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 15 mile radius of Reading Town Hall.
In 2020, two Community Grants were paid out to Path Hill Outdoors and Reading Sea Cadets.
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 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.
To see if your scheme is eligible, please see the Guidance Document and Application Form.
Read how a grant award helped Just Around the Corner (JAC) Ltd to install energy efficiency heating in their community building here.
