Non-profit Entrepreneur — Charity Entrepreneurship Incubation Program

TLDR: Serious about impact? We help you start a high-impact charity

Are you looking for an opportunity to make a huge difference in the world, improving the lives of millions?

Founding a charity might sound daunting, but it’s more achievable than most people think, especially with the right support. Through our incubation program, we help you launch a new, evidence-backed charity by providing the idea, co-founder matching, funding, and hands-on guidance. And we’ve done it before: we’ve helped 100+ founders launch 50+ organisations tackling some of the world’s biggest problems.

Applications are open until September 13th - for more information, attend one of our online information sessions or visit our website.

Why found a charity – and why do it with us?

Many people want to have more impact through their careers, but it isn’t always clear what the most effective path is. At Ambitious Impact, we believe founding a charity is one of the most impactful things you can do.

Research has shown something incredible: the best charities are more than 100 times more effective than average ones. At Ambitious Impact, we’re on a mission to launch more of these exceptional, evidence-backed charities — the ones capable of making a truly transformative difference.

We have a proven model. Since 2018, we have helped more than 100 founders launch more than 50 organisations, collectively reaching over 75 million people and improving the lives of an estimated 10 billion farmed animals, so far.

Within just a few years of launching, our charities have been recognised as some of the very best in the world and supported by many of the biggest funders and most rigorous evaluators of charitable work - from Animal Charity Evaluators to Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, USAID, GiveWell, Founders Pledge, Mulago and Coefficient Giving.

To take one example, the Shrimp Welfare Project (SWP) was founded through our program in 2021 by Aaron Boddy and Andres Jiménez Zorrilla - a machine learning PhD and a private equity professional. SWP now operates in 9 countries, partnering with 11 major retailers to ensure humane stunning for an estimated 1 billion farmed shrimps per year. They’ve normalized improving the welfare of the most factory farmed animal globally, taking it from an issue barely anyone thought about to being featured on The Daily Show!

The world needs more founders to start more pioneering non-profits that set new standards for how much impact people think a charity startup can achieve.

We give you: the idea + a co-founder + training + funding + community

Our two-month Charity Entrepreneurship Incubation Program provides a research-backed, high-impact charity idea, along with the training, funding, and mentorship you need to launch and lead an organisation tackling global inequality and alleviating suffering at scale.

Evidence-based Nonprofit Ideas

Many capable people want to do meaningful, high-impact work but don’t have the time or resources to independently identify the most effective problems to tackle.

Our program is designed specifically for this: instead of expecting applicants to come with a fully formed charity idea, we provide you with a shortlist of rigorously researched, evidence-backed problem areas and potential solutions ideas where new charities could have an outsized impact.

Our research team spends more than 5,000 hours a year identifying new solutions tackling some of the biggest problems in the world - from sparing animals from cruelty on factory farms to improving education quality and job opportunities for people living in poverty to reducing environmental pollution, and newborn mortality.

We are currently accepting applications for both the February 2027 and September 2027 cohorts.

• February 2027: Frontier problems in farmed animal welfare
• September 2027: Livelihoods and economic growth + Health systems strengthening

Value-aligned Cofounder

One of the hardest parts of starting a nonprofit isn’t just the work. It’s finding the right person to build with. Founding alone can be isolating and slow. But choosing the wrong co-founder can be even worse: it can drain momentum, create conflict, and derail an otherwise promising idea.

That’s why co-founder matching is a core part of our incubation program. We help connect you with a value-aligned co-founder, someone who shares your commitment to impact and complements your strengths.

Expert-led Training

Nonprofit entrepreneurship is a niche. Starting a nonprofit isn’t a common default career path, which means many people who could become exceptional founders simply don’t know where to begin, what “good” looks like, or how to avoid the mistakes that sink early-stage organisations.

Our program is designed and delivered by people who have founded field-leading, evidence-based charities from scratch, and who have since coached dozens of founders to do the same. You’ll learn directly from practitioners who understand what it takes to go from zero to a functioning, high-impact organisation. We teach you everything you need to know to do the same - from evidence reviews to intervention design to operations - through applied, cohort-based learning.

Funding & Financial Support

Funding for the charity (seed funding)

Early-stage funding is difficult for any venture, and often even more challenging for nonprofits. At the earliest stages, founders’ time and attention are the most precious resources. Fundraising can slow progress and distract from what matters most: launching, building momentum, and validating your impact pathway.

At the end of the incubation program, you’ll pitch for seed funding to our network of aligned funders, who are actively looking to support new, high-impact organisations. ~95% of projects receive seed funding (over the last 12 months they’ve ranged from $150,000-190,000)

Funding for you (founder financial support)

This is a fully funded training program with no fees. We cover your living expenses so you can focus on launching your organization.

Participants receive a monthly stipend – $5000/month by default, adjusted for local cost of living.

