Fellowship Application Guidelines - RE-volv

Solar Ambassador Program
FELLOWSHIP APPLICATION GUIDELINES
PROGRAM OVERVIEW
RE-volv is looking for driven, creative, and passionate college students to help spread solar
around the country. The Solar Ambassador Program is a fellowship for one academic year
that gives college students the opportunity to spearhead a solar project in their community
using RE-volv’s innovative solar financing model. From each university RE-volv seeks a Solar
Ambassador team of four or more students, though applications with fewer than four
students will still be considered. To apply for the fellowship the team must identify a
community center or campus building that they want to solarize and have a representative
of the facility indicate interest in participating in the program. The teams most poised for
success will be awarded the fellowship. Throughout the duration of the fellowship, teams
will work with RE-volv to bring their proposed solar projects to completion. To facilitate
this, each team will select one Project Lead who will be flown to San Francisco for an allexpense-paid Solar Ambassador Leadership Summit, held August 1-4 in the San Francisco
Bay Area. This summit will train Project Leads on solar finance and policy, crowdfunding,
event planning, communications, and how to work with their community to develop the
proposed solar project. During the academic year all team members will participate in biweekly webinars with RE-volv staff and invited guests from leading environmental
organizations and solar companies, who will speak on topics related to renewable energy
and environmental organizing.
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ABOUT RE-VOLV & THE SOLAR SEED FUND
Founded in 2011, RE-volv is a nonprofit organization based in San Francisco that
empowers people and communities to invest collectively in renewable energy. RE-volv
raises awareness about solar energy through its community-based solar projects and
outreach programs across the U.S.
RE-volv finances solar energy projects for nonprofits and cooperatives that serve their
community. RE-volv covers the initial costs of a solar installation by crowdfunding tax
deductible donations. As communities pay RE-volv back through a lease over time, RE-volv
reinvests those funds plus interest into new projects for nonprofits and cooperatives
creating a revolving fund for solar energy that serves the community. This revolving fund is
known as the Solar Seed Fund.
During its first three Indiegogo crowdfunding campaigns, RE-volv has raised over $121,000
from close to 900 donations from people in 38 states and 22 countries. This money has
been utilized to finance three community-based solar projects amounting to 64kW of solar
capacity. Read more about RE-volv’s completed projects at www.re-volv.org/projects.
PROGRAM GOALS
During the 2015-16 academic year all Solar Ambassador fellowship teams will be working
to achieve the following goals:
Develop a community-based solar project.
Each team will manage the process of selecting a building on campus, OR a local nonprofit
or cooperative that serves the community, to provide with solar power. This involves
collecting the building’s last 12 months of electrical bills, researching and selecting a solar
installer, and upon completion of the solar installation, organize a celebratory ribbon
cutting event.
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Empower people to take action for clean energy by crowdfunding local solar
projects.
Each team will manage their own crowdfunding campaign to collect tax-deductible
donations to cover the up-front costs of their community solar installation. Each team will
make a short video about the project and develop an outreach strategy to activate people
in their network and encourage them to support and share the crowdfunding campaign.
Educate fellow college students and community members about the benefits of
solar energy.
Each team will hold events on campus, write blogs, and help spread the word about solar
energy to their fellow students and community members.
COMMUNITY-BASED SOLAR ENERGY PROJECTS
In order to be considered for the fellowship each team must identify a potential
community-based solar energy project, have a representative of the organization sign the
project application form expressing interest in going solar with RE-volv, and collect the
organization’s last 12 months of electric bills.
To be eligible to receive a solar lease from RE-volv, projects have to be nonprofit
organizations (including private, not-for-profit universities) or worker-owned cooperatives.
Preferably, these organizations own their building, have a longstanding presence in the
community, and serve many people.
Solar Ambassadors can choose to work with organizations in two categories:
A building on your college campus (must be a private, not-for-profit university)*
A building of a nonprofit organization or cooperative in your community (National
Audubon Society Centers are preferred. Please read more about RE-volv’s
partnership with the National Audubon Society at the end of this document.)
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*If a team chooses to work with a campus building, a professor willing to act as a liaison to
the university and champion for the project needs to be listed on the team application
form, and must sign the project application form.
ELIGIBILITY
Required for all team members.
