Lancashire rural communities can scoop up to £5000 in project funding

Calor, a home energy provider, is now giving away 21 grants ranging from £1,000 to £5,000 to rural communities off the mains gas grid.

The Calor Rural Community Fund is now in its third year and has doubled its number of £5000 prizes to 10.

Paul Blacklock, head of corporate affairs for Calor, said: “As a company with off-grid communities at the heart of everything we do, it’s extremely important that we champion rural projects and the people and places behind them. Over the past two years, we’ve seen the Calor Rural Community Fund have an amazing impact on local communities throughout the UK, and we want this to grow year on year.”

Previous winners include playground and village hall refurbishments, instruments for music banks and equipment for sports clubs.

Entrants with the most votes by the public will be shortlisted and then reviewed by a panel of judges, who will select the final 21 winners.

Calor is also pledging £2,000 worth of match funding to approved entries who use Crowdfunder to raise donations for their community project.

Jason Nuttall, Head of Funding for Crowdfunder, said: “We’re really excited to be partnering with the Calor Rural Community Fund. The match funding will give so many projects that extra boost toward meeting their goals and it’s great to be a part of a scheme that is making such a difference to so many rural communities across the UK.”

Applications will be open from March 5th to April 29th. To find out how you can take part, please visit www.calor.co.uk/communityfund