EmPower Massachusetts

Multiple hands adjusting puzzle pieces

The Challenge: Prioritize Underserved Populations in our Clean Energy Future

Low-income Massachusetts households spend a disproportionately high percentage of their income on energy, while renters, low-income, and non-English-speaking households are less likely to use energy efficiency incentives. Similarly, solar adoption lags for renters and minority communities. And yet, all residents need and deserve to be part of our collective clean energy future.

About EmPower Massachusetts

EmPower Massachusetts offers multiple stages of investment in communities and community-based organizations so that they can explore, develop, and implement program models or projects that provide access to the benefits of clean energy for previously underserved populations. This MassCEC program crowd-sources new and innovative ideas, then helps put them into action. EmPower offers funding to:

  • Build organizational capacity ($5,000 to $25,000 grants)
  • Explore innovative solutions ($5,000 to $25,000 grants)
  • Implement solutions ($50,000 to $150,000 grants)
Status
Open
Award Potential
$150,000 (Implementation) $25,000 (Innovation or Capacity Building)
Application Deadline
Fall round: October 21, 2022; Spring round: April 14, 2023
Apply
Questions? Contact

EmPower Grant Opportunities

Innovation and Capacity-Building Grants

  • Innovation and Capacity Building Grants are "seed" funding for the exploration of innovative ideas for potential program models or projects, including the opportunity to build community or organizational capacity.
  • What is Capacity Building? Learn more from the National Council of Non-Profits on Capacity Building.
  • Among other purposes, this funding could be used for
    • staff time devoted to program concept development or refinement
    • technical studies needed to move projects forward
    • costs for a grant-writer, accountant, lawyer, or other professional services
    • community engagement expenses
  • Grant range: $5,000-$25,000 (up to $50,000 in some cases)

Implementation Grants

  • Implementation grants provide funding to implement community-based programs or projects that increase the access to the benefits of clean energy to and/or reduce energy burden on previously underserved population priority groups.
  • Applications should identify specific goals and outcomes for energy access for the targeted priority population.
  • Grant range: $50,000-$150,000

Funding Schedule

Two application periods are available for each grant opportunity: Fall 2022 and Spring 2023.

A schedule is provided in the adjacent table.  See additional details in the application materials, below. 

Process Step Timing

Application period opens

Friday, July 29, 2022

Application deadlines

Fall: October 21, 2022
Spring: April 14, 2023

Interviews (when applicable)

Within a month of application deadline

Awards announced

Within 2-3 months of each application deadline

Who's Eligible

MassCEC seeks a wide variety of applicants/participants, such as

  • Community-based organizations (CBOs), non-profits, and individuals
  • Municipalities (including those with municipal electric departments/companies)
  • Clean energy installers/implementers
  • Financial institutions

We also encourage (and can help facilitate) beneficial partnerships. All applicants other than CBOs must partner with a CBO to participate in any grant opportunity.

For full Program details, please refer to the two Requests for Proposals (RFPs), below.

How Do I Get Started?

Not sure where to begin? Start with this list of recommendations! 

Join our Slack channel and continue the conversation!

Apply

Application Process

  1. Review both RFPs to understand the Program and opportunities.
  2. (Optional but encouraged) Attend our informational webinars, participate in a workshop, and/or use other informational resources offered. See more information below regarding the resources MassCEC offers potential Applicants.
  3. (Optional but encouraged) Contact MassCEC to discuss your idea(s).  Seek input or support via email (empower@masscec.com) or visit the MassCEC EmPower Slack workspace.  See more information below on the support MassCEC may be able to offer, including a one-time review of your submission.
  4. (Optional) Submit a draft Application to MassCEC by the relevant Pre-Application Review Deadline listed in Section 5 of the RFP and receive feedback from MassCEC within two weeks.
  5. Reach out to MassCEC to indicate and discuss interest in any in-kind technical services from MassCEC (as described in Section 5 of the RFP).
  6. Complete Attachments 1 and 2 for each relevant grant opportunity.  This includes confirming review of Attachment 3: EmPower Mass FY23 Template Innovation and Capacity Building Grant Agreement.
  7. Submit the form by email to the EmPower Mass team at empower@masscec.com with "Implementation or Innovation and Capacity Building Grant Application" in the subject line.

