From 320+ applications and 170+ ideas to 18 participants and 9 ideas.
How it started?
This all started with a question.
How do we get more ideas and initiatives furthering animal advocacy and food transformation?
This question sparked the journey of Kickstarting for Good, the world's first incubator and accelerator programme aimed specifically at nonprofit organisations, impact initiatives, and social startups working on transforming the food system.
We recently finished our inaugural programme which took place from 20 Oct - 12 Dec 2023. The programme provided participants with a tailored curriculum, mentorship, coaching, network to funders and a grant of up to €5000 to be able to attend the two intensive weeks in Berlin.
The Programme:
These 8 weeks which were full of countless workshops, fireside chats, coaching, mentorship and more were divided into three phases:
Bringing together 18 people from 11 countries in Berlin, the first intensive session focussed on developing a collaborative cohort, playing interactive games, doing challenges such as the Marshmallow Challenge, which was a big hit. Then diving right into problem discovery and focussing on asking the right questions to maximise impact with topics such as Theory of Change, Impact Measurement, Vision and Mission and much more.
Moving on from here, we entered the virtual phase, where a big focus was laid on validation. Conducting market research, interviewing experts, working on cost-effectiveness, budgeting and how to choose the right intervention. We delved also into other topics, for instance team structure, how to build an organisation for success, with answering burning questions such as how to attract top talent as a nonprofit and so on.
These two months were concluded with a Pitch Day where the teams presented their initiatives to industry experts at ProVeg Incubator. The evening ended with discussions, tons of feedback and networking, and of course good vegan Pizza.
Incubated initiatives:
Connecting academia and animal advocacy to empower research for a more human future by bringing together students, supervisors, and research topics.
Equipping consumers with science-backed information through reports, a fact-checking website, and international campaigns aimed at shedding light on industry malpractices.
An open source AI for the animal rights movement, providing free technical support to nonprofits and working with major AI labs to ensure that AI benefits all sentient beings.
Plant-Based Chefs Association
An association to empower plant-based chefs with knowledge, skills, and opportunities through training and resources, job boards, cooking competitions, and more.
Reporters for Animals International
A network to support farmed animal investigators with resources, knowledge, funding, and mental support through conferences, resources, and community.
Challenging church-led institutions (kindergartens, schools, hospitals, etc.) – with their almost 40 million members in 23,000 congregations in Germany – about their animal welfare standards and plant-based offerings through campaigns.
This pilot programme has certainly been a rollercoaster ride, for us and the participants. This ride created a bunch of memories and gave us tons of learnings that we wish to apply to our future programmes.
Interested in taking part in Kickstarting for Good?
Register your interest here and we will reach out to you soon with more details.
We want to end this article in a similar way to how Kickstarting for Good was born, with a question:
If you could start a nonprofit focussed on animal advocacy and food transformation, what would it be about?
Thank you so much!