AN EXAMPLE TO DEMONSTRATE
Say the goal is a circular textile system
A city collects an enormous amount of waste from its residents and businesses. In a city the size of Charlotte, that amounts to about 900,000 tons a year, with more than $100M of recoverable value. A city's recovery facility, on its own, can only do so much with what it collects. Most of the value stays locked up, and much of the material currently ends up in a landfill.
What if the textiles the city currently discards could become feedstock for local businesses that can use them to make new things? Making this happen is often a coordination challenge. A better recovery facility can't be built or financed until it's clear where the material will go, and at roughly what price. Fiber and biomaterial producers who could use the material cannot commit until supply is steady. The companies turning it into insulation, panels, and carpet need buyers who will take a reclaimed product. This new "value chain" relies on several layers of commitments before it can be made a reality.
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Our focus in this case would be to provide resources and support to multiple parties, in a way that matches their needs, and coordinates trust and agreements so this new value chain can come into existence.
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HOW WE SUPPORT
We back clusters, not just single projects
Conventional funding evaluates each project on a standalone basis. Beyond also providing resources to individual initiatives, we also support coherent clusters of activities: enterprises, shared infrastructure, and supporting institutions that are all complementing each other and working towards a shared outcome.
Whether joint initiatives, shared infrastructure, or new structures for organizing shared interests, collaboration is a key tenet of how we engage with initiatives already doing great work.
OUR POLY-CAPITAL APPROACH
We bring support through a broad set of resources
There are many ways to unlock opportunities in the region. Here are some of the ways we look at support.
Financial Capital
Matched with the type of capital you need.
Knowledge
Research, analysis, and practical experience.
Technical
Direct support for designing, structuring, and delivering the work.
Human
Talent, leadership, and experience in the region.
Relational
Trust, convening, and connections to enable efforts to find & support.​
Advocacy
Voice, policy, and making the work visible.
IS THIS YOU?
Types of initiatives we support
This list is not exhaustive, but rather meant to provide a handful of exampels.
A farm, food hub, or cooperative working to keep more value with growers in the region.
A maker or manufacturer building with reclaimed, recycled, or repurposed regional materials.
A land trust, housing organization, or community group holding assets for the long term.
A nonprofit or grassroots effort working on health, resilience, or workforce initiatives.
A venture or startup tackling a specific challenge in createing new value chains.
An incubator aiming to build new businesses in a sector like regenerative forestry
What alignment actually means
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In the region. Based in or focused on the 59 counties of the Mountain and Piedmont region of North Carolina.
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Within one of our Transition Pathways. Your work relates to one, or across several, of our Transition Pathways.
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Keeping value and decisions regional. An outcome of this initiative is to retain more value within the region. This can mean many things, including being locally owned, having primary operations in the region, serving the region, or having a community, worker, or resident governance structure.
What we're asking of you
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Complete a form telling us about yourself. The form below is the first step in the process. We will follow-up with more information.
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Join our gatherings. We convene rooms of initiatives tied to certain value chains and Transition Pathways to help shape our portfolios. Join us if you can and share your experience and expertise. This isn't mandatory to receive support, but it is helpful to the overall initiative and region.
KEEP IN MIND
There is no open funding right now.
Our initial grant funding for the beginning of 2026 is closed. Larger pools of grants and values-aligned equity investments are in development for early 2027. Completing the form now is not an application for immediate investment, but it helps put your initiative in front of our team for analysis and review, so we can hit the ground running when capital is ready to be deployed. Understanding what you're working on and what you need also helps us invite you into the right rooms to share perspective on where capital can be additive to a cluster of initiatives working together.
INTRODUCTIONS
Tell us about yourself.
Takes about two minutes to complete.
CIRCULAR MATERIALS & INDUSTRY
A Second Life for Textile Waste
UpCycle Fibers turns North Carolina's discarded textiles into code-ready building insulation, furniture, acoustic panels, and auto fibers. They are keeping materials out of the landfill and building a local supply chain in the process.
They were a recipient of our initial grant funding. The grant helped fund the testing and certification standing between their insulation product and a building market that will accept their reclaimed product.