Since 2016, Give Solar has organized crowdfunding campaigns and five solar barn raisings which have added 291.4 kilowatts to the local grid.
Taking a page from the Amish and Mennonites’ playbook, a Harrisonburg, Virginia non-profit adapted the community barn-raising tradition to the solar energy arena. On November 5, 2016, a group of volunteer members of the community came together to support the non-profit Vine and Fig by installing solar panels (63 kW) on the roof of the Gift & Thrift store. The store benefits the worldwide relief and development efforts of the Mennonite Central Committee.
The success of this first solar barn-raising made it clear that this idea has wings. If a community-powered solar project could work for one non-profit, why not for others? And so Give Solar was born. Since 2016, Give Solar has organized crowdfunding campaigns and five solar barn raisings, which have added 291.4 kilowatts to the local grid.
In 2020, Give Solar was asked by a board member of Central Valley Habitat for Humanity to collaborate on a pilot project that aims to install solar on HFH homes in the region. The concept of the Solar Seed Fund was born to make solar accessible to low-income homes and non-profits.
Give Solar offers solar solutions for non-profit organizations and low-income households, providing electricity from the sun while reducing overhead costs and energy poverty by eliminating a large portion of electricity bills. They harness the community’s power to bring about positive change through crowdfunding and solar barn raisings.
The next project is to build the Solar Seed Fund to $100,000 to help Central Valley Habitat for Humanity to install four solar arrays each year for the next five years.
For More Info and to Donate: www.give.solar
