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About the Fund

The Star Energy Community Fund is a further commitment we make towards the vitality of the communities in which we operate. For the 2024 round, it covers specific areas of Surrey, West Sussex and Lincolnshire. Our Community Fund has distributed over £1 million since its launch in 2008 to projects that are charitable, educational, or benevolent in purpose. Projects are chosen by an independent panel consisting of representatives from local authorities or appropriate community organisations in the areas where the fund operates.

Our aim

Projects that we support benefit groups of people within communities close to our operations, as well as wildlife and the environment. Previous grants have been awarded to projects supporting children, young people and vulnerable members of our communities; regeneration projects; self-help groups delivering basic services; wildlife and environmental projects; and projects providing education and skills development opportunities.

Qualifications

We support projects that make a difference to life in the mainly rural communities where we operate. We are keen to support community and voluntary organisations that are charitable, educational or benevolent in purpose. We also welcome applications from local schools, especially those involving projects that reach out into their communities.

Beyond all else, you have to be able to demonstrate the need for your project, real community benefits and value for money. Please note that we cannot consider applications covering a wider area unless they can show specific and substantial benefit to the “host” community and its immediate surrounds.

The closer your project is to the Star Energy location to which it applies the stronger your case.

Please note that

All projects need to follow specific basic requirements to be eligible to our programme.

For further information, including our approach to Community Interest Groups (CICs), please see our Guidelines leaflet here.

We welcome applications from organisations that involve

A broad span of the community
Demonstrating support for a wide cross-section of people
Children and young people
Especially projects focused on improving access to activities and services, and where young people play a key role in the decision-making
Vulnerable people
Especially projects involving increased access to services and facilities for people with disabilities, the homeless and the elderly
Community regeneration
Projects that improve health and education, reduce crime levels, regenerate employment, housing and the physical environment
Energy
Projects that improve energy efficiency, employ green energy and reduce carbon
Self-help groups
Community-based groups that deliver basic services
Environmental and wildlife projects
Especially those involving improvements to communal land. Public access is essential
Education and skills development
Group and community-based programmes, particularly for those who have had no previous access to training opportunities
Health
Projects providing access to services that aim to improve the health and well-being of communities
Sustainability
Projects that promote sustainable development.
Heritage
Projects that celebrate and protect local heritage

Where we operate

The fund aims to support projects in the immediate area of our operational facilities. This will usually be the actual community in which the facility is located or sometimes an immediately adjoining one. Priority will be given to projects from “host” towns and villages on the basis that this is where we have greatest community impact. Our operations may be onshore oil and gas production facilities, sometimes combined with electricity generation sites.

Deadlines

We are now inviting grant applications for our 2024 round of funding. We need initial expressions of interest in order to register your project and then require submission of full applications by 29 February 2024. Our grants panel will make its decisions by the end of March 2024, with funding available from April 2024.

Our 2024 deadlines are

Full applications

29 February 2024

Final decision

End of March 2024

How to apply

As a preliminary, please email us with a summary of your proposal and an indication of approximate costs. This will enable us to make an initial assessment and to confirm that you qualify before you commit time to the full application. You are also welcome to contact us at any stage to discuss your project.

The full application form should be completed and submitted electronically. Once your full application is received, we may contact you for further information.

Our grants panel will consider all applications for the year, and we will announce its decisions and publish them here on our website.

Contact information

If you would like any further information about the fund or advice on an application, please contact the fund’s administrator or quickly complete the form on the right.

Telephone

07768 498148

Post

Star Energy Community Fund
4 The Dell
Vernham Dean
Andover
Hampshire, SP11 0LF

Community fund

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