The Solar Ambassador program is a year-long Fellowship where volunteers help bring solar to a nonprofit in their community. Through the Fellowship, volunteers learn about solar energy, technology, policy, and finance, community engagement, communications, and project management. Solar Ambassadors help bring solar to a nonprofit in their community by reaching out to the nonprofit, assisting in reviewing the solar proposal with the nonprofit, hosting a ribbon cutting event, creating a project video, and educating the community about the nonprofit's solar project.

Anyone interested in making a positive impact on their community and making an impact on the environment can be a Solar Ambassador Fellow. Our minimum age limit for being involved in the program is high school students.

Our Solar Ambassador program is currently only open to individuals living within the United States as we only offer solar financing for nonprofits in the United States.

Depending on the requirements of your university and your degree program, you might be eligible to receive college credits or meet internship requirements for being a part of the Solar Ambassador program. Students will need to check with their university and degree program to determine if they are eligible to use the Solar Ambassador Program to meet degree requirements. We have had many Ambassadors complete the Fellowship for university credit or to meet an internship requirement.

By becoming a Solar Ambassador, you receive training in solar energy, technology, policy, and finance, community engagement, communications, and project management. You’ll learn about the solar industry from industry experts during our monthly webinars. Through the Fellowship, you’ll also lead a project to help bring solar to a nonprofit. Both the professional development and hand-on experiences that the Solar Ambassador program offers is valuable experience that can help individuals launch their career in the solar, renewable energy, and sustainability industry.

As a Solar Ambassador, we provide training on solar energy, finance, technology, and policy, community engagement, and communications. We also provide training and professional development opportunities via the following educational opportunities:

• Solar Ambassador Leadership Summit: A 2-day virtual training in the fall where we provide training on solar, community engagement, communications, event planning, social media management, nonprofit outreach, and much more to equip Solar Ambassadors with the tools to bring solar to a nonprofit.
• Monthly Webinars with Industry Experts: We host a monthly webinar exclusively for our Solar Ambassadors with industry experts who cover many different topics of the program, including solar sales, solar policy, communications and event planning, and more.
• Solar Ambassador Bootcamp Training: Our 1-hour Solar Ambassador Training provides a preliminary training for new Solar Ambassadors.
• Solar Career Preparation Training Course: Our Careers Preparation Course is a one hour training that provides information on various solar jobs available within the industry, solar job trends, and tips for getting a job in the industry.

Anyone can be a Solar Ambassador! Many of our Solar Ambassador Team are university students at colleges across the country, but that is not a requirement. Community members, high schoolers, working professionals, college students, retirees and more have successfully been a part of the program.

Typically Solar Ambassadors form a team and work together to help bring solar to a nonprofit. However, we do have many individuals involved in the program as well who are working on their project individually with the support of the RE-volv team.

We’re happy to have you on board! If you’d like to sign up to be a Solar Ambassador, you can complete the sign-up form on our webpage.

When you donate to RE-volv, 100% of your donation goes towards installing solar on a community-serving nonprofit across the country. Your donation will help fight climate change and reduce the nonprofit’s electricity costs by 15% or more, allowing nonprofits to invest their solar savings back into their mission.

RE-volv is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to tackle climate change at the local level by empowering people to accelerate the adoption of clean energy in their communities, especially those that are often excluded from the benefits of the clean energy economy. At RE-volv, we work to provide access to solar energy to nonprofits across the country that serve disadvantaged communities that otherwise could not go solar, while training the next generation of clean energy leaders in the process. Through community engagement, we hope to inspire and build momentum for stronger clean energy policy.

Yes, RE-volv is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit. All donations to RE-volv – whether to a solar project or to our operations – can be claimed as a tax deduction. For your tax purposes, RE-volv’s EIN is 45-1035583

Our Monthly Donor program allows donors to make a recurring donation to RE-volv on a monthly basis. Donors can choose how much they would like to donate to RE-volv and each month the donation takes place on an automated schedule. Donors can choose to edit their donation amount, pause, or cancel their monthly donation at any time by contacting us. Sign up to be a Monthly Donor and help bring solar energy to nonprofits across the country.

Our 10 Year Impact Report highlights our financials, featured on page 16 of the report. This report highlights our operation expenses, programmatic expenses, and operating budget for the last 10 years.

A Recoverable Grant is an innovative financial vehicle that allows RE-volv to receive a grant from foundations and Donor Advised Funds (DAF), use the funds and DAF gift to build solar projects for deserving nonprofits, and pay back the endowment with interest over time. At the end of the term, grantors receive back their grant with interest, and grantors can then continue to regrant those funds to organizations of their choice.

Recoverable grants are a type of charitable giving and are not securities. As such, recoverable grants are high impact because they advance charitable purposes and when successful, the capital can be used towards additional charitable purposes. Typically, recoverable grants are made to a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

Unlike lending, in which an investor has recourse if a borrower defaults on a loan, the donor has limited recourse if a recipient is unable to repay the recoverable grant but did use the funds for the documented charitable purpose (source:Capshift).