Enrollment at accredited college or university
Thorough understanding of climate change, renewable energy and the environment
Demonstrated interest in activism and campus organizing for clean energy
Ability to self-manage, organize teams and delegate tasks to accomplish goals
Excellent interpersonal and written/oral communications skills
Project Lead must be able to attend training in San Francisco Bay Area August
1-4. All expenses paid.
BENEFITS
In addition to being part of a vibrant network of clean energy leaders from across the
country, each Solar Ambassador fellowship team will receive:
Up to $1,500 reimbursement for approved Solar Ambassador expenses
Professional development focused on leadership, project management,
communications, community outreach, and fundraising through bi-weekly webinars
For Project Lead, financial support to attend a four-day leadership summit including
costs for food, travel, and lodging
Expanding your network by building meaningful relationships with other clean
energy organizers around the country
One-on-one support for planning, executing, and communicating about your project
from RE-volv staff
Opportunities for public recognition for your project through media and web
promotion
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Opportunities to network and collaborate with other Solar Ambassadors, as well as
opportunities to establish strong professional connections with RE-volv staff and
other leaders in the clean energy field
SOLAR AMBASSADOR LEADERSHIP SUMMIT
Each Solar Ambassador team will elect one team member as the Project Lead. The Project
Lead is required to attend the Solar Ambassador Leadership Summit, which will take place
Saturday, August 1st through Tuesday, August 4th, 2015. The summit is a four-day
professional development workshop focused on enhancing solar policy and finance
knowledge, as well as project management, community organizing, and communications
skills. Project Leads will learn how to educate their own communities about solar energy
and how to drum up community support for their projects. As a group, the Project Leads
and RE-volv staff will discuss climate change and emerging climate solutions. The summit
is intended to connect students working in different areas of the country and create a
network of leaders who will support each other and share best practices throughout the
academic year.
HOW TO APPLY AND APPLICATION DEADLINE
To be considered for the Solar Ambassador program your team will need to submit the
Team Application and the Project Application for Communities by May 1st, 2015 at 11:59
pm PST.
Team Application
Project Application for Communities
The Application has many components including information about your team, the
community organization you plan to work with, and your plan for success.
Completed applications should be sent to info [at] re-volv [dot] org.
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SELECTION PROCESS
RE-volv will contact teams whose project ideas comply with RE-volv’s project requirements
and have a high degree of feasibility. If your project is chosen to advance to the second
round, we may request your assistance in collecting the following information from your
community organization by May 15th:
the Profit and Loss Statement and the Balance Sheet of the organization for each of
the last three years
scanned copies of the last 12 months of electricity bills for the organization
Once we have the necessary materials, RE-volv will announce the top five teams from
around the country to join the fellowship.
The selection process weighs heavily in favor of communities that are excited about the
prospect of going solar with RE-volv, students who have organizing experience and project
management skills, and a team that combines passion for clean energy with the
commitment required to make this project come to fruition. RE-volv prefers that teams
apply with at least four members but teams with fewer than four members can also apply
and have the option to add members to their teams later.
*A note on working with National Audubon Society Centers*
RE-volv has formed a partnership with the National Audubon Society, a leading
environmental organization, to finance solar projects for Audubon Centers with the help of
the Solar Ambassador program. Audubon is looking to engage its membership base with
community driven solutions to climate change and has offered to amplify the efforts of the
Solar Ambassadors through the Audubon network. If there is an eligible Audubon
Center near you, we strongly recommend you select it as the community organization
to solarize. You can find Audubon Centers in your area at
http://www.audubon.org/audubon-near-you.
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FELLOWSHIP AWARD REQUIREMENTS
•
Form a Solar Ambassador team and select a Project Lead
•
Work with local solar installer and the selected community organization to plan,
crowdfund, and execute a solar project
•
Attend bi-weekly webinars
•
Each Ambassador must write at least one blog for the RE-volv website per semester
•
Plan and hold Solar Education Week event
•
Actively engage with RE-volv on social media
**If the requirements of the program are not met, or the team drops out of the program
during the course of the year, RE-volv may request that the money invested in the team,
including the Project Lead’s expenses to attend the Solar Ambassador Leadership Summit,
be reimbursed to the organization.**
CONTACT INFORMATION
All inquiries should be sent via email to info [at] re-volv [dot] org. No phone calls, please.
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