Business accelerators are usually meant to help startups turn profits – but not this one.
Meet NPO Launchpad, a newly launched accelerator for Richmond-based, early-stage nonprofit organizations. It’s kicking off with a four-month program designed to assist nonprofits with fundraising, growing donor bases and connecting with other community partners.
The program, co-founded by Pat Hull and Jeff Palumbo, is backed by The Hull Foundation and plans to connect startups with mentors from the Richmond business and nonprofit communities throughout the four months.
Along with mentorship, NPO Launchpad will supply a year of office space at a local coworking center. Accepted startups also will receive support with public relations, social media, software, accounting and cybersecurity.
Applicants must have 501(c)(3) status, be based in greater Richmond region, and have under $100,000 in annual revenue. The deadline to apply is July 15, and three applicants will be accepted into this cohort.
Palumbo said that he’d love to have a charity in the program end up having global impact, but its more immediate goal is to support companies that will grow into large organizations in the region.
“We want to find organizations from the metro Richmond area who want to be in Richmond – that’s one of the really important criteria – we want to see them grow and cultivate these opportunities here in town.”
Palumbo and Hull had worked together on identifying strong nonprofits through the Hull Foundation, and both are investors and supporters of the local startup ecosystem. Palumbo founded tech startups Yirm and Wantsa Inc., and co-founded nonprofits Believe for Boey Foundation and KIDlanthropy, along with mentoring at Startup Virginia. Hull, a longtime local investor and philanthropist, founded and sold tech startups GetLoaded.com and FreightCheck in earlier days, and more recently launched the Hull Foundation in 2009.
With their combined history, the incubator was a natural fit, Palumbo said.
“The Hull Foundation’s mission shaped how we intend on supporting [the startups], by not taking any equity position and rather giving them the same structure and access to resources that you find inside an incubator and accelerator,” he said. “Most of it is access to knowledge.”
The program, slated to begin in September, will culminate with a launch party in December where cohort members will showcase their progress to Richmond’s business and donor community.
In addition to seeking nonprofit applicants, NPO Launchpad is looking for more area executives and leaders to serve as mentors. Those already signed up include TechHead CEO Phil Conein, Covintus CEO Nick Bawa and Scott Dodson, director of advancement and patron communications for the Richmond Symphony, among others.