RE-volv is currently raising $10 Million through two recoverable grant offerings including a 9-year term with a 1% annual interest rate and a 15-year term with a 1.75% annual interest rate. Your support via a recoverable grant will accelerate the just transition to a clean energy economy that provides real economic value to community-serving nonprofits that need it most. Investors will receive bi-annual reports showcasing how their grant is creating a positive impact in communities at the front lines of the fight for climate solutions.

Recoverable grants can play a uniquely catalytic role. For example, they may provide funding that allows a nonprofit to experiment and develop programs beyond their core competencies without the risk of impairing their existing programs. At the same time, recoverable grants allow donors to take a financial risk in pursuit of impact that, if it pays off, can return some or all the grant dollars for future charitable use.

Many donors use recoverable grants alongside traditional grants to strategically expand the impact of their philanthropy. By incorporating recoverable grants, donors can support the charitable causes they care about while recovering and reusing capital when supporting revenue generating programs or expansion efforts, allowing for greater impact (Source: Capshift)

RE-volv’s Recoverable Grants are used directly to finance the up-front costs for nonprofits across the country to go solar through our nonprofit solar financing model.

Individuals can make a Recoverable Grant to RE-volv through their Donor Advised Fund Management Group or by reaching out to RE-volv. Foundations can make a Recoverable Grant to RE-volv by reaching out to us at info@re-volv.org.

RE-volv’s Recoverable Grant is pre-approved for recoverable grantmaking through Vanguard Charitable’s Premier Services Group, one of the nation’s leading donor advised funds!

You can learn more about Recoverable Grants by visiting the RE-volv Recoverable Grants page.

To help your organization switch to clean energy, in addition to offering zero down financing, RE-volv provides critical project development services to ensure you’re getting the best equipment possible, an appropriately sized system to yield the maximum benefit, and will work with the installer to ensure a hassle-free installation process. By going solar with RE-volv, nonprofits can go solar for $0 down, lock in their energy costs, use the electricity bill savings to support their programs and services and support clean energy. Visit our nonprofit page to learn more about the solar process.

We help nonprofits go solar for zero down through either our Solar Loan, Power Purchase Agreement (PPA), or Solar Lease. We do not require nonprofits to pay a down payment when they go solar. You can choose to pay a down payment for their solar system, but this is not a requirement.

Community-serving nonprofits, Houses of Worship, and Co-ops located in the United States are eligible to go solar with RE-volv. These organizations need to own their own building and have a newly renovated roof to be eligible to go solar with RE-volv. Generally, roofs with at least 10 years of life left are ideal, since the panels will likely produce energy for 30 years or more. Organizations with roofs older than 10 years may still be eligible - it really depends on the roof’s condition, warranty and expected lifetime. For more info, contact us at (415) 579-3251 or gosolar@re-volv.org.

Our Solar Loan is a 25-year term and our Power Purchase Agreements and Solar Lease are for a 20-year term but we can be flexible if you desire a different term length..

Our goal is to create electricity bill savings in the first year of going solar with RE-volv. We take into account the installation costs, available state and federal incentives or rebates, and our Project Development Fee to create a custom financing solution for you. We will pay the installation company directly and your payments to RE-volv will begin after your system has received Permission to Operate (PTO) from your utility. With our Solar Loan, your monthly loan amounts are fixed and do not change until you send us the Solar ITC Direct Payment. With our Power Purchase Agreement, the monthly billing is calculated by your PPA rate and how much solar is produced that month. Our PPA rates have an annual escalator around 2%. The RE-volv lease has fixed monthly Lease Payments with an annual escalator. The exact savings of your solar system will depend on the project size, which is based on current electrical usage on site, available roof space, available incentives and the costs of the installation.

Most lenders and financiers don’t offer solar financing options for small-to-medium scale nonprofits, who typically don’t have the capital to pay for the solar system upfront. That's why, as a nonprofit ourselves, our mission is to fill this role. Nonprofits can go solar with RE-volv through either a Solar Loan, Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) or a solar lease, depending on which option is best for you or available per state.

With the passage of the historic US climate bill, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), for the first time ever nonprofits can directly benefit from the Solar Investment Tax Credits (ITC). The ITC has been a long-time driver for commercial and residential solar adoption. With the IRA, nonprofits can now receive a Direct Payment of the value of the ITC. The ITC is currently equal to 30% of the cost of a solar system and depending on your location, there may be additional ITC adders for Energy Communities and Low to Moderate Income (LMI) that would increase the ITC Direct Pay Amount.

The RE-volv Loan Proposal assumes that you will use your Direct Pay of the ITC towards your loan payments. If you decide to keep your Direct Pay, your loan will be re-amortized. As the system owner, you will be responsible for applying for the ITC Direct Pay and we will help support you on applying for the ITC.

With the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) or Solar Lease, RE-volv is the system owner and as a nonprofit will apply for the ITC Direct Pay and its value is included in your pricing. This way you receive the benefit of the tax credit without having to file for the ITC Direct Pay.

