1. Startup Appalachia
Accelerating the Entrepreneurial Economies in Appalachia
Startup Appalachia
Startup Appalachia is a framework for aligning the efforts of grantmakers, businesses, government, and
nonprofits around the common purpose of accelerating the startup and growth of new enterprises in our
region. This partnership between the Appalachian Regional Commission, the Appalachian Funders Network,
and USDA Rural Development offers the opportunity to deepen the alignment of current efforts while
leveraging additional federal resources to accelerate Appalachia’s entrepreneurial-based economy.
The Appalachia Funders Network will convene a Startup Appalachia Working Group to determine a
common analysis, shared vision, and collectively defined investment targets for accelerating the economic
transition of Central Appalachia through cross-sector partnerships and coordinated investments. In terms of
implementation, we anticipate that Startup Appalachia will support 20 promising initiatives, which will benefit
from the research, support, measurement strategies, and cross sector investments that develop from this
effort.
Core Partnerships & Outcomes
Startup Appalachia offers the Network an opportunity to strategically align and coordinate the efforts of a
diverse group of public and private sector entities working to promote entrepreneurship in the Region.
Collaborative Partnerships include:Appalachia Funders Network, ARC State Offices, USDA-RD offices,
Other federal partners: EPA, Private Sector leadership, National Startup America organizations.Partners will
make independent commitments for expanding existing or catalyzing new efforts, but develop a collective
strategy, a capture strategy, to support promising opportunities where there are overlapping interests. These
opportunities will be tied to specific measureable outcomes.
Potential results include:New or retained quality jobs, New investments, New businesses, Energy Saved,
New innovations, Foundational capacity growth, Graduates who are considering entrepreneurial careers.
Vision for Implementation
The Appalachia Funders Network will solicit nominations for Startup Appalachiaprojects – existing projects
in need of additional investments for expansion. From the pool of nominees, a Startup Appalachia working
group will select promising projects that have the potential to be scaledby thesupport of federal, state, private
and philanthropic partnerships. We will capture the needs of each project and identify the appropriate
resources that can be leveraged by the USDA-RD, ARC and other members of the Network.
To determine the impact of this cross sector support system, we will employ a set of common measurements
to track the success of each Startup Appalachia project. We plan to publish a detailed report of the results and
lessons learned from Startup Appalachia to influence and inform the broader philanthropic field.
Moving to Action
The framework for Startup Appalachia focuses around (1.) Food Systems & Entrepreneurship, (2.) Energy &
Entrepreneurship, and (3.) Health Care. This framework is organized across four key functional areas:
Branding, Leadership, Strategy and Capital.
Branding Leadership Strategy Capital
o Federal, private and o Provide expertise, o Establish a common o Leverage additional
philanthropic assistance, mentorship vision for Health Care, resources and expertise
partnerships o Support and expand Energy, Food Systems from USDA, ARC, and
o Credibility, visibility, existing Network o Establish a common other public and private
technical assistance, activities set of measurements sector partners
moral support o Increase leadership o Share the diverse o Provide entrepreneurs
o New partnerships capacity expertise of our with access to critical
o Increased o Empower local membership services and increased
collaboration Community capital
opportunities Foundations o Create intentional
Funding Partnerships
1

2. Startup Appalachia
Accelerating the Entrepreneurial Economies in Appalachia
Potential Steps for Implementation
 Step 1:Startup projects are nominated by members of the Appalachian Funders Network –
Foundations, ARC, USDA-RD. These projects will generally be expansions of existing activities
but could be new efforts as well,and will target the following sectors: Food Systems and
Entrepreneurship, Energy and Entrepreneurship, and Healthcare.
 Step 2:The Startup Appalachia Working Group selects a group of promising projects nominated
by the Funders Network membership. Selection criteria will include the ability to take
programing to the next level to achieve greater impact, and the identification of specific
measurable outcomes.
 Step 3: The Startup Appalachia Working Group invites selected candidates to a meeting with
Network members (Federal agencies, Foundations, state partners) to explore what additional
resources are available to help move projects to the next level.Foundation board members with
private sector expertise in these sectors, state partners, and other leading private entities will also
be invited to participate in this process.
 Step 4: Capture Strategies are developed to identify the appropriate resources that can be
leveraged to support and scale these projects. These strategies could include participation in new
federal funding opportunities, raising new capital among foundation board members and other
private partners,as well as other strategies to be determined by the working group.
 Step 5: Project(s) are supported by federal, state, private and philanthropic collaboration.
 Step 6: A common measurement system will be employed to assess impact and success.(We aim
to have both outcome measurements for specific projects and the entire Startup Appalachia
effort. The specific measurement process is still being refined.)
 Step 7: Review results and publish lessons learned.
2