Futures Fund Community Health Incubator -VOA

VOA Futures Fund Community Health Incubator

Accelerating health equity through community partnership

APPLY NOW

Fully-funded 14-week accelerator with partnership opportunities for ventures in community health

Preview the Application Questions

Prepare your submission early to make your application stand out.

Volunteers of America (VOA), one of the nation's largest and most experienced nonprofit providers of housing, healthcare and supportive services, launched this first-of-its-kind Incubator to accelerate social enterprises that improve quality, equity, and access to care for Medicaid and at-risk populations. Sponsored by the Humana Foundation, the VOA Futures Fund Community Health Incubator powered by SEED SPOT supports early-stage entrepreneurship that develops innovative products and services for equitable community health outcomes.

Leveraging VOA’s vast portfolio of assets–16,000 employees, 400 communities, 22,000+ units of affordable housing, 15+ senior healthcare facilities, 2 million people served annually, hundreds of programs and service models–this 14-week program will benefit founders through expertise and collaboration with the VOA network, business training, and tailored mentorship while tackling the most challenging community health disparities. This is a fully funded opportunity with non-dilutive grants and the potential follow-on investment of up to $200,000.

Key Programmatic Highlights

Business Skills

Participants test, pilot, and scale their ventures through interactive workshops and customized mentorship from health industry experts and business leaders.

Partnerships

Participating ventures are introduced to prospective partner representatives from the Humana Foundation and Volunteers of America (VOA) network. Founders are guided through the partnership development and scoping process.

Funding

Founders receive a $15,000 non-dilutive capacity grant for participating in the Incubator. An additional $10,000 may be accessed for implementation pilots with VOA Affiliates. Graduates are eligible for follow-on investments of up to $200,000.

Showcase

All ventures will have the opportunity to give a pitch about their company during the final Showcase. There are also potential occasions to pitch to various affinity groups during and after programming who might be interested in the product/service.

Incubator Impact

Over the past three cohorts, the Community Health Incubator has generated 17 alumni ventures and created extraordinary success!

41%

Secured VOA Affiliate Pilots/Partnerships

$150k

Invested

$400K

Non-diluted Grants Distributed

What to Expect

Important dates

The priority deadline is January 21, 2025. The final application deadline is March 3, 2025.

The program will kick off with a virtual orientation and meet and greet, on May 7, 2025.

All participants must attend the Volunteers of America National Conference, June 7 through 10, 2025. Travel costs of up to $1,700 will be covered per venture.

The program runs from May 7 to August 26, 2025.

The large-scale showcase will be held on August 19, 2025.

Additional INCUBATOR OUTCOMES

Prepare for venture capital by fine-tuning your fundraising strategy with guidance from investors.

Join a community of diverse founders committed to social impact, including 900+ creating innovations in health and wellness.

Leverage a national network through lifetime Alumni Program benefits such as mentorship, funding resources, and legal support.

Develop a strategic growth plan with experts, including developing sales strategies, increasing marketing capabilities.

Multiply your impact to better support your community.

Who Should Apply

This program is designed for entrepreneurs creating innovations toward community health equity. Innovations can range from apps that provide culturally sensitive medical advice to a meal service for the elderly. Both for profit and nonprofit enterprises are supported through the Community Health Incubator.

Eligibility criteria:

The solution has reached a minimum viable product with demonstrated traction.
There is a clear value proposition for VOA partnership.
A strong preference is given to businesses able to agilely partner with VOA Affiliates in California, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, or Texas.
Focus issue areas include solutions supporting seniors, veterans, youth, unhoused, and/or working in mental and behavioral health.

MEET INCUBATOR ALUMNI

bEHR Health Systems

bEHR Health Systems is a health company that provides medical, lifestyle, and social solutions for the healthy aging of Black people.

The Cook's Nook

The Cook's Nook provides “food as medicine" with culturally relevant prepared meals designed to cost-effectively improve patient health.

Malama Health

The Malama Health app leverages data collected during pregnancy to tailor diabetes management both during pregnancy and postpartum.

Samaritan

Samaritan is a support platform, when deployed by health and human services, gets resources, such as critical utilities and housing, swiftly to the unhoused.

TrainingGrounds

At TrainingGrounds, families receive support services and resources to improve their children’s health as well as educational outcomes.

Welfie

Welfie puts community health workers in schools to deliver health education and care coordination to families on Medicaid.

Care Options Network

Care Options Network is an information resource for senior care professionals in the Twin Cities, Minnesota, and the surrounding areas.

LunaJoy Health

LunaJoy Health is a digital mental health care clinic for women through the lifespan: pregnancy, postpartum, infertility, miscarriage, perimenopause, and beyond.

Giving Credit

Giving Credit is a fintech solution for community finance that brings transparency to social credit networks, protecting peer lenders against loan loss.

The emphasis on effectively communicating the business concept and breaking it down for easy understanding was incredibly valuable. The program’s strong focus on partnerships and the substantial support provided for making key introductions set it apart from other accelerators and incubators I’ve experienced."

- Kayla Wright-Jackson, Co-Founder/CEO, Transition

Transition is a workforce development platform bridging the gap between healthcare training and employment.

About Volunteers of America Futures Fund

Launched in 2018 as a subsidiary of Volunteers of America Inc., The Futures Fund is a social impact investment fund that supports the development and expansion of high impact health, housing, and social service models and enterprises within Volunteers of America and as joint-venture partnerships with external community health entrepreneurs.

The Futures Fund provides catalytic capital, training, and coaching to test new ideas, launch social enterprises, and expand successful service lines that improve the social determinants of health.

To date, VOA’s Futures Fund has invested over $3.1M in a portfolio that spans 40 communities in 22 states, in six key domain areas: Early childhood development, Healthcare, Youth, Food Security, Economic Empowerment, and Housing Stability.

Check out the VOA Advisory Board!