Just Energy for All Seed Funding Application 2024

Click Here for the Seed Funding Application.

The Office of Economic and Environmental Justice invites United Women in Faith groups to apply for grants to help support local organizing campaigns to advance just energy for all. Funding is available for work happening at the circle, unit, district, conference, and jurisdiction level. United Women in Faith (UWFaith) groups are strongly encouraged to apply for a grant to support work that is happening collaboratively in coalition/partnership with other organizations or groups, so long as such work involves substantial participation from local United Women in Faith members and is focused on supporting energy infrastructure projects.

About the Just Energy for All Campaign

Our Just Energy for All Campaign is hosted by United Women in Faith’s Office of Economic and Environmental Justice and works for energy that is cleaner and more just for all of God’s people and creation. This means advocating for 100% renewable energy (RE) – such as solar, wind, small-scale hydro and geothermal – that is centered on justice and equity. You can find webinars and resources on our JE4A campaign page to help your project research! Learn more.

Rolling Deadline

The first round of application review will be Wednesday, July 31, 2024, and the second deadline is based on available funding.

Goal of United Women in Faith Grant Support

To advance United Women in Faith’s efforts to promote just energy for all by providing small-scale grants to augment existing campaigns and/or develop new campaigns.

Available Grant Support

Priority will be given to funding requests of $100 – $3,000. We invite each applicant to carefully consider the amount of funding needed and to document in detail the budget and the rationale in the application. Funding is limited, so please budget responsibly and request only the amount that you will need. The funds may be allocated for the purchase of materials, services, participation at impact events, direct work involved, or for grant writing purposes.

Criteria for Evaluating Applications

Many United Women in Faith groups are doing wonderful work in a variety of areas of climate justice. To support that work and further advance a just energy transition, we made this grant available to support many forms of projects, from installations to awareness and advocacy campaigns, to training and event participation.

This year we are again including ventures focused on supporting energy infrastructure projects. This may include renewable energy installation, energy efficiency upgrades such as heat pumps or insulation, and energy audits. We are also seeking to prioritize and assist groups in frontline communities applying for federal funding, including programs such as the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The funding support would aid in development and implementation of electrifying communities with energy infrastructure projects that will contribute to a more sustainable future. This could include projects related to building weatherization and efficiency upgrades, as well as installing new electric appliances, the purchase of common electric vehicles, heat pumps, energy auditing services, or rooftop solar systems. More detail on these acts and examples of energy infrastructure projects can be found on our Seed Funding Resource Guide.

Main Criteria Points

Your campaign should have a clear goal aligned with advancing just energy for all, meaningfully engage local groups, and prioritize investing and services in frontline communities.

Campaign activities can range from awareness campaigns to actual work toward 100% renewable energy implementation in facilities and transportation, to working with local government electrification and implementation. Campaign goals should demonstrate a healthy mix of ambition and realism.

Campaigns must show that they include the voices of directly impacted communities in the leadership and/or decision-making process. Depending on your specific context and campaign, directly impacted communities could include fenceline and frontline communities near power plants, mining or fracking areas, highly polluted areas, communities with high energy burden, youth and those with health conditions impacted by climate change, or workers in the current energy industry.

We will consider applications for stand-alone UWFaith-led work and individual environmental justice groups, but we strongly encourage collaborative campaign work with United Women in Faith groups acting in coalition with other organizations and groups to achieve a shared goal. We can best do this work by working together.

Timeline

• Deadline: July 31, 2024
• Group(s) notified of funding support decisions: August 2024
• Selected group(s) receive funding: September-October 2024
• Implementation: September 2024 to September 2025

Please send questions to climatejustice@uwfaith.org.