Kickstarting for Good

Our programme to help launch and grow new nonprofits, impact initiatives, and social startups.

I want to apply!

Are you ready to rock the food world as a social-impact entrepreneur? Do you have a high-potential idea for a new initiative or organisation? Can your project make a difference in the food system? We are looking for the best founders to execute the ideas that will have the biggest positive impact on the world’s food ecosystem. Applications for the first cohort are closed. The next cohort will start in 2024.

What is it?

Kickstarting for Good is the world’s first incubator and accelerator programme aimed specifically at nonprofit organisations, impact initiatives, and social startups working on transforming the food system. It is the new not-for-profit programme of the ProVeg Incubator, which is part of the food awareness organisation ProVeg International.

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Who is it for?

We’re looking for the best founders to execute the ideas that will have the biggest positive impact on the world’s food ecosystem. Don’t have an idea of your own? Not a problem – we’ve identified a whole series of potential initiatives that you could take on.

Why take part?

You’ll get to take part in an 8-week expert-led programme with a tailor-made curriculum, expert mentoring, and exclusive networking opportunities, culminating in a funding-focused Demo Day. You’ll get to team up with like-minded co-founders, spend two intensive weeks in Berlin, and receive a grant of up to 5,000 euros to cover travel and accommodation costs.

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About Us

Kickstarting for Good is the world’s first programme focusing on high-impact nonprofits, impact initiatives, and social startups in the food and animal advocacy sector.

Our specialisation, your benefits:

  • Focus on impact: Kickstarting for Good’s programme is tailored to meet the objectives and needs of impact-focused social entrepreneurs in the alternative protein and animal advocacy space.
  • Integrated approach: We take an integrated, hands-on approach that combines incubation and acceleration together with learning and networking.
  • Network: We are part of an international food awareness organisation with a proven track record of spin-off interventions and organisations, along with a global network.
  • Ecosystem: The programme is part of ProVeg’s first-of-its-kind startup incubator with a unique position and ecosystem of founders, mentors, and industry professionals

The Programme

Our two-month programme offers an intensive curriculum with exclusive networking opportunities. The programme includes two intensive periods in Berlin; it culminates in a funding-focused Demo Day. Selected participants each receive a grant of up to 5,000 euros to cover travel costs and the time needed for the programme.

Our team of founders, funders, mentors, and researchers will help you identify the best approaches and right co-founder(s). Evaluate and validate your idea, set up a budget, dive into cost-effectiveness, develop a theory of change, and learn the fundraising ropes.

We’ll match you up with experienced mentors and advisors from our international network and our team at ProVeg International. We are experts in non-profit management and dedicated to supporting you on your entrepreneurial journey.

Team & Mentors

Our team and our mentors will support you throughout your entrepreneurial journey. We'll give you access to a unique network of leaders and founders, non-profit and for-profit experts, scientific pioneers, bestselling authors and seasoned advisers from diverse backgrounds.

Tobias Leenaert

ProVeg International - Mentor

Tobias Leenaert is a co-founder and strategic advisor at Proveg International, which is driving change towards more plant-based diets globally, for the planet, for animals, and for human health. He gives talks worldwide about the plant-based food transition. HIs book How to Create a Vegan World, translated into twelve languages, talks about strategies and communication to accelerate protein shift. Tobias blogs irregularly at www.veganstrategist.org. He likes to think out of the box, look for nuance among the black and the white and is also involved in the Effective Altruism movement.

David Meyer

Food System Innovations / Humane America - Mentor

David Meyer is an advisor to many non-profits and for-profits in the space, including the Good Food Institute, the Plant Based Foods Association, the Material Innovation Initiative, Global Food Partners, Pivot Food Investment, Plant Based World expo, and others. He runs Food System Innovations.David also co-founded and ran Adopt-a-Pet.com for 22 years, taking it from an idea, to the world’s largest nonprofit homeless pet adoption website, reaching millions of people each month, and listing pets from over 19,000 shelters. David and his team grew it to a multimillion dollar budget, working with Petsmart, Coldwell Banker, Overstock, Martha Stewart Living, the Hallmark Channel, and many more, and funded with multi-million dollar sponsorships from Nestle Purina, Chewy, Bayer, Elanco, Petco, Petco Foundation and others, ultimately moving the program to the fantastic people at Kinship Partners, a division of Mars. Inc. Adopt-a-Pet.com has been part of the major reduction in animals killed in shelters over the last 20 years. David co-led the animal rescue in New Orleans post-Katrina, co-led a consumer information/animal welfare ballot initiative, co-founded an orphanage in Haiti for children with HIV, lead numerous women’s empowerment and self-defense programs, ran a 501(c)4 political organization called Campaign Humane, helped author and testified on behalf of federal legislation to protect companion animals and their guardians, and has done many other things to save and improve the lives of animals and people.

Divya Murthy

Co-head / Investments Lead

Divya is in charge of evaluating companies to facilitate ProVeg’s startup investments. She also assesses and coaches startups during the accelerator programme. Divya is an MBA with a major in finance and has over six years of experience working with companies in strategy evaluation, due diligence, and financial modelling. Before joining the Incubator, Divya worked across roles in mergers and acquisitions consulting, corporate credit rating, and risk advisory.

