Accelerator portfolio ventures are committed to becoming great organizations. What do we mean by that? Using criteria adapted from Jim Collins’ book, Good to Great, we look to work with organizations that:

• Deliver Superior Performance
  Organizational performance is defined as a combination of financial sustainability, and results and efficiency in delivering on social mission (i.e., social impact per dollar).
• Make a Distinctive Impact
  The organization makes such a unique contribution to the communities and touches and does its work with such unadulterated excellence that if it were to disappear it would leave a hole that could not be easily filled by any other institution in the region.
• Achieve Lasting Endurance
  The organization can deliver exceptional results over a long period of time, beyond any single leader, great idea, market cycle, or well-funded program. When hit with setbacks, it bounces back even stronger than before. It has a culture and processes that demand innovation and continuous improvement. Led by visionary social entrepreneurs, these organizations provide transformative approaches to some of the most pressing challenges our region faces today. Performance-based funding, strategy consulting, and coaching enable these social entrepreneurs to grow their leadership teams, hone their strategies, and increase their sustainability.

Working with the Accelerator

We are always looking for new organizations to join our portfolio. To learn more about how we work and what we do, please see About Us.

Our pipeline for portfolio ventures begins after an organization has completed a feasibility review of ideas, and has selected one appropriate idea for more in-depth business planning. We generally accept ventures into the portfolio only after they have completed a business plan for a social enterprise or if they already have a social enterprise in place or about to be launched.

If an organization has an existing social enterprise(s) and is interested in launching another one, we are more likely to get involved at an earlier stage. If an organization has never operated an earned income venture, we ask that organization to first learn about social enterprise, identify its assets and opportunities, conduct feasibility screening, and utilize the other resources in the community before contacting us.

We are most interested in organizations that are striving for sustainable, transformative social impact in our community. We want to understand how your social enterprise will support that kind of impact. We want to work with organizations that wish to become models of efficiency and sustainability and deliver meaningful, measurable results.

To be considered for our portfolio, we look for organizations that meet the following criteria.

Portfolio Criteria

• Nonprofit organization
• Located within the ten counties of southwest Pennsylvania
• Would benefit from a highly-engaged long-term partnership with the Accelerator beyond simply funding support
• Have one of the following (please note, when we say social enterprise, we mean earned income venture)
  • A social enterprise that is currently being implemented, or has already been launched (can be early-stage, or mature)
  • A completed business plan for a social enterprise
  • A successful (i.e., profitable) existing social enterprise with a short list of ideas for new ventures that have passed initial feasibility screening
• Can identify specific goals for the social enterprise
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