To get funding
There are two stages to the application:
- Stage one: Submit an expression of interest form
- Stage two: Apply for funding.
Stage one: Submit an expression of interest form
If you’re successful at stage one, we’ll ask you to sign up to carbon literacy training. We’ll also ask you to work with a sustainability expert to create an environment plan for your organisation.
What carbon literacy training is
We ask that two people from your organisation attend the training. It should take around two days to complete and it will be online. These days might not be consecutive. It must be a committee or board member and a volunteer or staff member that attend.
Carbon literacy training gives you the practical knowledge and tools to reduce emissions of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. It helps you look at individual, organisational and structural changes you can make. It also helps identify alternative energy sources that will reduce your costs.
How you’ll work with a sustainability expert
We ask that you work with an expert (that we provide) to work out how to improve the environmental performance of your building. You’ll work with them to create an environment plan using a template that we’ll provide.
An environment plan covers what your organisation could do to reduce your impact on the environment. It also helps you understand if you could save money on your energy bills.
Stage two: Apply for funding.
If you complete the carbon literacy training, you’ll be invited to stage two.
This includes asking for up to £50,000 to improve the environmental performance of your community building. What you ask for will be based on your organisation’s environment plan.
When you can start stage one – expression of interest form
We’re now open for applications from 11 September 2024 to 23 October 2024 for organisations with community buildings in the:
Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council, Derry City and Strabane District Council, Mid and East Antrim Borough Council and Fermanagh and Omagh District Council areas.
We’re not accepting applications for community buildings in any other area at the moment.
Apply Continue online application
We’ll be open for applications from Wednesday 8 January to Wednesday 19 February 2025 for organisations with community buildings in the:
Belfast City Council, Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council, Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council areas.
We were open for applications from 7 February until 20 March 2024 for organisations with community buildings in:
Newry, Mourne and Down District Council, Mid Ulster District Council, Ards and North Down Borough Council or Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council areas.
What information you need to apply
You can see a full list of questions from the expression of interest form.
You can also view our land and buildings guidance.
If it's difficult or impossible for you to complete an online application form
You can contact us if you have any communication support needs. We’re happy to talk about other ways for you to apply.
What happens next
- We'll email you to let you know we got your application.
- Your answers will be passed on to a funding officer, who will check your eligibility. They will also carry out checks on the information you provide us. You can find out more about the checks we'll carry out on your information.
- We’ll email you to let you know if you’ve been selected for carbon literacy training and working with a sustainability expert.
How long it takes to find out
Stage one, expression of interest - we’ll aim to tell you a decision in around 6 weeks.
Stage two, full application for funding - we’ll aim to tell you a decision in around 6 weeks.
We only have a certain amount of funding to award
We get a lot of applications. This means we have to make some tough decisions around what we can fund.
Check who can and cannot apply before filling out the application form.
More about what we ask for in the application form
We ask for contacts for your application
We ask for the contact details, home addresses and dates of birth of two different people from your organisation. We need a different email address for each person.
One person should be someone we can talk to if we have any questions about your project. The other should be a senior member of your organisation, who'll be legally responsible for the funding. Both need to live in the UK.
These two people cannot be related.
Related can mean:
- related by marriage
- in a civil partnership with each other
- in a long-term relationship with each other
- related through a long-term partner
- living together at the same address
- related by blood.
We ask for the legal name of your organisation - and its address. And what type of organisation it is
Check these details before applying. Also check any registration numbers if you have them – like a charity number or company number. It will slow down your application if these details are not right.
We ask for information about your organisation’s accounts
We’ll only fund organisations with an annual income of less than £500,000.
We want to know the date your accounts end each year and how much income you have.
We’ll ask you to submit a copy of your most recently signed-off accounts with your application form. These must show income and expenditure.
If you do not have yearly accounts because you’re a new organisation (less than 15 months old), that’s okay. We can still look at your application.
We ask for information about your community building
For example, we’ll ask what date it was constructed and whether you’ve already got solar panels.
We’ll also ask how often your building is used. You will have to complete and submit our building usage template (there is a link to this in the application form).
We will prioritise buildings that can demonstrate they are well used throughout an average week.
If you’re awarded funding, you’ll need to send us a bank statement
We ask for one bank statement dated within the last three months. So, we can check the account you want us to pay the grant into.
We'll not be able to assess your application if you do not have a bank account and bank statement that meet our requirements below. If you’re not sure you should contact us to check if your bank account and statement are suitable.
We need:
- A bank account that meets our needs in our Financial Controls and Financial Governance Guidance
- A bank statement that meets our needs - like in this picture of the kind of bank statement we’re looking for.
What we need to see on your bank statement
The bank statement (or bank welcome letter if the account was opened within the last 3 months) must be:
- uploaded as one single file
- a file of 12MB or less in size
- a PDF, JPEG or PNG file.
It should show:
- the bank logo
- your organisation's legal name
- the address the statements are sent to
- your bank's name
- the account number and sort code
- the date the letter/statement was issued.
- If all these details are on one page, just send us that page.
What else we’d accept
If you have a new bank account opened within the last three months, we can accept a bank welcome letter instead of a statement. The letter must confirm the date the account was opened and all the account details.
If you’re unable to provide a bank statement, we can accept transaction listings, if they include everything we’d expect to see on a bank statement:
- the bank logo
- your organisation’s legal name
- the address your bank uses for correspondence
- your bank’s name
- the account number and sort code
- date the transactions listing covers.
What we do with your data
To find out how we use the personal data you give us you can read our Data Protection Statement.