RELEASE: City of Indianapolis and IFF Announce 12 Organizations Selected to Participate in Second Cohort of Energy Efficiency Initiative
City of Indianapolis and IFF Announce 12 Organizations Selected to Participate in Second Cohort of Energy Efficiency Initiative
12 mission-driven organizations in Marion County to receive energy-focused facility assessments and matching grants through the Thriving Nonprofits initiative
INDIANAPOLIS—Today, the Indianapolis Office of Sustainability and community development financial institution IFF announced the 12 organizations selected to participate in the second cohort of Thriving Nonprofits. The local initiative is designed to help Marion County nonprofits increase energy efficiency in their facilities, reduce operating costs, and cultivate the environmental resilience needed to ensure their long-term success as community anchors.
Funded by philanthropic dollars from the McKinney Family Foundation and the Indianapolis Foundation, Thriving Nonprofits provides each cohort member with a facility assessment to identify opportunities to improve energy efficiency and a matching grant of up to $10,000 to execute efficiency-boosting building upgrades. By lowering their monthly utility bills, participating organizations are able to redirect cost savings back into frontline community services and programming.
Organizations selected to participate in the second Thriving Nonprofits cohort include:
“Strengthening our city requires bringing community partners together to tackle shared challenges, and we are incredibly proud to welcome this second cohort of organizations to participate in Thriving Nonprofits,” said Mo McReynolds, director of the Indianapolis Office of Sustainability. “By expanding this initiative, we are helping local organizations upgrade their physical spaces to ensure our community infrastructure is better equipped for the future.”
Energy assessments of cohort members’ facilities will be conducted by IFF’s Real Estate Solutions team and include a walk-through of the cohort member’s facility to examine features like exterior walls, roofs, windows, and doors. Interior elements, appliances, heating and cooling systems, light fixtures, and more will also be examined to pinpoint opportunities for upgrades or replacements to increase energy efficiency. These findings will be coupled with an analysis of utility bills and external factors like local weather and seasonal patterns to develop a detailed report overviewing opportunities to improve the energy efficiency of the facility. Cohort members will also receive recommendations about which building upgrades to complete in the short- and long-term based on estimated cost and complexity.
Matching grants provided to Thriving Nonprofits cohort members will help to facilitate building upgrades like LED lighting retrofits, HVAC replacements, wall or roof insulation, weatherization, solar panel installations, and the purchase of more efficient appliances, among other examples. IFF will also provide cohort members with access to flexible loans to supplement project budgets, as needed. The anticipated completion for all building upgrades is the end of 2026.
“Every dollar a nonprofit spends keeping the lights on or repairing an inefficient heating system is a dollar that could be used to advance its mission,” said Donna Sink, IFF’s senior owner’s representative. “By identifying clear avenues for energy-efficient building improvements and providing the capital to make them a reality, Thriving Nonprofits is helping mission-driven organizations devote more of their resources to supporting local residents and strengthening communities across Marion County.”
While participating in the initiative, each cohort member will also take part in educational seminars that foster collaboration among cohort members and encourage participants to share learnings that can be used to further refine their facility’s goals.
Launched last year with an inaugural cohort of 10 organizations, Thriving Nonprofits has produced a total investment of around $300,000 in energy efficiency and clean energy in Marion County to date. Collectively, the members of the initiative’s first cohort are projected to achieve estimated annual savings of $36,550 in total utility costs. This translates to approximately 240,000 kWh in total energy savings and a reduction of about 150 metric tons in total CO2 emissions, which is equivalent to taking 46 gas-powered cars off the road for an entire year.
These measurable impacts are contributing to the broader sustainability efforts outlined in Thrive Indianapolis, a citywide sustainability and resilience action plan that seeks to mitigate the effects of extreme weather events and guide Indianapolis to carbon neutrality by 2050. By upgrading nonprofit facilities, Thriving Nonprofits directly advances a key action item in the plan to construct and maintain buildings and infrastructure that provide safe, comfortable, and healthy environments for all.
To learn more about Thriving Nonprofits, visit indy.gov/activity/thriving-nonprofits.
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