British Gas - Energy For Tomorrow
Eligibility Criteria
Version dated: [29.05.2025]
Introduction
We are seeking out multi-sports clubs/organisations that are looking to accelerate their energy transition. We are prioritising non football sports as the primary sport offered by clubs. Football will be considered if it is a secondary sport (making up less than 50% of sporting activity).
We want to hear from you if you are a registered organisation who are enabling a more inclusive and sustainable future in communities through the power of sports. If you have an energy project in mind for your site or premises we can support your commitment to your environment.
We want to support those who have a clear social mission; a viable and feasible idea; and can demonstrate one or more of the following:
● You're inclusion champions: Delivering accessible and inclusive sporting opportunities that break down barriers across age, gender, ability and background - empowering communities, promoting wellbeing, and transforming how sport unites society.
● You're changing energy behaviours: Engaging individuals to better understand their energy use, how they impact the environment and inspire them to do things differently for a more sustainable future
● You're supporting communities: Encouraging collaboration within communities to deliver projects that have a far-reaching impact, ensuring no one is left behind.
Eligible Organisations
To be eligible to apply, organisations must be:
● UK based
● CICs, Charities, CASC’s, registered community groups or other not-for-profit organisations
● Community Benefit Societies
To receive funding, you must have at least three non-related trustees or directors who don't live together. And you need to ensure decision making and voting rights are equally distributed between your trustees or directors.
Organisations set up as trusts (including charitable trusts) are not currently eligible to participate in the Fund.
Eligible organisations must: Be inclusive and accessible
You will be required to provide the following documentation and evidence of your organisation’s eligibility:
● Bank account in their organisation’s name.
● Safeguarding and/or child protection policies where relevant.
The following organisations are not eligible:
● For-Profit Organisations
● Organisations applying on behalf of another
● Organisations based outside the United Kingdom
● Individuals / Sole Traders
● Local Authorities
We are also not able to support the following:
● People living outside of the UK: the focus is on activities within the UK so costs for activities involving participants living outside the UK aren't eligible for funding.
● Projects for private gain: those that solely benefit an individual (i.e. covering membership fees).
● Redistribution of grants: to other organisations.
● Duplicate funding: costs that are already covered by another source of funding. All sources of additional funding for your project should be declared in the application.
● Retrospective funding: costs already incurred before the award letter date, or projects that have already started before you’ve received a funding confirmation.
Selection process
Applications open from 3rd June - 1st July. There will be information sessions/webinars held by British Gas on 11th June 9.30 - 10.30 am & 18th June 4pm - 5pm. Optional crowdfunding sessions held by Crowdfunder can be found at the Crowdfunder Events Hub.
All projects that meet the criteria set out above will be assessed to determine which projects will be selected for the fund. Shortlisted projects will be notified between the 7th and 15th July, and invited to a Pitch Day on 31st July which will consist of a presentation and Q&A. Following the Pitch Day, project owners will be notified whether their application has been successful or not by the 5th August. Successful clubs will be given campaign support from 5th - 31st August to launch their crowdfunding efforts (crowdfunding window between 1st September and 31st October) which will include crowdfunding & marketing expertise and resources to create video and media. The offer of match funding will be valid for the funding round in 2025, if you do not launch your crowdfunding campaign within this period, the offer will be rescinded.
We will focus on ensuring funding is distributed equitably, particularly in terms of geographic location and types of beneficiaries. A range of projects will be selected to achieve this.
Live match funding criteria
British Gas will provide match funding to Projects accepted to the Energy For Tomorrow Fund during their initial fundraising period as follows:
a) All pledges made by supporters, up to a maximum of £100 (per supporter), will be matched by the Energy For Tomorrow Fund at a rate of 2:1 or 3:1 live match funding depending on the Index of Multiple Deprivation(IMD) of the location of the Project:
ai. IMD 1-3: Projects with an IMD score of 1-3 will receive match funding at a rate of 3:1. This means that if a Project receives a Pledge of £100, The Energy For Tomorrow Fund will provide £300. If a Project receives a Pledge of £500, The Energy For Tomorrow Fund will provide £300.
aii. IMD 4-5: Projects with an IMD score of 4-5 will receive match funding at a rate of 2:1. This means that if a Project receives a Pledge of £100, The Energy For Tomorrow Fund will provide £200. If a Project receives a Pledge of £500, The Energy For Tomorrow Fund will provide £200.
b) Rewards will not be eligible for match funding if the value of the reward (or a significant proportion) is to be passed to a third party. If rewards are provided by third parties they should be donations to qualify for match funding. If in doubt, please ask for clarification.
c)There will be a maximum amount of match funding a Project can receive from British Gas. There are 3 categories and you will be informed which category applies to your Project following the Pitch Day. This will be one of the following:
ci) the lower of £40,000 or 50% of target.
cii) the lower of £20,000 or 50% of target.
ciii) the lower of £10,000 or 50% of target.
d) Match funding will be given on one pledge made to a Project by a supporter.
e) Projects must reach their project target by the end of the programme 23:59 31st October 2025 to receive match funding.
f) Pledges will not be matched where a project is “always on”.
g) Your project must receive pledges from a minimum of 50 unique supporters to receive the match funding. To verify whether supporters are unique we will take account of information including, but not limited to: name, address, email addresses and payment card used.
h) The following Pledges will not be matched:
hi) Pledges made outside of the initial fundraising period.
hii) Second (2nd) and any subsequent (3rd, 4th, etc) pledges to the same Project by the same supporter.
i) If the project fails to reach 100% of the target the match funding will be cancelled. The Project owner will be encouraged to look at how to improve their campaign and invited to apply again for the next round of funding.
The match fund will be distributed on a first come first serve basis. Matching will stop automatically when the funds are fully allocated. Being approved for match funding does not guarantee you will receive any funding.
British Gas reserves the right to vary these match funding criteria; projects will be notified if their match funding criteria will vary from the stated terms above.
Additional Requirements
Project Owners or the campaigning organisation pledging to their own campaign is allowed, however this should not be a significant amount unless discussed before the pledge is added. Small offline donations that have been collected may also be added, however you may be required to evidence the origin of these pledges (receipts, letters of support, copies of cheques or bank statements etc.)
You will be ineligible for funding from Energy For Tomorrow, at Energy For Tomorrow’s sole discretion, if it is not satisfied that all the supporter pledges on your project are genuine pledges.
Projects will be required to agree to the Terms and Conditions.