The Richard King Mellon Foundation is launching a pitch competition to invest $1 million in businesses that are focused on creating a social impact.

The competition, announced Wednesday, will judge contenders not only on their ability to make money for investors but also their potential to meet one of the foundation's four primary funding priorities: economic development, economic mobility, health and well-being and conservation.

Those priorities are part of the foundation's 10-year, $1 billion "strategic plan" that it released in January to guide its funding and activity over the next decade. The pitch competition will kick off the "Social-Impact Investments" prong of the strategic plan, which focuses on investments in for-profit companies whose mission aligns with the foundation's philanthropic goals.

The foundation expects to invest $50 million in social impact investments over the next 10 years, according to the Wednesday press release.

"Our philanthropic goals are ambitious and we need great ideas from the private sector, along with our traditional nonprofit grantmaking, to achieve our goals at scale," said Sam Reiman, the director of the foundation.

"There is a new generation of compassionate entrepreneurs who are using their talents to change the world," he said. "Too often they are unable to obtain the financial support they need to make their dreams a reality."

For its pitch competition, the foundation is partnering with venture capitalists and tech accelerators who already know the drill. It will work with OneValley, San Mateo. Calif-based entrepreneurship platform that recently launched in Pittsburgh, as well as Ascender, a co-working space in East Liberty that offers programming, mentorship and other services for startups. It is also partnering with The Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, a venture philanthropy firm based in Menlo Park, California.

"There is a lot of work to address inequality, quality of life and economic development," said Nadyli Nuñez, the executive director at Ascender. "The foundation's competition signals to tinkerers and innovators that building a company with a social impact is a win for the business, its employees, the investors and, most of all, the community it serves."

The winner of the pitch competition will receive a $500,000 investment from the foundation. The second-place business will receive $300,000 while the third-place winner will receive $200,000.

Other businesses that submit ideas will move into the foundation's "pipeline" for future funding for social impact investments.

If the foundation makes a return on these investments, that principal will be used to make more investments in social impact ventures, officials said.

The competition is open to established companies or entrepreneurs with business ideas that align with one or more of the foundation's main funding priorities. National companies that work in Allegheny or Westmoreland counties or those that want to start a business locally are eligible to participate if they are focused on economic development or mobility or health and well-being. Conservation-focused companies can work anywhere in the United States.

"If you are an entrepreneur with a dream to change the world for the better, you should be in Pittsburgh," Mr. Reiman said. "We expect to receive many strong ideas that make a difference. And we expect to fund many of them."

Submissions are due Sept. 1 and the three winners will be announced in January.

Lauren Rosenblatt: lrosenblatt@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1565.

First Published: July 14, 2021, 3:22 p.m.