February 2012
1 post
Seeking Operations Manager to Help Change the...
Spring Into Action is seeking a passionate, self-starter with experience in food processing to join their team as Operations Manager.
Spring Into Action is a new social enterprise that will process and deliver regionally grown produce to food manufacturers and food service institutions in New York City. Beginning the spring of 2012, we will partner with regional farmers and food hubs to source...
December 2011
1 post
Everyday we come to work with the end goal of...
November 2011
7 posts
Our Goals:
To create 100+ jobs that provide personal, professional, and economic growth for those who want it
To create high quality products or services that our customers value
To generate revenue and mission fulfillment for our nonprofit partner
To enhance the communities we operate in
To generate reusable seed money to invest in other businesses that support our mission
To inspire others to...
Location, Location, Location
Last week, after we made the decision to jump head first into the local food distribution / wash and chop business, we immediately turned our attention to potential locations. Curiously, Jes met Mike from Organic Food Incubator at a conference earlier in the week, and by Thursday morning we were on a tour.
Organic Food Incubator is an amazing space run by the inspiring entrepreneurs who...
Can't Get Enough Local Food
The End of Snacks
In our last post we showed some details of the product development process for our healthy and locally sourced “snack pack” that moms and kids would both enjoy. While Product development is fun, we quickly realized that it can take a really long time, especially without food product experience or one of “grandma’s secret recipes.” Also, we learned that artisanal food product...
July 2011
1 post
June 2011
3 posts
Breaking News: "Snack Packs!"
We’ve made some exciting decisions since announcing the Ideas for Impact Challenge winner earlier this month, and wanted to bring you all up to speed on where we’re headed next! A Fresher Twist on Carrots and Dip Just last week, Spring Into Action decided to launch a three month “snack pack” pilot project because we know how hard it can be to find healthy, satisfying and accessible snacks. We...
Some Statistics...
May 2011
2 posts
Spring goes to StartingBloc
109 young people were just inducted as StartingBloc fellows over Memorial Day Weekend. We had the good fortune of pitching our business ideas to all of them.
We were really happy that everyone responded positively to Spring Into Action’s ambitions. We were also happy to meet several speakers who are doing similar work. More news to come. Check out this awesome program!
When starting a business, is it better to first...
What do you think?
April 2011
2 posts
The Osborne Association: Lighting the Way
Yesterday morning we attended the Osborne Association’s Lighting the Way Fundraising Breakfast. This event was truly inspiring and reminded us exactly why we are so passionate about helping people and families have a second chance in life. The stories of redemption in spite of immense challenges and pain are made possible by the support the Osborne Association gives to its...
Drumroll, Please... Announcing our semi-finalists!
Out of 125 fascinating entries, the following five people have been crowned the first ever “Ideas for Impact” semi-finalists:
Jurrien Swarts – Farm fresh food prepared into microwavable meals for locovores and people living in “food deserts”
Heather Burkman – Digitizing small business records and storing hard copies off-site
Nickalas Goettling – Seal coating asphalt roads and...
March 2011
3 posts
WatchWe need more success stories of people who get out of prison. “My main concern is to make enough money so that I don’t have to worry about being homeless.”
Pity Doesn’t Pay
One of the major themes mentioned by numerous speakers at the South NJ Social Entrepreneurship Summit was the importance for social enterprises to produce a high quality and competitively priced product or service above all else.
This might be one of the major differences between traditional non-profits and social enterprises. Often practitioners (Spring Into Action included) assume that...
February 2011
5 posts
Money over Mission: The Long-term Success of a...
Jeffrey Robinson, Rutgers Professor of Social Entrepreneurship, deserves major kudos for putting on such an informative and inspiring social entrepreneurship event last Friday.
One of the most important takeaways came from the keynote speaker, Karen Lee, the CEO of Pioneer Human Services. If you haven’t heard of Pioneer, listen up – we couldn’t believe we hadn’t come across them sooner.
Pioneer...
Social Entrepreneurship Confernce in Camden, NJ →
We attended an amazing conference on social entrepreneurship in Camden, NJ on Friday! Here is the speaker list and event information.
Check out these social enterprises that we had not heard of before!
FreshBox Catering
Pioneer Human Services
Non-profit Vs For-Profit Debate: Spring Into...
In the previous post, we mentioned the event we attended about Non-Profits vs. For-Profits. I wanted to post about our stance on this polemic, as a hybrid social enterprise that seeks social impact and profit at the same time.
At Spring Into Action, we are AGNOSTIC to legal structure. Our priority is that our businesses sell a product or service that is valued in the market above its production...
Ideas for Impact attended:
Non-Profit or For-Profit: Who does it best?
FEAST ON DEBATE:
Non-profit or for-profit: Who does it best? There’s no quick answer, but then again, it’s not a simple question. It is, however, a topic ripe for debate! Be there for a stimulating debate between amazing speakers: Jo Opot of TerraCycle and Kate MacKenzie of City Harvest, moderated by Sasha Dichter of Acumen Fund.
The...