With the PPA and Lease, RE-volv is responsible for monitoring the system and maintaining the equipment for the duration of the contract, which includes managing all warranties with the installers and manufacturers. Solar modules are typically warrantied for 25 years, and rarely need to be replaced. Inverters, on the other hand, are typically warrantied for 10-15 years. However, our operations & maintenance package covers any issues with the equipment, so RE-volv will replace an inverter when needed.

With our Solar Loan, Operations and Maintenance is not included. Some installation companies will offer an O&M package, which you could consider or look for a local O&M provider.

Solar production estimate software is very accurate and we are confident in the estimated production for the solar system. We model 20 years of production and solar revenue so it is very important that the system produces what we expect to ensure the nonprofit receives the solar expected.

With our PPA and Lease, RE-volv’s Asset Manager will monitor the systems and be notified of any issues. If issues arise, they will work with the installer or a technician to resolve them as quickly as possible. RE-volv’s Asset Manager will keep the nonprofit informed of any issues or site visits from the solar installer.

There are several options when a building changes ownership.

• We can easily transfer the contract to the new owner, and the new owner would continue the contract as normal.
• The nonprofit can use our early buyout option to pay-off the system at a discounted rate, then include the solar system in the property valuation.
• If a nonprofit retains ownership of the building and leases the space to new tenants, the solar lease payments could be included in the new tenant’s property lease payments.

Removing and re-installing the system isn’t as hard as it sounds and can be done for an additional cost. Nonprofits should contact RE-volv to coordinate the re-roofing timeline. The original installer or another certified installer can then work with the re-roofing contractor to remove the panels and reinstall them..

To bring solar to a nonprofit, the nonprofit’s roof needs to be in good condition and have at least 10 years of life remaining. Since solar panels last for 30 or more years, we want to make sure that the nonprofit’s roof is in good condition so that the solar panels do not need to be removed due to roof repair throughout the lifetime of the solar panels.

There are many benefits for a nonprofit going solar, including:

• Save money on electricity bills: By going solar with RE-volv, nonprofits can use their electricity bill savings to support their program and services
• System Ownership: With the Solar Loan, nonprofits will own the system from Day 1. After the 20-year Solar Lease or Power Purchase Agreement (PPA), RE-volv will transfer the ownership of the solar system to the nonprofit.
• Stable electricity costs: With a RE-volv Solar Loan, Lease or PPA, the nonprofit can lock in their energy costs from the solar system and reduce energy consumption from your utility. As the utility increases their electricity costs, the savings will increase as your solar electricity costs will be locked in during contract. This will allow you protection and ability to hedge against utility electricity rate increases.
• Environmental protection: By going solar, your nonprofit will support clean renewable energy, reduce its carbon footprint and will save hundreds to thousands of pounds of CO2 from entering the atmosphere.

RE-volv will transfer the lease to a new system owner. Like with a transfer of building ownership, the lease continues as before, but the same lease payments are made to the new system owner. The lease specifies that all obligations for any new system owner remain the same, and any substantial change to the lease requires signatures from both parties. Nonprofits will continue to receive all the benefits of solar as stated in the lease, but will make the lease payments to a different organization.

There is no minimum size for a nonprofit to go solar. We have installed system sizes ranging from two kW to 615 kW for nonprofits. Many of our projects are for small community-serving nonprofits and average from 30kW to 100kW.

We work with a local, certified solar installation company near your nonprofit who will install the solar system.

• Be a community-serving nonprofit, House of Worship, or Co-op located in the United States.
• Nonprofit preferably owns their building or is in a long-term lease.
• Roof must be in good shape or have at least 10 years of life remaining. .
• Three Years of Nonprofits Financials will be required

• RE-volv reviews your solar proposal and provides a free custom solar proposal for the nonprofit.
• RE-volv can present or copresent our proposal to the nonprofit and explain our model and financing. We can also provide financing numbers if you prefer to present to the nonprofit directly.
• If the nonprofit approves the proposal and wishes to proceed, RE-volv will perform underwriting of the installation company and nonprofit. Ideally, you will perform a site visit before contract signature to confirm system layout and size, your pricing and identify potential issues beforehand.
• After the site visit and pricing are confirmed, we will sign contracts with the nonprofit and begin the process. As needed or desired, RE-volv will help provide Project Management support and interface with nonprofit and installer through Permission to Operate.
• RE-volv helps engage and educate the nonprofit community about the new solar system and often we will organize an onsite ribbon-cutting ceremony to highlight the nonprofit going solar. We strive to inspire the nonprofit community and public to go solar at home. and we can discuss a referral program for the ribbon cutting event.

Please feel free to contact gosolar@re-volv.org for more information or fill out our application form and we will get back to you as soon as possible to discuss options for a nonprofit lead that needs solar financing.

Yes, RE-volv honors the relationship that solar companies have established with their nonprofit solar leads. If a solar company brings us a lead to help bring solar to a nonprofit, we will work with that installer on the installation of the solar project.

RE-volv currently works with nonprofits in the United States.

You can sign up a nonprofit for solar financing by filling out the form on our solar installer page.