Solar Moonshot program

“If not us, who? If not now, when?”
― John F. Kennedy

The Solar Moonshot Program is helping nonprofit organizations across the United States make the switch to solar power in 2020. Grants are available up to $25,000 and priority is given to projects that have additional funding sources and community support. Grants are made possible by the Left Coast Fund, and the program is managed by Hammond Climate Solutions. Learn more about the program's status and participants below!

If you're a nonprofit that's interested in participating, click here!

Solar Moonshot Project Map

The Solar Moonshot Program is a nationwide initiative - see below for our project locations to date.

Solar Moonshot Participants

This program has proudly assisted the following organizations in going solar, reducing their carbon footprint while saving money to be reinvested into their mission.
Learn more about their contribution towards ending the climate crisis below.

System Description:

Solar and Storage

Northside Community Center

Ann Arbor, Michigan

“This solar and storage system will help the community advance its goals towards carbon neutrality while also investing in critical resilience infrastructure. By providing clean and reliable energy along with backup storage at Northside, we are ensuring that this facility can continue to serve the surrounding neighborhoods during a disruption."

-Dr. Missy Stults, Sustainability and Innovations Manager for the City of Ann Arbor.

Environmental Benefit Equivalencies

Pounds of Coal Burned

Homes' Electricity Use for 1 Year

Acres of U.S. Forest CO2 Sequestration for 1 Year

System Description:

Solar Power System

Canticle Farm

Oakland, California

"We installed solar thanks to Solar Moonshot on the Sister Water House of Restorative Justice at Canticle Farm, a house which supports men who have been paroled from life sentences to do restorative justice work in the community. We consider economic, racial and environmental justice to be deeply tied, and so we’re grateful to be running on renewable energy to avoid the harmful impacts of the fossil fuel industry, and to cut the amount of fundraising we need to do each year to keep this house going."

-Morgan Curtis, Operations Director, Canticle Farm

Environmental Benefit Equivalencies

Pounds of Coal Burned

Homes' Electricity Use for 1 Year

Acres of U.S. Forest CO2 Sequestration for 1 Year

System Description:

Solar Power System

Red Bird Mission

Beverely, Kentucky

“We are so grateful for all of the opportunities offered that led to a significant reduction of our energy costs, and provided key training opportunities for our staff and the community. This has allowed us to move even further toward realizing the vision of creating and maintaining a healthy and sustainable community in and around the Red Bird valley.”

-Kari Collins, Red Bird Mission Executive Director

Environmental Benefit Equivalencies

Pounds of Coal Burned

Homes' Electricity Use for 1 Year

Acres of U.S. Forest CO2 Sequestration for 1 Year

System Description:

Solar Power System

Kroka Expeditions

Marlow, New Hampshire

While we know that solar technologies are not 100% efficient nor fully sustainable, it is an important and critical step forward to utilize these technologies so that they become better and more financially accessible over time. Regenerative practices in every sphere of human activity, including harnessing the energy of the sun, are essential action steps for humans to take if we wish to sustain life on this planet. Here on our campus, we have perfect exposure, and installing photovoltaic panels was just one piece of the puzzle in divorcing our infrastructure from fossil fuels while investing in clean energy sources. We plan to install solar thermal, micro hydro and wind systems, and already use a wood boiler for heat as well as composting toilets and grey water systems for our waste. We will also be sharing our sustainably produced energy with our community by tying into the grid. At Kroka, education is our goal, and as such we teach children about energy sustainability so that they may learn and become invested in pursuing sustainability work in their future. We are also highly committed to both teaching our students and dedicating ourselves to practicing energy conservation, to reduce our consumption of electricity on campus. With the financial savings from this project, we will be using our resources to provide scholarships to more students who are in need of financial aid.

-Misha Golfman, Co-Founder & Executive Director

Environmental Benefit Equivalencies

Pounds of Coal Burned

Homes' Electricity Use for 1 Year

Acres of U.S. Forest CO2 Sequestration for 1 Year

System Description:

Solar Power System

Grace Episcopal Church at Riverhead

Long Island, New York

"We consider minimizing our carbon footprint fundamental to our living out the mission of Christ. It is a priority not only of our diocese, but of the entire Episcopal Church as outlined in the Five Marks of Mission from the 2012 General Convention: 'To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth.' This solar project at Grace Church in Riverhead is part of a diocesan-wide effort to reduce the energy consumption of our buildings as part of living out this mission. Not only will we be able to greatly reduce our carbon footprint, but we will also use the savings from our energy bills to reinvest in community programs. We are extremely grateful to the Solar Moonshot Program for helping us make that happen."

