“What’s Unicorn Booty?” you wonder while rubbing your chin and looking at the sky. Great question! Co-founder and relatively new Capitol Hill resident Nick Vivion tells CHS in an e-mail:

Unicorn Booty is a sassy, social media driven daily contest website that connects the LGBT community with companies that are happy to be working with and for them. Unicorn Booty is targeted to the LGBT/gay market, where a different company sponsors each day of the year.

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We then give away a product or service from that day’s sponsor to one lucky user. Users simply comment on that day’s product for an entry to win. They can also share it with their networks for extra chances to win. Consumers can win free stuff and businesses benefit from a new style of social consumer marketing that is more engaging and memorable than traditional one-way advertising. The best part is that we give 10% to a different LGBT non-profit every quarter! Our first non-profit partner is Seattle’s Lifelong AIDS Alliance.

UB’s official launch is April 15th, and their first give away is an iPad. To enter, simply comment on their website. For extra credit they encourage you to use your social media streams to promote their website on the day of the contest you’re trying to win. Businesses can also purchase a day on the giveaway calendar.

CHS sent Vivion a few questions about the venture:

How’s Capitol Hill treating you as a place to be a gay entrepreneur?
Capitol Hill is a great place to be an entrepreneur, as there are a lot of other freelance types working around the neighborhood.  And as a gay entrepreneur, there are some great organizations that are also working to connect gay businesses – like the GSBA – which have really helped us make the right connections. I recently moved here from San Francisco after a stint in Brooklyn, and think Capitol Hill is one of the best neighborhoods in the US.  It’s dense, not that big and full of flavor and diversity.  We are also incredibly inspired by the creativity here. In fact, we came up with the name “Unicorn Booty” at our de facto office over at Oddfellows Cafe.  Most of our meetings happen there, and we really dig the atmosphere. The staff is great and the history of the building kind of seeps into everything we do.  We also find it incredibly appropriate that we are launching a site called Unicorn Booty geared toward the gay community from the Oddfellows Building! Odd fellows, indeed…

From unicornbooty.com’s ‘about’ page

Any plans for collaborations with local businesses? The Unicorn, perhaps?
We want to work with as many local businesses as possible, especially local businesses that have online stores or an online presence that would appeal to our national audience. Otherwise, we are working on creative ways to partner with local businesses in the context of our national website. Many local businesses see the value in marketing to the LGBT community, and we want to facilitate that.  We love the Unicorn – it would be awesome to have a launch party there once the site gets going!

What are your expectations for the big launch?
Expectations are always dangerous…we are just hoping that we have a lot of interest and a lot of people participating for their chance to win the iPad! We also want the launch to widen our community footprint, and get as many new followers as possible.  We built this site to connect gay consumers with allied businesses, and to show how our cumulative support of gay-friendly businesses can make an impact.  So the more people who are involved, the better chance we have to effect positive change for our community!

We are also giving 10% of our net proceeds to Capitol Hill’s Lifelong AIDS Alliance.  These partnerships are at the heart of what we do. As a community site, we must support the non-profit organizations that work tirelessly to improve our society.  Kevin and I are firm believers in socially conscious capitalism, and want to lead by example.  We want to show that this new generation of entrepreneurs is ready to tackle the biggest problems of our times by giving up 10% of our income.  I was also a part of the No on 8 battle in California, and I saw first-hand what the Mormon Church accomplishes with a 10% tithe from their members.  What could we accomplish as a community if each one of us donated 10% of our income to causes we cared about?  We are all interconnected, and therefore we have to have a holistic approach when it comes to both doing business and being a citizen.

How can Capitol Hill help Unicorn Booty succeed?
Capitol Hill can help us succeed by being our biggest evangelists – we need to a vibrant and engaged community that is ready to support gay-friendly businesses.  We are local boys trying to do something very different, and every voice is a vote of confidence that resonates with potential sponsors.  We can only do this with the help of everyone in the Unicorn Booty community, so please come out and be a part of what we are doing! Tell your friends! We welcome everyone, and look forward to accomplishing our audacious mission of improving the world together.  Not to mention that you can win free stuff everyday ; D

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Vivian and fellow co-founder Kevin Farrell discussed the advantages of advertising directly to the LGBT community in this introductory video.

Currently Unicorn Booty is giving 10% of their proceeds to Lifelong AIDs Alliance. They will feature a different charity seasonally.