THE COLLECTIVE CONVERSATION – June 2025 NEWSLETTER

To help you make the right decision for your organization, we’re providing this overview of solar financing for nonprofits.

Financing options

There are three ways your nonprofit can finance a solar project, two of which CollectiveSun provides and can help you with:

1. Cash. If your nonprofit has large reserves or can find a grant or gift for your solar project, you may be able to purchase your system with cash. 
2. A solar loan. The CollectiveSun Solar Loan — designed by nonprofit professionals, not traditional bankers — supports your nonprofit’s purchase of a solar system while allowing you to benefit directly from the Inflation Reduction Act’s direct pay tax rebate. 
3. Third-party ownership. Our Solar Power Agreement (SPA) subscription and Prepaid SPA are third-party ownership options that make it easy for your nonprofit to go solar. 

Our financing options are tailored to nonprofit organizations, with safeguards in place at every stage of the solar construction process to mitigate risks and protect nonprofits. You can read more about them in Financing Solar for Your Nonprofit.

Factors to consider

How do you decide which solar financing option is right for your organization? Every nonprofit is unique, so that depends on your situation. You’ll want to consider these factors …

CollectiveSun’s work is supported by mission-driven partner organizations who, like us, are committed to improving their communities through clean energy. By highlighting these partners, we aim to provide nonprofits the tools and support they need to move forward on their solar journeys. 

We’re delighted to add to our Partner Spotlight series with the latest spotlight on Concord, which offers compliance management services that take the guesswork out of direct pay filing for nonprofits. But they do much more than that. We caught up with Dennis Stilger, Managing Director of Concord, to learn more about this exciting company.

Concord’s story and mission

Concord’s mission, says Stilger, is to help advance clean energy development by making incentives available to more people.

Since 2009, Concord has been helping organizations monetize rebates and tax incentives, starting with energy efficiency — always a good area to tackle before going solar. Many of these initial customers were involved in municipal renewable energy projects, which historically were not able to take advantage of tax incentives because they’re tax-exempt.

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) changed this with direct pay, providing what Stilger considers a transformative opportunity. But Concord quickly realized that the program’s complexity was keeping many organizations from taking advantage of direct pay. To manage that complexity, they developed a software solution that

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CollectiveSun is here to help you with your solar financing.

| Interest Rates Start at 4.99% |

| Rates Are Based On Community Impact, Not Just Credit Score | 

| One Simple Payment | Term Length Up To 10 Years | 

| Payment Holiday Durning Construction of System | No Prepayment Penality | 

Our goal is for you to end up with a solar system that reduces your carbon footprint and is a $0 down investment with a positive cash flow from day one, so it has an immediate impact on your bottom line. That’s what we want most for the organizations that are the backbone of our communities — financial and environmental sustainability that allows you to concentrate on your mission and reach your sustainability goals. 

At CollectiveSun, we understand that every nonprofit is unique, and that’s why we offer a diverse range of financing options. Whether you’re considering a loan like our CollectiveSun Solar Loan designed to support your purchase of a solar system while allowing you to benefit directly from the Direct Pay Tax Rebate; exploring third-party ownership options like our CollectiveSun Solar Power Agreement (SPA); or seeking a hybrid funding model like our CollectiveSun Prepaid Solar Power Agreement (Prepaid SPA), we have the perfect solution to match your solar financing needs.

For those looking to dive deeper into how Direct Pay can benefit you, we’re excited to offer a free comprehensive course series on HeatSpring. This series covers not only Direct Pay but also the additional ITC bonus adders, providing you with all the information you need for when your filing is due.

📚 Enroll in the free course here:

CollectiveSun HeatSpring Direct Pay & More Course Series

You’ll discover how these incentives can make solar energy even more accessible and cost-effective for your nonprofit organization. Together, let’s harness the power of the sun to fuel your mission and create a brighter, more sustainable future for all.

Let’s connect and start the conversation!

Distributed Solar Generation for the Win

How can we meet our nation’s growing electricity demand? Solar and energy storage are more cost-effective and faster to deploy than other types of energy generation. That quicker timeframe is especially true for distributed generation projects, located where people live and work. These projects are easier on overloaded electrical grids and spend less time in interconnection queues.

How to Boost Commercial-Scale Solar

One type of distributed generation project is commercial-scale solar, like the nonprofit solar projects CollectiveSun funds. Currently, less than 5% of commercial rooftops have solar on them — even though commercial-scale solar offers major cost savings. How do we boost this market sector? By using the success of residential solar as a model to follow. 

Clean Energy Manufacturing = Jobs

The $18 billion U.S. clean energy manufacturing industry supports 122,000 jobs. The industry is expected to support over 500,000 jobs by 2030, providing $42 billion in earnings to American workers — but disruptive policy could crush that growth, according to a report from the American Clean Power Association.