America's Nonprofits
The Renew America’s Nonprofits program was created to reduce carbon emissions, improve health and safety, and lower utilities costs at buildings owned and operated by 501(c)(3) nonprofits. This first-of-its-kind investment in the nonprofit sector aims to help nonprofits make high-impact energy efficiency improvements that will create cleaner, healthier community spaces, while generating sustainable savings so that critical funds can be redirected toward mission-driven work. It also aims to stimulate widespread energy improvements in the nonprofit sector, promoting the formation of partnerships between stakeholders to create a pipeline of energy and cost-saving projects that will continue beyond the life of the grant.
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State and Local Solution Center
The State and Local Solution Center is an online technical assistance portal that provides technical assistance resources to enable strategic investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies through the use of innovative practices across the United States by a wide range of stakeholders, in partnership with state and local organizations and community-based nonprofits.
The State and Local Solution Center is managed by DOE's Office of State and Community Energy Programs (SCEP). SCEP supports DOE's mission to accelerate the research, development, demonstration, and deployment of technologies and solutions to equitably transition America to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions economy-wide by no later than 2050, and ensure the clean energy economy benefits all Americans, creating good paying jobs for the American people—especially workers and communities impacted by the energy transition and those historically underserved by the energy system and overburdened by pollution.
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