Joey Savoie

Charity Entrepreneurship - Mentor

Joey Savoie is Co-founder at Charity Entrepreneurship. Within the organisation, he works on high-level strategy across all the departments of the organisation including activity prioritization and creating research processes. He also lead the operations team in addition to the curriculum team, which focuses on creating the structure and content for the incubation program. Prior to Charity Entrepreneurship, Joey co-founded Charity Science, a meta-organization that increased the amount of counterfactual funding going to high impact charities. Subsequently, he co-founded Charity Science Health, a nonprofit that increases vaccination rates in India using mobile phones and behavioural nudges. He has given lectures on various aspects of charity entrepreneurship in Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Yale, EAG London, EAG San Francisco, Berlin, Basel, Vancouver, Stockholm, and Oslo.

Chris Bryson

New School Foods / GlassWall Syndicate - Mentor

Chris Bryson is the founder and CEO at New School Foods, a food-tech startup developing whole-muscle seafood made from plants, for a more compassionate and sustainable world. As a mentor, he specialises in scaling, marketing, and business development. Chris is the Founder and CEO of Unata, an enterprise software company that helps grocery chains power their digital customer experiences. In 2018, Unata was acquired by Instacart. Chris focuses on food innovation and impact-driven causes and is an enthusiastic public speaker, angel investor, and coach to young startup companies. Prior to Unata, Chris worked in the loyalty industry at Aeroplan and was a marketing consultant for many Fortune 500 companies.

Devon Fritz

High Impact Professionals - Mentor

Devon Fritz is the co-founder of High Impact Professionals (HIP). HIP’s vision is to enable working professionals to have the biggest positive impact possible. They focus on building a community working together for the greater good, contributing not only through their money but also with their time and skills. Devon took part in Charity Entrepreneurship’s 2021 Incubator Program, an intense 2 months of learning, testing co-founder fit, and shaping and creating a high-impact charity. Priorly he worked at Founder’s Pledge as the Managing Director for Germany and as CTO. Founder’s Pledge is a global community of entrepreneurs, offering fantastic access to startups and venture capitalists in Berlin, London, and in the US.

Levana Shifman

Modern Agriculture Foundation - Mentor

Levana Shifman is Board of Director Member at Mercantile Discount Bank and CEO at Modern Agriculture Foundation (MAF). She was a Chairperson of the Board at Dexia Israel until 12019. Levana is a lecturer, mentor, strategic advisor, and ESG activist.

Jasmijn de Boo

ProVeg International - Mentor

Jasmijn de Boo is Global CEO at ProVeg International. She is a professional executive manager in animal and vegan advocacy, and education, with 20+ years’ experience. Before joining ProVeg, Jasmijn was CEO at SAFE For Animals in New Zealand and CEO at The Vegan Society in the UK, which grew from a small to a medium-size charity, doubling staff numbers and income, and significantly increasing international profile.
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Want to be a mentor?

We are always looking for like-minded, mission-aligned mentors who are knowledgeable about the not-for-profit and plant-based/alternative-protein space. Perhaps you’re a founder who built their own charity or company from scratch or maybe you’re an expert in business models, marketing, impact evaluation, or fundraising? You can share your valuable expertise with our founders via workshops, talks, or Q&As!

If you’d like to get involved, please write to us and tell us how you can contribute.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

ProVeg Incubator is for food tech startups; Kickstarting for Good is for nonprofits, impact initiatives and social startups.

  1. Kickstarting for Good has a laser-sharp focus on the animal advocacy movement and the mission of reducing the consumption of animal products.
  2. We do not only work with full-fledged not-for-profit organizations but also programmes, initiatives, and social startups. At the same time, we are also open to working with and developing impactful revenue-generating ideas and models (e.g. for associations).
  3. Our programme is there to support at the ideation stage but also at the growth or repositioning stage for existing organizations.
  1. Two intensive full-day in-person sessions on site in Berlin (4-5 days each)
  2. Around 20 hours per week during the virtual programme phase 

Yes, twice. It’s required to be present during the intensive weeks in Berlin, which would be at the beginning and the end of the programme.

Yes. Please apply jointly and list your co-founders and team members in the application form.

We think: yes! The ecosystem of today cannot solve all the pressing problems at hand. We need more specialized nonprofits, impact initiatives and social startups and also meta organizations that tackle those problems. We will be very thoughtful and intentional in our approach, however, and will only facilitate the launch of new organizations when there are compelling reasons to do so. Cost-effectiveness, problem-solution fit, theory of change and sustainability are crucial. Furthermore, our approach is very flexible: Apart from new organizations, we also support and work on initiatives or programmes that could be integrated in existing organizations.

We are constantly collecting and validating new ideas. For this, we connect with the community and collect their feedback. Curating, reflecting and developing that idea list is a constant process. Depending on the assessment and feedback we receive, we will promote and bring forward new ideas. The research and validation of ideas is a central part of the programme.

Absolutely not! You can join even without an idea, and can either choose one of the ideas provided by us, or can potentially join someone else already working on their own idea.

Yes. The program is shaped in a way that it is adaptable to already established organizations and initiatives in their early stage or at a stage of repositioning and pivoting.

Seed funding is crucial but we cannot guarantee that you will receive it. Having said that, we will connect you with potential funders and help you present your work in the most compelling way. We will also work with you on alternative business models as we see that the dependance on philanthropy alone can be a limiting factor for the ecosystem and the success of new organizations and initiatives.

I want to apply!

Our Team

Kickstarting for Good

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Location

Genthiner Straße 48
Berlin, Germany

Get in touch

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