Application Materials

Implementation Grants

Innovation & Capacity-Building Grants

Contact us at: empower@masscec.com

Workshops and Videos

Watch this 10-minute overview of the EmPower Massachusetts program. A refreshed video will be uploaded shortly. For timeline on the now-open second year of funding please refer to the Funding Schedule and Apply sections of the website.

Watch Overview Now

We're happy to announce the schedule for the first round of Participant Workshops for the second year of the program:

  • Workshop #1: August 17, noon - 2 pm.

Register Here
  • Workshop #2: August 30, 5:30 - 7:30 pm.
Register Here

Watch either of these recorded workshops for prospective applicants from last year’s program (~35 mins each).  

View June 9, 2021 Workshop
View June 16, 2021 Workshop

If you have suggestions for workshop format or content, please contact empower@masscec.com.

Basic Resources and Support

We know there are many ways to approach these opportunities and want to ensure you have access to resources that support whichever challenge you are tackling or opportunity you are pursuing.

Educational Resources

Get connected, stay engaged, ask questions

Speak with us:

Please contact us at&empower@masscec.com with any questions or to set up a call with the EmPower team.

Sign up for virtual "Office Hours":

Join our Slack channel:

The EmPower Slack channel is a great space for networking and collaboration between organizations. We will also be posting programmatic updates on this channel. Continue the conversation on Slack!

Join our Slack channel

Additional Resources

Learn more about clean energy programs and incentives to discover the technology(ies) best suited to your potential program
Learn more about Massachusetts Environmental Justice (EJ) policy
Get inspired by other initiatives and complementary opportunities

 

Explore data to further inform your ideas

FAQs

What if my organization does not have experience with clean energy? 

Experience with clean energy or related topics is not a requirement under the program. We encourage community-based organizations that don’t have this experience to apply to the program. Please reach out to us so that we can determine what kind of assistance or education we can provide and include these details on future applications.

How can I determine if the population I’d like to support through my program idea is a Priority Group population?

The for the FY22 Program (now closed), the following populations were considered population Priority Groups; although these criteria are subject to change, we anticipate they will be the same for the FY23 round. 

  • “Environmental Justice Populations” as defined by the Massachusetts Department of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) Environmental Justice Policy. https://www.mass.gov/service-details/environmental-justice-policy
  • “Environmental Justice (EJ) Population” means a neighborhood where 25 percent of the households have an annual median household income that is equal to or less than 65 percent of the statewide median income, or 25% of its population is Minority or identifies as household that has English Isolation. 
  • “Minority” refers to individuals who identify themselves as Latino/Hispanic, Black/African American, Asian, Indigenous people, and people who otherwise identify as non-white.
  • “Low-income” means median household income at or below 65 percent of the statewide median income for Massachusetts, according to federal census data.  
  • “English isolation” refers to households that are English Language Isolated according to federal census forms, or do not have an adult over the age of 14 who speaks only English or speaks English very well. 
  • Renters (primarily residential)
  • Communities or individuals disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, by the fossil-fuel based energy system, or other environmental hazards. 

Two possible ways to qualify your population are to

  1. review the updated Environmental Justice Map Viewer; or
  2. review this updated document which outlines communities and their percentage of EJ census block groups.

Your application narrative can explain how you have used these tools or otherwise determined a group's eligibility.

Does my non-profit/community-based organization have to have 501c3 status to be considered eligible? 

No! Non-profits and other community-based organizations (or individuals) are listed as an eligible type of applicant, but that does not mean your organization needs formal 501c3 status.

Potential applicants who do not have the ability to hire staff or receive funds should consider forming a partnership with another group that can act as a fiscal agent. If you need assistance in finding a fiscal agent, contact MassCEC to see if we can help. 

Past Awardees

Explore the 32 exciting projects supported by MassCEC's EmPower Massachusetts in 2022.  Read the press release, or check out the map below.  On the map, you can use the +/- buttons to zoom in, use your mouse to pan, and use the scrollbar at the right to see the full list of awardees. Click on the awardee's name or location pin to get more information about their project, including excerpts from their application.

Note: The points depicted on the map locate the address of the lead organization for each project, and are not necessarily representative of the area(s) in which the projects themselves are operating. The Project location listed for each project provides this information.

Additional Funding Opportunities

See all