Grants
As a Community Benefit Society, we are committed to supporting sustainability locally, and offer grant funding between £100 - £5,000 to organisations to support a wide range of initiatives that deliver this aim.
Grants are open to organisations which are not-for-profit, charities or small businesses and based within an approximate 10 mile radius of Reading Town Hall. To see if your scheme is eligible, please see the Guidance Document and then use our Application Form, or you can email grants@readingenergy.coop for more details. Currently the Community Fund Sub-Committee will meet as and when there are applications to consider.
Please read the instructions to password protect your document in the Application Form. If a grant is awarded, bank details will need to be provided and these will be shared with our administrative support Energy4All.
Previous Recipients
Community Grants have been paid out to Path Hill Outdoors, Reading Sea Cadets, the True Food Co-operative in Emmer Green, Highdown School and Sixth Form Centre, and Design Nature CIC.
Path Hill Outdoors
Path Hill Outdoors is a not-for-profit company specialising in using the outdoor environment to provide positive experiences and personal growth for young people and adults. RCES provided a £3,361.83 grant to install 10 PV panels, donated by OVESCO, to power their outdoor kitchen and wildlife pod. A small solar farm was built with 9 of the panels which are now up and running, providing power for lighting, heating and wildlife cameras in the pod. The 10th panel will be used by students to create stand-alone projects such as water features in the sensory garden. Read more about this project here.
Reading Sea Cadets
Reading Sea Cadets also received a grant from RCES of £1,887 to insulate the loft space at their training base. The Cadets previously raised £86,000 to repair their roof as they were unable to use the building for four years due to unsafe roof conditions. They are now back in the building but a lack of insulation led to significant heat loss and an increase in electricity used to run the building’s heaters. 300mms of rolled fibre insulation was then installed, increasing the energy efficiency of the building. Read more about this project here.
The True Food Co-operative
The True Food Co-operative is a not-for profit community shop who received a grant to help undertake a project, completed in August 2021. They used the money to reduce the amount of electricity used for lighting in their shop by 65% after upgrading to LED lighting. Switching to LEDs lowers energy bills as well as carbon emissions and can be done at home too. The Energy Saving Trust estimates that swapping to LED lights at home could save you £30 a year on your electricity bills. Read more about the project here.
Path Highdown School and Sixth Form Centre
Highdown School and Sixth Form Centre in Emmer Green were awarded a grant to fund a vegetable growing project. The school used the £500 to purchase vegetable planters. Trugs were built and vegetables were planted in them including lettuce and leeks, as well as mint, oregano and sage. The produce is now being used in the school kitchens to feed Highdown Students. Read more about the project here.
Design Nature CIC
Design Nature is a Reading based Community Interest Company established in 2021 to support young people to design positive futures for all: both within school settings and outside, in their wider communities. A grant from RCES was used towards the design, development and deliver of local workshops for schools, championing the role of renewable energy in the community. The workshops were titled 'Imagining Renewable Futures' and challenged STEM/STEAM (Science Technology Engineering / Art / Mathematics) students to imagine and then action plan 37 innovative ideas for the school and community. You can read more about the project here.