Grants are available for voluntary and community organisations in Northern Ireland to support them in making their buildings more energy efficient, helping to save money on bills.

The funding is intended to support organisations with reducing their carbon footprint, creating an environment plan, and improving the environmental performance of their community buildings.

Grants of up to £50,000 are available.

Organisations that apply to the programme will also take part in free carbon literacy training delivered by Business in the Community, which will help them to look at ways to reduce their carbon footprint.

Action Renewables will also support organisations to write and implement an environmental plan to consider steps to improve sustainability and cut costs.

Applications will be accepted from voluntary and community organisations. This includes:

Registered charities.
Unregistered voluntary or community organisations with a governing document, eg a constitution.
Not-for-profit companies (company limited by guarantee).
Charitable Incorporated Organisations (CIO or SCIO).
Community Interest Companies (CIC).

To be eligible, applicants must:

Have at least two board or committee members who are not related.
Have a bank account in the organisation's name.

The applicant's community building must meet the following criteria:

The organisation must own their building or have an unbreakable lease for at least six years.
The building must be open and used, evidenced by the number of people who use the building and its opening hours.
The organisation must not be solely focused on delivering sports activities, or affiliated with a governing body of sport (recognised by Sport Northern Ireland).
The building must not already have solar panels.

Priority will be given to buildings that can demonstrate they are well used throughout an average week.

Grants may be used for capital funding only.

Upon completing carbon literacy training and creating an environment plan, organisations invited to apply for funding to improve their building's environmental performance may use grants to support costs including:

Solar panels.
Battery storage.
Ground-source heat pumps.
Energy efficient lighting.
New insulation.
Energy-efficient windows and doors.

The deadline for applications is 23 April 2025.

There is a two-stage application process:

Stage 1: submit an Expression of Interest. If successful, applicants will be invited to Stage 2.
Stage 2: full application for funding.

Organisations successful at stage one will be asked to sign up to carbon literacy training. National Lottery Community Fund will also ask organisations to work with a sustainability expert to create an environment plan for their organisation.

Guidance notes and the online Expression of Interest form can be found on the National Lottery Community Fund website.

Contact the National Lottery Community Fund for further information.

Sustainable Community Buildings | The National Lottery Community Fund