Nonprofit Accelerator

Supporting founders in the growth stage of their ventures.

Praxis Fellows engage with a mentor during a coaching session at a mentoring event.

We believe that Christian entrepreneurs who are spiritually serious, culturally astute, and in community are uniquely suited to build sustainable ventures that renew culture, bless their people and partners, and embody the love and grace of the gospel.

Through our flagship Nonprofit Accelerator program, we help entrepreneurs become deeply formed as leaders who guide their nonprofit organizations to be more effective in leveraging philanthropic capital, and more redemptive in their impact.

This mentorship-driven, non-residential program equips high-capacity founders as they innovate in their respective sectors. We accept just 12 growth-stage ventures every year, with up to two co-founding leaders (known as Praxis Fellows) per organization.

2022 NONPROFIT cohort APPLICATIONs

Applications for the 2022 Nonprofit Accelerator program closed on June 1, 2021. The Praxis team is reviewing applications and will notify selected candidates by August 2021. The 2022 program cycle itself will begin in September 2021 and run through May 2022.

Applications for the 2023 Nonprofit Accelerator program (which will run from September 2022 through May 2023) will open in early 2022. To tell us about your interest in being considered for that cohort, complete the interest form. To nominate or recommend a candidate for the program, complete the nomination form. We'll review your nomination and invite them to apply when applications open again in early 2022.

interest formnomination form

Explore the Accelerator

about the program
our portfolio
who should apply?
start your application

What Praxis offers

During and beyond their participation in the Nonprofit Accelerator, Praxis supports the growth, health, and impact of new ventures by equipping entrepreneurs in five critical areas.

  • Values-Aligned Capital

    Enabled by program mentoring, Showcase events, informal gatherings, and other introductions, over $100M in investment and philanthropic capital has been placed into portfolio ventures through our community.

  • Expert Mentoring

    Through our Accelerator programming and introductions, Fellows are introduced to dozens of mentors who—in addition to bringing domain expertise and consultative skill—are exemplars of redemptive leadership.

  • Transformative Content

    In the company of mentors, faculty, and peers, we use the Redemptive Nonprofit Playbook and Rule of Life to apply the paradigm-shifting ideas, commitments, practices, and experiences of redemptive entrepreneurship to each Fellow and venture.

  • Spiritual Formation

    We integrate prayer, teaching, and other shared spiritual practices into the program so that we grow in faith as we grow in leadership. We connect Fellows to providers of trusted resources (for marriage health, counseling, and spiritual direction) in the community.

  • Talent Network

    Fellows looking for values-aligned talent for their ventures can post their venture’s open jobs, search on profiles of people who have participated in a Praxis experience, and make connections with others in the community.

What Fellows gain

‍You'll grow as a leader. You'll be interacting with dozens of Praxis Mentors—wise leaders with expertise on strategy, operations, fundraising, and leadership. You'll receive sustained personal coaching from our senior program team. As a result, you're very likely to become more effective, more resilient, and more redemptive as a leader.

Your nonprofit will become more redemptive and fundable as it matures. You'll regularly discuss and apply the principles and practices of redemptive entrepreneurship—and receive specific tactical counsel—in wide-ranging aspects of your work. You'll enjoy access to capital, talent, and other resources to grow your venture, through personal introductions, gatherings, and private tech-based platforms.

You'll become part of a life-giving community. From day one you're part of a diverse cohort of amazing peers leading early-stage ventures in various nonprofit sectors, sharing the highs and lows of the journey to grow your ventures as you grow in your faith. You'll be supported by the Praxis team, a tight-knit group of advocates and connectors ready to help you thrive in the program. And the program is an onramp to ongoing participation in the wider Praxis community, launched at our end-of-program Summit and Showcase with hundreds of active philanthropists, mentors, Fellow alumni, and thought leaders.

Read more in our FAQs

Program Content

Each Accelerator program event is customized to the needs of the Fellows and the expertise of the mentors.