• It’s important to us that meeting financial needs isn’t a blocker to the best talent founding a charity. To this end, we encourage those with higher financial needs to request higher stipends and we are committed to accommodating those requests where reasonable, to enable you to join the program.
• It’s equally important to us that we use funding responsibly to help beneficiaries as much as possible. To this end, we encourage those with lower financial needs (e.g. no dependents) to request lower stipends so that the leftover money can go towards helping beneficiaries. Many participants have chosen this in the past, and the average stipend has been significantly lower than the default.

Note: This isn’t the same as your salary when you found a charity – you choose your own salary, which is paid out of your seed grant

Anyone who doesn't end up founding a charity receives 3 additional months of stipend plus mentorship to help them land another high-impact role (our alumni are highly sought after and we have a near 100% success rate finding them opportunities elsewhere).

Supportive Community

Founding a charity is exciting, but it can also be lonely, uncertain, and hard to navigate without peers who truly get it.

During the incubation program, you’ll spend time a co-working space at our London office, alongside other founders building new charities. At the same time, many founders in our network are based around the world, so you’ll also be plugged into a thriving online global community of people working on similar challenges across time zones and contexts.

You’ll join a group of founders and alumni who have been through the same journey and are eager to share what they’ve learned. Our network genuinely takes pride in helping each other succeed, because for us, increasing impact matters more than who gets the credit.

Who are we looking for?

We encourage anyone with a drive to direct their work to producing real, positive change to apply. There are no mandatory skills or experience - we’ve had founders from every continent, from twenty to mid-fifties, and from almost every type of prior job you can think of. Some of the world’s most successful for-profit founders had no prior experience. Our experience training charity founders suggests the same applies to the non-profit world.

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We value candidates who:

• Aspire to lead: You should have the potential to be an effective organizational leader, able to create structure and clarity in the face of uncertainty.
• Think evidence-first: You’re willing to adapt your approach based on evidence and focus on impactful priorities, like global health or animal welfare.
• Strive for excellence: You have a track record of pursuing and achieving outstanding results, aiming to build something exceptional rather than just good.
• Dream big: You’re ambitious about creating large-scale impact and are dedicated to maximizing the good you can do in the world.
• Stay flexible: You’re open to exploring diverse ideas and solutions and are comfortable working in varied contexts, including low- and middle-income countries.
• Are driven by altruism: You’re motivated by doing good for others and have a demonstrated track record of acting on that motivation through your career choices, projects, volunteering, or other impact-oriented work.

Practicalities

Program format

Both programs in 2027 include 2-month full-time online training (living costs covered) with 2 weeks in-person in London (transport and accommodation costs covered).

Our February animal welfare program will be followed by a 3-month cost covered exploration phase (fully remote) before the formal launch of your organization.

Program Dates

February 2027 cohort (Animal welfare):

• Core program – 1st Feb - 4th Apr, 2027
• Exploration phase – 5th Apr - 5th July, 2027

September 2027 cohort (Health systems strengthening + Livelihoods & Growth): Sep - Nov, 2027 (exact dates TBC)

Application Deadline

Applications to our program are open until September 13th

APPLY NOW please note that we only accept applications through the link provide

Want to learn more?

We are hosting a series of online information sessions - about the program, our research, and what it’s like to found your own organisation - that we encourage you to attend to learn more in the run-up to the application deadline.

Not sure if you’re the right fit? The best way to find out is to submit our initial application form, which is designed to help you explore your fit with our program as well as the non-profit entrepreneurship career path.

FAQs

“I want to do something that matters with my career… but I don’t know where to start.”

You’re not alone. Most people don’t have the time, background, or resources to figure out which problems are most urgent, what works, and how to build something effective. That’s exactly why our program exists: we do the research, narrow down the best opportunities, and guide you step-by-step through launching.

“I’m not an expert in animal welfare / health systems / etc.”

You don’t need to be. What matters most is your ability to learn quickly, execute well, and stay committed. Many of our founders didn’t start with domain expertise — we’ve supported people from wildly different careers, including software engineers, consultants, doctors, and researchers. We provide the training, support, and connections to help you build expertise as you go.

“Founding a charity sounds overwhelming. I wouldn’t know how to do it.”

It can feel daunting, but it’s much more achievable with the right structure and support. We provide the blueprint, mentorship, and accountability to help you go from “this seems impossible” to “we’re actually doing it.”

“I don’t have a co-founder — and I don’t want to do this alone.”

You shouldn’t have to. We help match you with a co-founder who complements your skills and working style, so you can build alongside someone you trust.

“I can’t afford to quit my job.”

That’s a totally reasonable concern. We provide a stipend during the program (and for several after), so you can focus on building instead of scrambling financially. We also support founders in securing early funding to help the charity get off the ground and grow.

“What if I fail?”

That fear is valid, and it’s exactly why support matters. Entrepreneurship is risky. We reduce risk by selecting ideas with strong evidence, helping you avoid common pitfalls, and surrounding you with mentors, peers, and hands-on operational support. And even if you decide partway through that founding isn’t the right fit, most participants still come away with other high-impact opportunities — clearer direction, a stronger network, and concrete alternatives for doing more impactful work.