Prosperity in Appalachia.

Savage Grant has a fundamental belief that alleviating poverty and cultivating prosperity starts with jobs. And to create jobs, we must tackle our area's toughest problems.
Therefore our work centers on three objectives:

Objective 1
Raising capital to build and invest in Appalachian industries that directly address challenges in our region;

Objective 2
Supporting Appalachia-based entrepreneurs in growing businesses into world-class enterprises; and
Objective 3
Achieving market-rate returns to drive further investment and job creation throughout the region.

Investment approach

Impact Investing

The Opportunity Zone Fund
The Savage Grant Opportunity Zone Fund invests capital in designated Opportunity Zones. As outlined in the Federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, investments made in businesses operating in census tracts designated as Opportunity Zones benefit from significant tax incentives.

The Appalachia Impact Fund
We are resolute in our belief that talent, intellect, and drive are universally distributed — but economic opportunity is not. To promote socio-economic opportunity and equality, we have adopted an impact investing approach that seeks to revitalize overlooked communities while achieving market rate returns.

Capital investments in our opportunity fund are reinvested in companies or ventures that are likely to solve the big problems in our communities and create jobs for people living in economically distressed areas.

It's about time

Patient Capital
Supplanting poverty with prosperity won’t happen overnight. Driving meaningful, sustainable economic development is contingent on capital absorption. Developing that capacity requires a long-term commitment to the communities in which we invest and patient capital. Our Opportunity Zone Fund is designed to make a lasting, multi-generational impact and yield returns over a greater than 10-year period.

Investment criteria

We are actively seeking opportunities to launch new businesses or acquire stand-alone or bolt-on businesses that meet the following criteria:

Location

We invest in businesses that are located in or are committed to employing through remote work individuals from communities in Appalachia.

Industry

Our investments are primarily focused on the energy, infrastructure and technology industries with companies that have durable competitive strengths and good returns on the net tangible assets required to operate the business.

Market potential

We evaluate investment opportunities to determine the likelihood of scaling the venture through internal growth to achieve market-rate returns over more than 10-year period.

Impact

When evaluating an investment opportunity, we consider its likelihood to impact our goals of promoting 1) environmental sustainability, 2) human capital growth, and 3) economic equality.