Together we work through the Redemptive Nonprofit Playbook and the Praxis Rule of Life for Redemptive Entrepreneurs. We also draw from a library of over 150 topics (briefly sampled here) for supplemental talks, workshops, and breakouts that leverage each mentor's areas of knowledge and passion.
‍
With every component of the program content—whether it’s about leadership, strategy, or execution—we apply best practices, share personal experiences, and push the redemptive edge of the topic.

SAMPLE sessions based on THE REDEMPTIVE nonprofit PLAYBOOK

start reading
STORY

Telling a consistent and integrated story to all stakeholders

Nonprofit Branding: Designing for Your Stakeholders

Mission Drift: Staying Faithful to Your Organization's Roots

PROGRAMS

Designing and delivering services based on proximity, collaboration, & impact

Design for Nonprofit Scale: Breadth vs. Depth for Impact

Replication & Transfer: Bringing Your Model to New Markets

TEAM

Advancing a healthy team culture that develops people for the long haul

Building the Team: Hiring for Scale

Creating a Culture of Design & Excellence

bOARD

Investing relationally in engaged, high-performance governance

Board Evolution: Engagement & Governance Over Time

Founders & Board Chairs: Making or Breaking the Venture

FUNDING

Building truly mutual relationships with donors as whole persons

Foundations & Family Offices: Navigating Relationships

Global Trends in Impact Investing

IDENTITY

Developing the mindset of stewardship rather than ownership of the mission

The Prophetic Role of Nonprofit Leadership

Building Strong Families & Strong Organizations

SAMPLE TOPICS FROM THE Rule of Life

start reading
Time

Practicing rhythms of work & rest that sustain our energy (and our team's) over the years

Money

Practicing simplicity & generosity to dethrone our preoccupation with wealth and possessions

Imagination

Practicing limits on our consumption of media & tech to steward and refresh our creative ability

Decision-Making

Practicing dependence on God in our discernment, rather than relying on our own autonomous wisdom

Power

Practicing sharing rather than accumulating status and authority to generate possibility for others

Community

Practicing presence and submitting to accountability with others who are not part of our work

Program Cycle

The program runs from October 2021 to May 2022, and is anchored by intensive, multi-day, in-person events, with regular one-on-one coaching sessions with core team mentors and other small-group virtual sessions in between.  

Over the course of the program, Fellows interact personally with 50+ mentors and team members through small group discussions and one-on-ones.

Fellows also benefit deeply from the experiences of their peers. They encourage and challenge one another, engage in problem-solving sessions on key issues, and introduce one another to their own networks.

During the Redemptive Imagination Summit in May, Fellows close their program year by presenting to the community (including hundreds of potential funders) in their program Showcase.

April 7, 2021

Applications
Open

August

Invitations
SENT

Coaching Sessions

Oct. 18–22

Mentoring Event

New York

Feb. 8–11, 2022

Mentoring Event

Location TBD

May 11–13

Summit &
Showcase

Napa, CA

Active Community Participation

Kelly Lyndgaard
It felt like I had come home. Praxis is the community I had been looking for my whole life.

Kelly Lyndgaard

Founder & CEO, Unshattered

2018 Nonprofit Fellow

Praxis' redemptive framework challenges and encourages me to reshape my decision-making in a way that no longer orients me at the center of my choices but to sacrificially put others first, reflecting Christ's love for us. I am humbled to be part of the Praxis community and grateful for the opportunities to collaborate with Christ-followers committed to the same calling of restorative life and work.

Vivian Long

VP of Philanthropy, Long Family Foundation

Nonprofit Accelerator Mentor

As a leader of a growing organization, I wasn't sure if the Praxis Accelerator would be worth the investment. But it turned out to be one of the best decisions I ever made as a leader. Every time I attend a Praxis event, I leave feeling inspired, connected, and rejuvenated ... and taking away concrete ideas and relationships that actually advance my work and life.

Victor Boutros

CEO, Human Trafficking Institute

2016 Nonprofit Fellow

God is at work through Praxis and its ventures. I know of no movement today that is restoring culture so deeply, through common commitments and willingness to sacrifice on behalf of others. It is a picture of unity, faith in action, and a commitment to excellence.

