Having completed the community action planning, it is now important to come back to consider the specifics of the Fund and what role it can play in helping achieve some of what is in the plan. Hopefully, the financial value of the Fund will be clear by this stage, as will any particular themes or priorities that the renewable energy business has a preference for. These will also inform the Fund Strategy.

The Fund Strategy should, as a minimum, provide clarity on the following:

  • The key purposes or outcomes that the Fund will be directed towards, and any specific priorities within those
  • What the Fund cannot support, often referred to as ‘exclusions’
  • Any other criteria that will be used to decide what type of projects or initiatives the Fund will support
  • Who can be funded, often referred to as ‘eligible bodies’
  • How the funding opportunity will be made available (the distributing methods), and how frequently.

These are each explored in greater detail in the rest of this module.

An example of a summarised version of a Fund Strategy (referred to as a Fund Factsheet) is available here.