University of Salford

Friends of Energy House 2.0: Sustainable philanthropy in action!

In 2022, we launched Friends of Energy House 2.0; a new philanthropic arm to Energy House 2.0, a world-leading research facility in the heart of University of Salford’s campus that enables industry to test the green technology that will make homes of the future sustainable and net-zero.

The ambitions of our campaign were to connect the expertise of this facility on our university campus with local community projects through raising funds from businesses; developing a pipeline of talent in sustainability, raising awareness of climate change issues, encouraging the public to reduce their carbon footprint, and tackling issues around fuel poverty.

Now in its third year, we have raised over £500k to date which has enabled us to engage with a wide range of stakeholders and deliver a broad programme of activity centred around these vital themes.

Top 3 Learnings

1. We would use technology to enable “Friends” to engage independently with each other and build community.
2. We considered early on how to ensure the longevity of the programme beyond year one for maximum impact and sustainability.
3. We worked together with donors to co-create some elements of the new programme, especially around skills.