Peter Greer

President & CEO, Hope International

Nonprofit Accelerator Mentor, Venture Partner

The Praxis community broadens and challenges my perspective while simultaneously rooting my identity as a steward of God's call for our organization's mission. It's given me handles and frameworks to the concept of redemptive entrepreneurship, as well as strategy, tools, and tactics that have directly affected our work.

Johnmark Oudersluys

Executive Director, CityLink Center

2015 Nonprofit Fellow

The Praxis team is invested in your redemptive work, yet one of the greatest attributes is their personal investment in you as a child of God. I have incorporated many practices from the Rule of Life for Redemptive Entrepreneurs, although the most important for me has been the active practice of a Sabbath.

David Araya

Co-Founder, HoPe

2017 Nonprofit Fellow

Praxis has been life-changing. Not only have I gained new practices of discernment and a new vision for how my wife and I can aspire to live, but our strategic model for our organization has drastically improved. Our lives and our work now demonstrate more of God's glory!

Olatunde Sobomehin

CEO & Lead Servant, StreetCode Academy

2021 Nonprofit Fellow

Program Community

Meet our Mentors

Seasoned founders and investors offering strategic insight to the current cohort.

Meet our Fellows

The entrepreneurs in our current cohort.

Meet the program core Team

Praxis team members and Venture Partners who serve Fellows and connect them to resources.

Our Portfolio

A sampling of the 100+ ventures that have completed or are in the current cohort of the Nonprofit Accelerator:

Our accelerators have served 190+ active ventures

View the full portfolio

who should apply?

We select ventures that are:

  • Already "in the market" providing services
  • Innovating in their sector
  • Aiming to pursue their mission through a scalable model

led by serious christians who are:

  • Aiming to embody the gospel through a redemptive venture
  • Humble and teachable, with a passion for excellence
  • Seeking an accountable community to grow together in faith

Scale Fellowship: We invite a small number of leaders who run organizations at scale ($10M+ in annual revenue) to go through the program as Scale Fellows. Some are founders who have grown the organization to significant scale; others have come into leadership in established organizations, with board backing for a growth/transformation agenda. With an emphasis on implementing at scale, Fellows will learn from the Praxis team and mentors on how to build and lead a redemptive venture into the next phase of its lifecycle.

who should apply?

we're passionate about building a diverse community of exceptional entrepreneurs from every continent and background, including greater representation of:

  • Women
  • Racial and ethnic minorities in the U.S., including Black, Latino, Asian American, Pacific Islander, and Native/Indigenous people
  • Currently underrepresented regions globally, including sub-Saharan Africa, Latin & Central America, and South and East Asia
  • Entrepreneurs coming from and serving in economically marginalized communities and sectors

Apply

2022 NONPROFIT cohort APPLICATIONs

Applications for the 2022 Nonprofit Accelerator program closed on June 1, 2021. The Praxis team is reviewing applications and will notify selected candidates by August 2021. The 2022 program cycle itself will begin in September 2021 and run through May 2022.

Applications for the 2023 Nonprofit Accelerator program (which will run from September 2022 through May 2023) will open in early 2022. To tell us about your interest in being considered for that cohort, complete the interest form. To nominate or recommend a candidate for the program, complete the nomination form. We'll review your nomination and invite them to apply when applications open again in early 2022.

interest formnomination form

program fees

Through our generous donors, we are able to subsidize most of our actual costs to deliver our Accelerator program. Fellows routinely rate the program as delivering exceptional value and impact. Though our program’s focus is relationship building and counsel, and funding from philanthropists in our community is venture-dependent, our Nonprofit Fellows have received over $20M in funding since the program’s inception—such that most organizations receive funding through the community that far exceeds their program fees.

The program fee includes all food and accommodations for roughly ten days at the three in-person events, plus program materials and access to all the elements described above.

NONPROFIT FELLOWSHIP — $8,000

ADDITIONAL SEAT (for 2nd Fellow) — $3,000

Due to program size and venue commitments, if for any reason a Fellow cannot participate in a portion of the program, the fees are nonrefundable (even in extenuating circumstances).