In 2012, the foundation launched the Telluride Venture Accelerator, drawing on its entrepreneurial donors to work as mentors to high-growth businesses focused on outdoor recreation, tourism, natural products, health, energy, water, and education products. Through its Paradox Community Development Initiative, partially funded by a USDA Rural Business Enterprise Grant, the foundation also provides technical assistance and low-interest loans to nonprofits and locally owned small businesses in rural communities. In 2009, the foundation received $1 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s Strengthening Communities Fund, which it used to help nonprofits promote economic recovery and develop social enterprises. The foundation also established the Paradox Community Trust, a public-private partnership to combine resource extraction severance taxes, grants, and private donations to create a locally controlled permanent fund for community and economic development investments.