Climate change is a global challenge that demands local solutions. We need to, decarbonise, shift rapidly to net zero and support the uptake of renewable energy, energy efficiency, electrification of vehicles, plus opportunities which will see use reduce carbon emissions immediately.
Citizens Own Renewable Energy Network Australia (CORENA) is an Australian renewable energy and community energy charity dedicated to supporting communities to reduce emissions through practical projects that otherwise wouldn’t happen.
Through your support, CORENA can provide a vital bridge to foster understanding of the opportunities and challenges that a transition to a zero-carbon energy system raises and provide game changing funding in the form of interest-free loans to community organisations, not for profits, charities and socially minded businesses to play their part in tackling the climate emergency.
Here are our 7 top tips why you should donate to a renewable energy charity like CORENA
1. Support Practical, Proven, Fast & Effective Solutions to the Climate Emergency
Our energy use makes up 78.3% of our carbon emissions. Electrifying our homes, businesses and non profits and powering them with solar panels is the biggest and fastest thing we can do to rapidly decarbonise and it can be done using proven, established technologies. Rewiring Australia has prepared this excellent series of infographics which explains why this is such an important way to tackle the climate emergency.
2. Small Donations Make a Collective Impact
“The original spark for CORENA came from a light-hearted quip. I was enthusing about the stationary energy plan, published by Beyond Zero Emissions in 2010, to a fairly mainstream relative. When she heard that Australia could transition to 100% renewable energy in 10 years at a cost of just $8/week per household, she said, “Great! Where do I send my $8 per week?“ Margaret Hender Founder
The revolving fund model enables all of us who want immediate reductions in carbon emissions to chip in and collectively help pay for practical climate-beneficial projects. Small amounts of money from LOTS of people can achieve much more than any of us can alone. CORENA has many wonderful recurring donors who chip in small amounts weekly, fortnightly or monthly.
Find out how to become a recurring donor.
3. Multiply your Impact with our Revolving Energy Fund
Our revolving fund is a key element in our climate emergency action strategy. It means that the money donated to projects is never exhausted and continues paying for more and more climate benefits far into the future.
It works like this. Community organisations apply for zero-interest loans to pay for projects such as solar panels, energy efficiency, or purchasing electric vehicles.
We then invite everyone to chip in to raise enough money for the loan. The resultant savings on energy/fuel bills cover the loan repayments into our revolving fund.
We then use more new donations and loan repayments from earlier projects to give a loan to the next project. Once that is paid back, the money is combined again with new donations for another project and so on. A proportion of the loan repayments (up to 20%*) is also used to source new projects and provide technical support.
A $100 donation to our first project in 2013 has now had over $450 in impact.
Calculate the multiplied impact of your donation using our Impact Calculator.
4. Remove Barriers to Action
A major blockage to community led climate action is funding and technical skills.
100% of your project donation goes directly to providing zero interest loans to non profits which helps remove the “access to capital” barrier to action.
However a lesser known barrier to implementing climate projects for many non profits is support with the technical aspects of these projects.
A non profit is committed to using their limited resources for their core purpose. The majority of them don’t have a background in energy management or renewable energy and can find the process of implementing these projects confusing and overwhelming. Without technical support many of them don’t have the time needed to see climate projects through to installation.
CORENA will look at their quotes for them, give them independent advice, help them find good installers and provide any other assistance they need to get over this hurdle. We complement this with blogs and a regular e-news with the ultimate aim of building the capacity of the non-profits working on these projects to undertake further projects and help them understand their energy use better.
As loans are repaid 80% of repayments go toward further loans and up to 20% of the repayments (along with external grants and philanthropic donations) is used to find new projects and provide technical support to non profits.
5. Help The People In Your Community Who Need It Most
Charities, non profits and community organisations are the lifeblood of our society. They help those in need and connect our communities. Climate change not only disproportionately affects those that are vulnerable, but also those community organisations that are on the front line of climate impacts working to serve those that need help the most.
As energy prices soar and extreme weather events become more frequent, the imperative for these organisations to adapt and mitigate their carbon footprint becomes increasingly urgent.
By alleviating the financial and techncial barriers associated with renewable energy adoption, CORENA empowers organisations to redirect resources towards their core missions meaning they can get on with the job of helping our community.
To see the community organisations we have supported across Australia have a look at our projects page.
6. Multiple Ways To Give
You can set up a recurring weekly or monthly contribution and we will allocate your donation to whichever project is next in line for funding at the time your contributions arrive.
Or you can choose which of our current projects you would like to support. You can even choose to donate a solar panel.
Our new Raisley donation form also allows you to donate via Gpay or credit card. You can also donate via Paypal. Some fees apply for both these methods. Alternatively you can also donate via bank transfer and avoid fees altogether.
Learn more in Donate to a project
7. Donations Are Tax Deductible
CORENA is a registered charity with the Australian Charities and Not for Profits Commission (ACNC). You can find our listing on the ACNC website here.
Further to this, The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission explains that DGR organisations are entitled to receive donations that a donor can deduct from their income tax. A deductible gift recipient (DGR) is an organisation or fund that registers to receive tax deductible gifts or donations. CORENA is endorsed as a Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) from 01 Jan 2024. It is covered by Item 1 of the table in section 30-15 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 .
