Ørsted awards over £200,000 to East Coast community projects

The East Coast Community Fund is part of the community engagement programme for Ørsted’s Hornsea Project One and Race Bank offshore wind farms. Each year, until 2037, approximately £390,000 will be available from the main fund to support a wide range of community and environmental projects.

An additional £75,000 per year is ring-fenced for a skills fund, designed to support a range of educational and training initiatives.

The community groups will each receive a share of the windfall, which is available every six months through an open application process.

The successful groups from the third round are: 

• Boston & South Holland Talking Newspaper - £1,600
• Lincolnshire Gliding Club, High Flying Girls - £2,100
• The Curlew Community Centre CIO - £3,500
• North Somercotes Bowls Club - £4,900
• Fulstow Village Hall - £3,650
• Grimsby Snaprats Community Basketball Clubs - £2,376
• Fusion Boxing Fit - £5,000
• Laceby in Bloom - £2,564
• The Hollis Recreational Ground - £4,950
• Holton-le-Clay Cricket Club - £3,065
• The Hinge Centre Ltd - £3,316
• Easington Youth Club - £25,000
• Ingoldisthorpe Church Hall Committee - £13,472
• Holton le Clay Parish Council - £20,000
• Boston Women's Aid - £24,500
• Bridlington Sports and Community Club - £7,566
• Welholme Works Ltd - £8,000
• Home-Start Lincolnshire (HSL) - £40,126
• West Norfolk Carers - £29,640

Katharine York, Treasurer of Lincolnshire Gliding Club said: "We are thrilled to receive this support from Orsted. We aim to inspire young women by showing how they can achieve something incredible, and to open their eyes to their own potential. We want to raise awareness of opportunities in aviation and STEM careers, and the experience that High Flying Girls gain will be invaluable for demonstrating confidence, teamwork and safety consciousness in any future application for further education or jobs. This grant enables us to provide opportunities to people who would not realise that they too can fly high!"

The Fund was launched by Ørsted in December 2016 and has so far donated well over £500,000 to over 50 projects. In total over the twenty years, up to £9.3million will be made available for community and environmental projects in coastal areas of Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and North Norfolk.

There are two application rounds each year for groups to apply to, and the next closing date is 1 August 2018.

Natasha Nanuck, Stakeholder Advisor at Ørsted said: “Congratulations to all of our community benefit fund recipients; nineteen worthy projects which our independent panel believe will make a big difference in their community, and looking at the work these organisations do, I agree.

Our East Coast Community Fund was set up voluntarily for exactly this reason, to give a financial boost to commendable projects which will bring value to coastal communities. We’re excited to be contributing towards a long lasting, positive impact locally.”
  
The Fund is being administered by national charity GrantScape. For further details of how you can apply to the next round, please visit GrantScape’s website www.grantscape.org.uk or call 01908 247634.

Editors’ Notes:

Media contacts
Liz Payne – GrantScape: 01282 543775 or 07963 987653 liz.payne@grantscape.org.uk
Juliette Sanders – Ørsted: +44 (0)207 811 1181 julsa@orsted.com

About Ørsted
Ørsted (Nasdaq OMX: ORSTED) is one of Northern Europe’s leading energy groups and is headquartered in Denmark. Around 5,600 ambitious employees, including over 900 in the UK, develop, construct and operate offshore wind farms, generate power and heat from our power stations as well as supply and trade in energy to wholesale, business and residential customers. The Group generated revenue in 2016 of DKK 61 billion (EUR 8.2 billion). For further information, see www.orsted.co.uk or follow us @OrstedUK on Twitter.

About GrantScape
GrantScape is a grant-making charity committed to enhancing the environment and strengthening local communities through its grant programmes.  GrantScape’s experience stretches back to 1997 and it has awarded grants totalling over £80 million to deserving projects over this time.

GrantScape manages a range of community and environmental grant programmes on behalf of corporate and local authority clients. These are tailored to their individual requirements, which is the charity’s speciality. In addition, GrantScape offers a professional project management and grant process review service to groups requiring support with these activities.

For further information, please see www.grantscape.org.uk or follow us @GrantScape1

About the Hornsea Project One and Race Bank Offshore Windfarms
Ørsted’s Hornsea Project One and Race Bank offshore windfarms are located off the Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and North Norfolk coast. When they are both operational in 2020 and 2018 respectively, these two wind farms will have a combined capacity of nearly 1.8 gigawatts, making them capable of meeting the electricity needs of more than 1.5 million UK homes.

For further information on Hornsea Project One, please see www.hornseaprojectone.co.uk/en

For further information on Race Bank, please see: https://orsted.co.uk/en/Generating energy/Offshore wind/Our wind farms

About the East Coast Community Fund
Ørsted has committed to a Community Fund worth approximately £465,000 each year for 20 years. £75,000 of the Fund each year is ring-fenced for a ‘Skills Fund’.

The Fund supports community and environmental projects along the Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and the North Norfolk coasts (as far as Wells-next-the-Sea), within a defined area. It is split equally between two annual funding rounds. There are two levels of grants available:

• Small grants between £1,000 and £5,000
• Main grants between £5,001 and £50,000

Applications to the Fund are made using an online application system via the GrantScape website www.grantscape.org.uk