-Denise Fillion, Director of Communication, The Episcopal Diocese of Long Island

Environmental Benefit Equivalencies

Pounds of Coal Burned

Homes' Electricity Use for 1 Year

Acres of U.S. Forest CO2 Sequestration for 1 Year

System Description:

Solar Power System

University of New England Marine Science Center

Biddeford, Maine

"Our expansive, holistic vision of a healthier world goes beyond physical well-being. It encompasses emotional and intellectual fulfillment — as well as economic opportunity — for individuals, prosperous and supportive communities, and cooperative environmental stewardship across the globe."

-University of New England

Environmental Benefit Equivalencies

Pounds of Coal Burned

Homes' Electricity Use for 1 Year

Acres of U.S. Forest CO2 Sequestration for 1 Year

System Description:

Solar Power System

South Congregational Church

Pittsfield, Massachusetts

"Once we added the walk-in freezer and cooler six years ago and saw our electricity costs go up, it was time for solar. Going solar is a strategy to make the church more sustainable."

-Rev. Joel Huntington.

Environmental Benefit Equivalencies

Pounds of Coal Burned

Homes' Electricity Use for 1 Year

Acres of U.S. Forest CO2 Sequestration for 1 Year

System Description:

Solar Power System

NH Solar Shares

Warren, New Hampshire

“We want to support our local community in any way we can and we have the perfect roof for installing solar panels.”

-Tori Berger, Owner of Appleknockers General Store (System Host)

Environmental Benefit Equivalencies

Pounds of Coal Burned

Homes' Electricity Use for 1 Year

Acres of U.S. Forest CO2 Sequestration for 1 Year

System Description:

Solar Power System

Second Baptist Church

Ypsilanti, Michigan

"Second Baptist Church has a commitment to care for their community and one another through acts of service and love. We wanted to go solar because the prospect of saving on energy costs allows us to do more for our community. This month we will give away nearly 250 backpacks full of school supplies to children in Ypsilanti. We will feed over 200 families through our partnership with Food Gatherers. We also would usually being doing our Meet Me At Second Base summer youth baseball program and Vacation Bible School. During the winter months we also work with the Delonis Center to participate in their Rotating Shelter. There are so many ways that we reach out to our community with the Love and Message and Christ. We are grateful that the Solar Moonshot Grant allowed this great endeavor of environmental responsibility to take place on our watch. We pray that it will inspire future generations and our community to embrace solar, wind and other clean forms of energy."

-Pastor George W. Waddles, Jr.

Environmental Benefit Equivalencies

Pounds of Coal Burned

Homes' Electricity Use for 1 Year

Acres of U.S. Forest CO2 Sequestration for 1 Year

System Description:

Solar and Storage

Commonweal

Bolinas, California

"Healing ourselves and healing the earth is Commonweal’s mission—and has been so for four decades. We engage in and encourage program work that involves the environmental conditions of the earth - minimizing hazardous impacts to both the ecosystem and human health. Commonweal feels it important to operate its facilities in environmentally sustainable and resilient manner. The solar array will increase Commonweal‘s resilience in emergency situations, reduce costs overtime for powering our facilities and serve as an educational model for the community. Having a solar array brings our operations into alignment with our values and has been a dream of Commonweal’s for years. We are deeply grateful for the support Solar Moonshot provided to help make this dream a reality."

-Arlene Allsman, Managing Director & Chief Operating Officer, Commonweal

Environmental Benefit Equivalencies

Pounds of Coal Burned

Homes' Electricity Use for 1 Year

Acres of U.S. Forest CO2 Sequestration for 1 Year

System Description:

Solar Power System

Monastic Academy for the Preservation of Life on Earth

Lowell, Vermont

"Our vow is to integrate wisdom, love, and power."

-Center for Mindful Learning

Environmental Benefit Equivalencies

Pounds of Coal Burned

Homes' Electricity Use for 1 Year

Acres of U.S. Forest CO2 Sequestration for 1 Year

System Description:

Solar and Storage

The Eco-Institute

Chapel Hill, North Carolina

"The Eco-Institute at Pickards Mountain is an Earth Sanctuary and Learning Community dedicated to Healing the Human-Earth Relationship. The educational farm and regenerative sustainability learning center reside on 38 acres in the Piedmont of North Carolina. The Eco-Institute offers Restorative Retreats for ChangeMakers, A Community Garden Cooperative that feeds 50 families, and a semester-long residential program for young adults called The Rising Earth Immersion. The Solar Moonshot Grant will allow for an additional solar array to be installed on the center building this October, doubling the solar electricity production and offsetting almost all of the electricity needs for The Eco-Institute!"

