A three-fold increase in seed funding for those graduating from the programme, plus additional funding for the best runner-up applications
Kickstarting For Good will be offering more than $1m in seed funding to this year’s applicants.
This marks a three-fold increase from 2025, plus for the first time this year, K4G will also be awarding development grants of up to $12,000 for applicants with promising ideas that don’t make it into the full programme.
Graduates will have the opportunity to present in front of a jury of major funders at the Plant Food System Summit in Berlin this November who will award the grants, alongside submitting a final impact funding deck for additional funds. This means that the the maximum level for graduating from K4G this year will be up to $100,000, with each graduate receiving a minimum of at least $10,000 in seed funding for completing the programme.
Last year’s cohort was able to leverage $250,000 seed funding from K4G into a total of over $1,500,000 within six months after graduation. And this year, alongside direct grants, K4G have also secured additional matching grants – meaning that graduates will be able to double additional funding that they go on to raise themselves post-graduation.
K4G’s founder, Sebastian Joy, explained why this year, we were offering additional grants to applicants that don’t make it onto the final cohort: “In 2025, we were grateful to receive more than 950 applications for just 30 places on our incubation programme. Many of the submissions that reach the final stages of our application process are high-potential ideas being worked on by extremely talented people, but they just need a little more time to develop or prove the idea before they are ready to join the cohort. Supporting these promising initiatives with seed grants allows the founders to keep working on the ideas so that they can apply again for the following year with better data, more proof, or just another twelve-months of progress under their belts.”
An 18-week programme for those leading the world towards a plant-forward future
The 18-week incubator programme merges remote learning and mentorship with two in-person sections at Kickstarting For Good’s headquarters in Berlin, Germany. During this process, participants will stress-test their ideas and develop a strong theory of change under expert mentorship from more than 40 experts in the food system transformation movement. A wide-range of nonprofits are supported by the programme. In 2025, 18 initiatives were launched from the incubator including those working to support social media creators, youth engagement, legal challenges, corporate engagement and policy-making.
2025 graduate Joanna Hellier applied to Kickstarting For Good with her co-founder husband Max Hellier to launch a network for documentary filmmakers. Since graduating, they have gone on to secure funding and successfully launch ‘Who Let The Docs Out’ which now supports more than 85 filmmakers who are working in the food transition space – including attracting several BAFTA winners and Oscar-nominees to the community. Who Let The Docs Out has also become significant grantmakers in their own right, who have already awarded over $150,000 to support new filmmakers.
Founder Joanna said “Everything we’ve learnt from being part of K4G has been so transformative, I definitely came out of this process a very different person from when I went in. But it’s also the connections that we made going through Kickstarting For Good that have been crucial to us – I don’t feel like we could have made those anywhere else and we feel very lucky to have been part of this programme.”
Apply by 31 May 2026
People wishing to apply have until the end of May 2026 to make their initial application. Now in its fourth year, the incubator is open to anyone who is working on a nonprofit idea that supports the world in moving towards a plant-forward future. The first virtual phase of the programme begins in July 2026 with the first in-person section launching in Berlin in September. Applicants are welcomed from around the world, especially from the Global South, and K4G covers all travel and accommodation costs alongside offering support for visa applications.