Hey, what’s the big idea? ProVeg wants to know! Our new programme, Kickstarting for Good, will birth new organisations and initiatives to transform the food system and advocate for farmed animals. The focus is on Artificial Intelligence, Policy Change, Food Waste, Farming Transition and other idea areas with a high-impact potential.
ProVeg International is looking for outstanding, mission-driven talent to join Kickstarting for Good. It’s the food awareness organisation’s programme to launch and grow new nonprofits and impact initiatives. Applications for the 2024 cohort are now open.
Kickstarting for Good is the world’s first incubator and accelerator programme aimed specifically at nonprofit organisations and impact initiatives working on transforming the food system. It is the not-for-profit programme of the ProVeg Incubator, which has been working with over 100 food tech startups in the last five years.
“Startups are crucial to make our food system more sustainable. However, the for-profit approach alone cannot tackle the mission of taking animals out of the food equation. We also need high-impact food system advocacy organisations and interventions,” said Sebastian Joy, Founding President at ProVeg International. “Kickstarting for Good is a dedicated programme for such ventures. It is tailored to the needs of impact entrepreneurs worldwide.”
High-impact idea areas and expert-led programme
ProVeg is looking for aspiring and seasoned entrepreneurs who either want to explore one of eleven high-impact idea areas (see below) or already have a validated idea for a new initiative or organisation. Selected applicants will participate in a 10-week expert-led programme with a bespoke curriculum, expert mentoring, and exclusive networking opportunities. Participants will team up with like-minded co-founders, spend two intensive weeks in Berlin, and receive a grant of up to $5,000 to cover travel and accommodation costs. The programme culminates in a Pitch Day at the end of the programme.
Individuals, founder teams and also existing organisations can apply to the programme, which lists the following idea areas:
- Policy change – Work on new efforts to advocate for policy changes that incentivize movement toward novel sources of protein.
- Meta-fundraising – Find ways to significantly boost funding for farmed animal and food system charities by identifying new income streams and attracting new funders.
- Artificial Intelligence – Explore the most promising approaches to use AI to improve advocacy, and level the playing field between advocates and industrial animal agriculture.
- Social media – Help plant-forward social media content creators be more professional, persuasive, effective, and self-sustaining.
- Corporate engagement – Develop new concepts on how to use the power and influence of corporations to create better food systems.
- University outreach – Find more effective ways to conduct strategic outreach to students including ideas to educate, influence, organise, and support them
- Public relations – Improve the animal advocacy movement’s use of public relations, media, and communications.
- Culinary engagement – Engage with culinary professionals to help them be more successful, create a community of like-minded chefs, and generally work to improve the quality and availability of plant-based foods in all parts of the world.
- Faith-based advocacy – Build initiatives that work with often neglected religious groups to leverage their influence in creating a more compassionate food system.
- Farming transition – Conceptualize and launch initiatives that help farmers transition away from animal agriculture toward more sustainable business practices.
- Food waste – Leverage innovative ideas to address animal product waste among consumers and throughout the supply chain.
Global network of mentors
“The participants will get access to a unique global network of mentors and advisors. We put them in touch with seasoned founders, nonprofit and for-profit experts, scientific pioneers, bestselling authors and advisers from diverse backgrounds,” said Sebastian Joy. “Our team will support founders all the way on their entrepreneurial journey.”
Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis but ProVeg is encouraging submissions by 30 April for the very first round of projects. The Kickstarting for Good team will send a response by 15 May informing the applicant as to whether they’ve made it to the next stage.
Kickstarting for Good is run by the pioneering ProVeg Incubator. Incubator supports food-tech startups seeking investments whereas Kickstarting for Good is aimed at nonprofits and impact initiatives fueled primarily by philanthropy.
About the programme
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.
Find out more about Kickstarting for Good at: provegincubator.com/kickstartingforgood
Initiatives that were incubated in 2023:
Open Paws, founded by Sam Tucker, is 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 (www.openpaws.ai).
Freedom Food Alliance, a new platform by Robbie Lockie that equips consumers with science-backed information through reports, a fact-checking website, and international campaigns to shed light on industry malpractices (www.freedomfoodalliance.org).
Vegan Thesis, founded by Yuxi Xia and Joël Christoph, connects academia and animal advocacy to empower research for a more human future by bringing together students, supervisors, and research topics (www.veganthesis.org).
Church Campaign for Animals, founded by Carsten Halmanseder is challenging the two big churches in Germany with their almost 40 million members in 23,000 congregations – about their animal welfare standards and plant-based offerings through campaigns (Will-Kirche-Tierschutz.de).
Reporters For Animals International, founded by Kathrin Plaschnick and Hendrik Hassel, is a network to support farmed animal investigators with resources, knowledge, exchange, and mental support.
ENDS
Media Inquiries
For media inquiries, email Vicki Sagar or Peter Rixon at [email protected]
About ProVeg International
ProVeg International is a food awareness organisation with the mission to replace 50% of animal products globally with plant-based and cultivated foods by 2040. Our vision is a world where everyone chooses delicious and healthy food that is good for all humans, animals, and our planet.
