01 / Reality
Europe's first LGBTQ+ CSO accelerator
Funding is
dwindling
becoming more and more competitive.
Priorities shift. Grants end. Political attention moves on.
The needs of our communities do not.
To protect our work and determine our own future, we need more than one way to sustain it.
02 / Solution
Capability + capital = agency
Build income.
Claim agency.
Self-generated revenue gives LGBTQ+ organizations another source of strength.
VentureOUT gives LGBTQ+ CSOs the practical know-how and early capital to turn their knowledge, services and ideas into viable sources of mission-aligned revenue.
Not instead of grants. Alongside them.
Three weeks. Two online. One in Sofia.
03 / PROOF
The Steps
We built the model.
Not a pilot. Not a proposal. A business that opens every day.
WHY
HOW
We created The Steps, Europe’s largest LGBTI social enterprise: a bistro, event venue and community space in central Sofia, wholly owned by the Foundation.
IMPACT
Commercial activity generates revenue. The model reinvests 100% of profits in Single Step’s mission.
We built the model.
Now we want to help others build theirs.
04 / Program
Three weeks. Two online. One in Sofia.
From idea to
viable model.
VentureOUT is a focused social entrepreneurship accelerator for LGBTQ+ CSOs ready to explore self-generated revenue.
Participants identify an opportunity, test the assumptions and build a practical plan with entrepreneurs, finance professionals and experienced operators.
No lectures for the sake of lectures.
No pitch theater.
The objective is something that can work.
05 / Audience
For LGBTQ+ organizations ready to build
You do not need
a business plan.
You need a real organization, a problem worth solving and the willingness to test a different way of sustaining your mission.
VentureOUT is for teams ready to turn experience, knowledge, services or assets into mission-aligned revenue.
VentureOUT is open to LGBTQ+ organizations across Europe.
We are building your income,
not your final report.
06 / Why VentureOUT
Built by people who have done it
Mission. Business.
Capital. Execution.
Single Step Foundation
knows the reality of running an LGBTQ+ organization and has built The Steps as a working social-enterprise model.
IVAN DIMOV
combines investment banking and venture capital experience with building Single Step and The Steps.
Konstantin Kunev
07 / Invitation
Our future is ours to build
Interested?
VentureOUT is looking for its first group of LGBTQ+ civil-society organizations ready to explore what comes next. Practical support, expert guidance and early capital.
If you are not an organization but can contribute as a mentor, funder or partner, we want to hear from you too.
Expression of interest
Tell us what you are thinking
You do not need
a finished idea.
If your organization is exploring self-generated revenue, or if you can contribute to VentureOUT, we want to hear from you.
*This is an expression of interest, not a formal application.