Flourishing Appalachian Ohio Fund

We all have a gift that matters to the future of Appalachian Ohio, and financial gifts have far greater impact when combined. FAO’s Flourishing Appalachian Ohio Fund fuels innovation regionwide. It facilitates collaboration to solve the roots of challenges, encourages high aspirations, fills in gaps and enables successful approaches to expand from community to community.

The fund currently focuses investments in three key areas to:

• Answer the question: Who is coming next? The Growing Home Fellowship, FAO’s signature leadership development program, is a first-of-a kind model for retaining, recruiting and preparing next-generation community builders to support and strengthen communities. After a successful pilot, we are poised to expand the Fellowship and securing the capital needed is our primary focus in 2026.
• Solve the philanthropy gap – Appalachian Ohio has 90% less philanthropic assets per capita than the rest of Ohio. The Flourishing Appalachian Ohio Fund empowers strong local foundations and deploys regional investment capital to remove barriers and create opportunity across the five Pillars of Prosperity: arts and culture, community and economic development, education, environmental stewardship, and health and human services.
• Advance a culture of success – After generations of economic distress, one of the frequent challenges is a culture of diminished expectation. FAO’s I’m a Child of Appalachia® initiative increases pride, confidence and advances high aspirations in Appalachian Ohio and beyond. FAO’s work to lift the science of hope and other elements of best practice leverage the very best of what proximate knowledge, combined with evidence-based strategies, can produce for communities.

Your gift today will ensure that the people and communities in Appalachian Ohio have access to the opportunities they need to flourish.