The Energy Communities Clearinghouse

Your Coal and Power Plant Community Funding Resource
Updated: 
April 7, 2023
3
min read
Finding Funding
Watch the Energy Communities Webinar clip on the clearinghouse here: Technical Assistance for Energy Communities Webinar Series – Webinar #2 January 17, 2023

Calling all Kentucky nonprofit organizations in coal and power plant communities! We want to share a fantastic federal funding resource with you. It’s called the Energy Communities Clearinghouse and it can be found here: https://energycommunities.gov

The clearinghouse is maintained by the Interagency Working Group on Coal & Power Plant Communities and Economic Revitalization. It is a database of federal funding relevant to coal, oil and gas, and power plant communities across the country. The clearinghouse  allows potential applicants to browse open and planned funding opportunities on one easy-to-navigate webpage. 

In the clearinghouse you will find:

  • $Billions of open/planned competitive funding
  • $Billions of open/planned funding going through states
  • Information about inflation reduction act tax credits

As of this writing there are 33 funding and technical assistance opportunities available and OPEN to nonprofit organizations. A large portion of these are aimed at economic development and infrastructure, but you can find all sorts of opportunities, and we recommend that you check this resource regularly.

To find opportunities specific to nonprofit organizations:

1. Navigate to the funding clearinghouse 

2. Now, use the drop down menus at the top of the database to filter your results. Drop down the box on the furthest right, “Eligible Recipient”, and choose “Non-profit”.

3. You can use the other drop down menus to further filter the opportunities. For example, try selecting only open grants with no match by choosing “Status”: “Open” and using the “Funding Type” drop down.

4. Once you’ve found an opportunity that looks promising for your organization, click on its title to view a full profile of the opportunity. The profile will include a link to the application if it is open. The profiles show information such as funding details, any upcoming webinars related to the application, related resources, and more. One very important piece of information on the profile is contact information for questions related to the grant.

TIP: Reach out to the funding contact prior to starting the application. Introduce yourself and your organization, and ask for information or ask a specific question that shows you understand the mission of the grant. This shows you’re doing your research, and helps put a name to your application when it comes across their desk later!

As mentioned, this is a resource you’ll want to check often for new open applications. You can stay up-to-date about new opportunities and training by signing up for energy communities updates with just your email and zip code at the bottom of the page here: https://energycommunities.gov/contact/.

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