-Megan Toben, Co-Founder & Director, The Eco-Institute

Environmental Benefit Equivalencies

Pounds of Coal Burned

Homes' Electricity Use for 1 Year

Acres of U.S. Forest CO2 Sequestration for 1 Year

System Description:

Solar Power System

Jack's Solar Garden

Boulder, Colorado

"Community solar gardens are an option for people to realize the benefits of a solar power system without having the system on their roof. Community solar gardens like Jack's Solar Garden are centralized arrays of solar panels that users subscribe to and then get credits for on their monthly bills."

-Jack's Solar Garden

Environmental Benefit Equivalencies

Pounds of Coal Burned

Homes' Electricity Use for 1 Year

Acres of U.S. Forest CO2 Sequestration for 1 Year

System Description:

Solar Power System

Townsend Family Organic Farm

Key West, Florida

"Going solar was a great option for our farm because we are located in the Florida Keys where there is an abundance of sun almost year round. We use hydroponics as our growing system which does require electricity to power the irrigation pumps. Using solar allowed us to become more environmentally friendly and self sufficient from power drops at our locations. We are highly supportive of any and all measures to mitigate agricultural impacts on the current climate crisis. We are very thankful to be recipients of the Solar Moonshot Grant which made our solar project possible."

-The Townsend Family

Environmental Benefit Equivalencies

Pounds of Coal Burned

Homes' Electricity Use for 1 Year

Acres of U.S. Forest CO2 Sequestration for 1 Year

System Description:

Solar Power System

Madison West High School

Madison, Wisconsin

"This renewable energy project is the only effort, at this scale, led by high school students in the greater Madison area that addresses the need for increasing student awareness of environmental issues. Thus, the importance of this project is significant; were the school or district to install solar panels without the initiative being led by high school students, the impact of this project would be greatly mitigated: no sustainable, long-term increase in awareness of energy efficiency among students at Madison West High School would be made. With this project driven by students, however, the entire student and staff body will have the opportunity to recognize the existence of an organized, committed effort to improve the sustainability of Madison West High School, only furthering the materialization of other student-led projects with an aim towards promoting environmental awareness."

-West Green Club, Student-Led Project Development Team

Environmental Benefit Equivalencies

Pounds of Coal Burned

Homes' Electricity Use for 1 Year

Acres of U.S. Forest CO2 Sequestration for 1 Year

System Description:

Solar and Storage

Canticle Farm (Phase 2)

Oakland, California

"Canticle Farm is an urban farm, educational center and community of intention, experimenting at the intersections of faith-based, social-justice-based, and Earth-based nonviolent activism. "

Environmental Benefit Equivalencies

Pounds of Coal Burned

Homes' Electricity Use for 1 Year

Acres of U.S. Forest CO2 Sequestration for 1 Year

System Description:

Solar Power System

Lincoln Park Solar Garden

Duluth, Minnesota

"We are developing a 40-kilowatt solar array at the northeastern entrance to Lincoln Park that will be Duluth’s first community-owned, low-income solar project! The power from the array will benefit the Duluth Veterans’ Place, a transitional housing project by the Minnesota Assistance Council for Veterans, and provide long-term funding for an Emergency Energy Fund to help families that are struggling to pay their utility bills."

-Ecolibrium3, Project Developer

Environmental Benefit Equivalencies

Pounds of Coal Burned

Homes' Electricity Use for 1 Year

Acres of U.S. Forest CO2 Sequestration for 1 Year

System Description:

