Ready to Apply?

If you’ve explored our site and are ready to apply for BEAR Hub support, start your application by completing our intake form using the link below:

Prefer to prepare your responses first?
You can download a PDF or Word version of the form to complete before going online.

Applications for the BEAR Hub Founding Cohort closed on June 13, 2025.  Applications submitted prior to the deadline are currently being reviewed. We anticipate completing reviews by the end of July. Applications continue to be accepted on a rolling basis but with a delay of 1-2 months in reviewing new applications.

Learn More

Our Application Process

Apply in 3 simple steps and get expert support for your energy program.

1. Submit an Intake Form (~30 minutes to complete)

Tell us about your energy program, the behavioral challenge you’re facing, and your goals. Our intake form will help us better understand your challenges and give us a basic idea of who you’re working with, where you are located, and your project timeline.

TIP: Before applying, think about your target audience and how you would like them to change their behavior to save energy. The more specific you can be, the better!

Interviewees selected

2. Complete a Pre-Interview Form

If selected, you’ll be invited to provide additional details about your program’s objectives, target audience, existing data, and feasibility considerations.

3. Meet for an Interview

Our expert staff will meet with you for a one-hour call to discuss your program, review your responses, and explore behavioral science strategies tailored to your needs. We’ll walk through what we do, ask questions about your target audience, goals, and constraints, and identify opportunities for behavioral insights to enhance your program’s impact.

After the call, we will provide a few initial recommendations and determine if your program is a good fit for ongoing collaboration.

Support recipients selected

🌟 Ongoing Technical Assistance

We will select partners for ongoing technical assistance in 2025-26 based on two main criteria: how impactful applying a behavioral science strategy is likely to be, and the partner’s interest and ability to effectively implement the recommended plan.

For selected programs, BEAR Hub staff and one of our expert BEAR Hub advisory board members will meet with you again and subsequently develop a more detailed behavior change action plan for your program.
We will set up ongoing meetings to help implement the plan, evaluate success, and work with you every step of the way to make sure you see tangible improvements in your program’s impact.

We will set up ongoing meetings to help implement the plan, evaluate success, and work with you every step of the way to make sure you see tangible improvements in your program’s impact.

FAQs

BEAR Hub provides no-cost technical assistance to anyone in the United States running a program to save energy in the sectors of transportation, buildings, or industry. Typically (though not always), applicants will be city officials, state energy offices, public transit commissions, energy utilities, nonprofit organizations, program implementers, or other businesses/industries looking to improve their energy efficiency or sustainability through energy programs.

The most important requirement is having a specific behavior you want to change as part of your program goal.

We will work with you to ensure you meet your goals without compromising your timeframe or budget.

If you’re unsure whether your program is a good fit but are interested in being considered, apply anyway! The intake form should only take ~30 minutes.

Even if your program isn’t selected for full technical assistance, we’ll still provide a few quick, research-backed recommendations to help you improve your program.

The service is currently slated to continue through at least April 2026. However, BEAR Hub accepts applications on a rolling basis, and new applications will not be accepted once all technical assistance opportunities are filled. We will post notice when this happens. 

BEAR Hub will support at least five projects with full ongoing technical assistance. There is no set limit for the number of applicants that will be selected. 

Please submit a separate application for each program. 

Support recipients are expected to provide information on the behavior change you’d like to see, the target audience to make that change, and potential barriers and benefits—then to implement the recommended solutions. BEAR Hub staff and advisors will work with applicants to develop a plan and then to discuss challenges that arise during implementation, but BEAR Hub is not a program implementer and will not implement the program for applicants. Expect periodic check-ins and collaborative planning sessions. BEAR Hub seeks applicants that are responsive to recommendations.  

The webinar recording is here and the slides are available here. 

BEAR Hub does not typically require a formal agreement but can enter into one as needed. 

An NDA is acceptable, but if possible, BEAR Hub would prefer to have permission to publicize the partnership and/or results from the recommendations in a general way (without releasing confidential customer information or trade secrets).  

No, cost in proposed plans is not a determining factor in the selection process. BEAR Hub prefers high-impact projects, so if the target behavior involves a cost but will have a significant impact (e.g., investing in home energy upgrades), that is fine. However, we generally do not help companies sell products, and before recommending a solution we might examine whether alternative behaviors (without costs) could be more effective. We like consider multiple options when tackling a problem. 

Yes. 

BEAR Hub is available to assist with program design in early phases and will work with programs that are still in development. In fact, sometimes this is the best place to start because it offers the most flexibility for behavioral solutions. However, applicants should have a clear and specific goal, target audience, and target behavior in mind when they apply. 

Education can be a strategy, but it should not be the end goal. In this example, encouraging energy use reduction at home is a good target behavior for BEAR Hub to help with. BEAR Hub would work with you to determine the best behavioral intervention(s) to address this behavior based on our analysis of the target audience, the specific barriers to and benefits of change, and the levers available to you (e.g., communication channels and program elements). We could determine that customer education may be an effective strategy, but we may also recommend other strategies, such as changing defaults or offering small incentives. If BEAR Hub recommends education, we would include the messaging and communication approaches that are most likely to work. 

In most cases, BEAR Hub is unlikely to help with asking individuals or businesses to provide financial support to your organization. The same goes for helping sell your business’s products (even sustainable or energy-saving products). That said, if those donations or sales will directly lead to significant energy savings or carbon emissions reductions, we may consider it (especially if presented by a nonprofit or as part of an energy-saving program). BEAR Hub is nonpartisan and will not assist with campaigns to encourage voting.  

Yes. 

Yes. BEAR Hub gives stronger consideration to programs with high impact so larger pilots are preferred, but being able to shape a project before launch is great because it allows for deeper integration of behavioral solutions. 

BEAR Hub will help identify factors that may hinder or accelerate energy-saving behavior, but this should not be the end goal of a program’s application. BEAR Hub will help your organization use the knowledge of barriers/benefits of behavior change to develop strategies and solutions, then guide you to implementing those solutions. 

BEAR Hub is nonpolitical and will not assist with political projects such as raising money for a political cause or changing voting behavior. 

BEAR Hub can support a for-profit business in implementing an energy-saving program. We will not help market or sell a product or procure new customers. Please email us if you have questions about your specific business. 

We may add this as a service in the future, but BEAR Hub is currently not set up for brief, one-time conversations and consultations. If this is something you want, please email us to let us know.