Solar and Storage

Ekvn-Yefolecv

Weogufka, Alabama

"Ekvn-Yefolecv is an intentional ecovillage community of Indigenous Maskoke persons who, after 180 years of having been forcibly removed from traditional Alabama homelands, have returned for the purpose of practicing linguistic, cultural and ecological sustainability. The term Ekvn-Yefolecv implicitly embodies a double entendre: 1) Returning to the earth, 2) Returning to our homelands. With only a handful of speakers remaining, we are revitalizing the Maskoke language with children through an immersion program in which Maskoke language is the sole medium of instruction, and curriculum centers on traditional agricultural and ecological knowledge. Designed as a holistic decolonization paradigm shift, residents of the ecovillage are manifesting an off-grid income-sharing community with natural building construction and renewable energy. We are also reintroducing threatened animal species, sacred to Maskoke people, namely buffalo and sturgeon, while growing hierloom crops in a deliberate effort to decolonize our diets. Ekvn-Yefolecv mandates the revival of traditional Maskoke matriarchy and governance systems, and we practice ethnobotanical conservation, particularly for the preservation of women's medicinal knowledge and food foraging. Ekvn-Yefolecv exemplifies a departure from extractive economy and engages a collective effort to bring healing to a long abused Earth Mother, as well as to heal an Indigenous People long inflicted by intergenerational trauma. The vision seeks to serve as an archetype for other Indigenous communities to model for Just Transition to more equitable and culturally/linguistically sustainable lifeways. Solar power is not only the primary energy source for community buildings, but through a solar array, our dependence on Hvse (Sun) for cooling and powering LED lights, for instance, reinvigorates our traditional cosmological worldview wherein we daily offer gratitude to Hvse (Sun) - a sacred manifestation of Creator."

-Marcus Briggs-Cloud, President

Environmental Benefit Equivalencies

Pounds of Coal Burned

Homes' Electricity Use for 1 Year

Acres of U.S. Forest CO2 Sequestration for 1 Year

System Description:

Solar Power System

Glass City Community Solar

"Renewable energy is one of the key strategies we must follow in a very big way if we are to have any hope of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees centigrade. If we fail to do this, the long term consequences for all of humanity are unthinkable. The only way that solar energy can fulfill this promise is if it is widely affordable to all people. There are simply not enough wealthy people who can afford solar arrays to make a significant difference. GCCS and the 629 Locust project are at the forefront of this crucial restructuring of solar energy on a very wide scale. If we can figure out how to make 629 possible and operate it successfully we can use it as a model for a very wide audience that will give hope to many other groups and individuals. We are doing far more than simply putting solar panels on a roof of a building in Toledo, Ohio."

-John Kiely, Ph.D., Board Member, Glass City Community Solar

Environmental Benefit Equivalencies

Pounds of Coal Burned

Homes' Electricity Use for 1 Year

Acres of U.S. Forest CO2 Sequestration for 1 Year

System Description:

Solar Power System

The DREAM Program

Fletcher, Vermont

"As we learned more about the educational impact of the COVID-19 crisis on our DREAMers, it became clear that sustaining connection and providing enrichment opportunities over the summer would be critical. Youth are experiencing a significant gap in education and connection to caring adults. This gap, as is often the case, disproportionally affects the most vulnerable in our communities. Rather than suspend operations, we hired on our largest team of summer counselors to date, to work closely, in a virtual setting, with each of our DREAMers, in order to ensure that they would be engaged in learning and connecting over the summer months. While this usually includes overnight camping at Camp DREAM with an outdoors/environmental program focus, we instead offered a virtual camp. The virtual camp was delivered by a team of camp counselors living at Camp DREAM, and included a variety of environmental and adventure activities (this usually involved an initial online gathering of campers and counselors with some group activities, and then would transition to a series of activities for the youth to do on their own, outside). The solar installation is going to support our values (as an environmental-focused adventure base, we try to model the values we teach through our programming) as well as help us financially (by covering the costs of heating, lighting and other electric needs, we’ll be saving a significant amount annually that we can, instead, invest directly in our youth and programming). This [grant] is going to have a huge impact on our nonprofit. We’re deeply grateful for the generosity (and the ease with which this support came through)."

-Mike Foote, Chief Empowerment Officer, DREAM

Environmental Benefit Equivalencies

Pounds of Coal Burned

Homes' Electricity Use for 1 Year

Acres of U.S. Forest CO2 Sequestration for 1 Year

System Description:

Solar Power System

Episcopal Diocese of Georgia Episcopal Center

Savannah, Georgia

"...we’re following Jesus into loving, liberating and life-giving relationship with God, with each other and with the earth."

-The Episcopal Church

Environmental Benefit Equivalencies

Pounds of Coal Burned

Homes' Electricity Use for 1 Year

Acres of U.S. Forest CO2 Sequestration for 1 Year

Solar Moonshot Questionnaire

Completing this questionnaire does not imply a grant request is approved. Grants with near-term installation plans will receive priority as it's the goal of the Solar Moonshot Program to get as much solar installed as quickly as possible to help mitigate the climate crisis. Available funds are limited and it's expected that this program's current budget will be fully subscribed by late Q4 2020.

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