• Home
  • Start Your Journey
  • Inspiration
    • Community Champions
    • Social Enterprises in the Maritimes
    • National & International Social Enterprises
  • Education
    • Post-Secondary Education
    • Community Education
  • Growth
    • Accelerators
    • Funding Opportunities
    • Pitch & Skills Development Competitions
  • Support Network
  • Contact

For & Non-Profit Social Enterprises 
in Atlantic Canada.

return to pond-deshpande centre website

Scout & Burrow 

Picture
http://scoutandburrow.ca/

“Scout & Burrow is a BCorp certified consultancy that specializes in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Strategy, Impact Measurement, and Community Economic Development Investment Fund (CEDIF) projects. Our approach to ethical business is founded in measurable, sustainable and profitable impact – helping businesses grow market share, draw top talent, and attract investment” (Scout & Burrow, 2015).

With presence in both Atlantic and Pacific Canada, Scout & Burrow is positively impacting many companies as they increase their triple-bottom line. 

Real Food Connections 

Picture
http://www.realfoodconnections.ca/pages/about-us

Founded here in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Real Food Connections seeks to make non-organic food something of the past, embracing wholesome, organic, and real foods. “Food should be seen as a whole, not just the sum of its parts. It’s about food being enjoyable and not merely for fueling ourselves with the right combination of nutrients for peak performance. It’s about knowing what we eat, and not turning a blind eye to the list of ingredients we can’t pronounce. It’s about learning where our food comes from and how it’s grown” (Real Food Connections, 2015).

What began as a start-up venture has turned into a truly amazing social enterprise with operation in Fredericton, Saint John and Moncton, and is only continuing to grow. 


Bridges of Canada

Picture
"Bridges of Canada Inc. is a non-profit organization that provides a supportive continuum of care in a therapeutic community for persons who struggle with addiction, mental illness, and/or criminal activity. Our programs are transformative and transitional in nature, empowering individuals to make positive life changes through a holistic program. We strive to restore persons to physical, mental and spiritual health as contributing members of society” (Bridges of Canada, 2015).

With over 29-years of history, Bridge of Canada has positively served many vulnerable individuals, allowing them to improve their physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health. They provide different programs including the Bar None Camp, Christmas for Kids, Chaplaincy, Prison Ministry, and the Sarah Tracy Centre for Women. 

Green Eye Co-op

Picture
http://greeneyecoop.com/

Green Eye Co-op is passionate about developing opportunities to overcome barriers; with a wealth of knowledge around agriculture, land stewardship and community building from past generations and a demographic of forward thinkers, Green Eye believes we have everything needed to build healthy, sustainable communities. “Green Eye’s purpose is to collaborate with those who are already doing great work and to connect those in need of knowledge and skills with ready teachers” (Green Eye Coop, 2015). 

Green Eye acts as the connector between the teachers and the students, facilitating workshops to build more sustainable and resilient communities. Some of the workshops include gluten-free living and an introduction to pasture based farming, among others. They have also spearheaded the Petitcodiac Farmers Market which houses many local vendors from the area. In the future, Green Eye hopes to host workshops on solar (ovens, furnaces, and water heaters), foraging (wild food, wild medicine, and wild mushroom walk) and community cooking (dehydrating, canning, culture, lacto-fermentation). 


Community Forests International 

Picture
http://forestsinternational.org/

CFI was started in 2007 when the founder, Jeff Schnurr, a Canadian tree-planter, was living in Pemba, Tanzania. Through conversation, it arose that individuals in Pemba wanted to do what Jeff did and plant trees in Pemba as he had done in Canada. Soon after, a team was put together in Pemba to start planting trees and by 2008 the organization was created. CFI has planted over 1,000,000 trees and has positively impacted many communities in both Tanzania and in Canada.

The sustainability model of CFI was developed once the organization was made – in order to fund planting trees in Tanzania, CFI needed a method to earn revenue. Community Forests Canada was the solution. This for-profit business conducts landscaping, trail building, and other environmental work, donating its profits, materials, equipment and labour to CFI’s work in Canada and Tanzania. With a for-profit and a non-profit arm, CFI is generating social, environmental, and financial profit to contribute to the betterment of humanity – on a global scale. 


Flowercart

Picture
www.flowercart.ca

Flowercart was created in Kings County, Nova Scotia and has a mission to promote community participation through supporting and training adults with intellectual disabilities. With operations spanning over 40 years, Flowercart has served hundreds of adults in many different capacities such as through a prevocational program, a vocational program, and an employment program, which includes an outreach project sponsored by Employment Nova Scotia. Through these programs, participants are able to receive specific training in work-related attitudes, habits, and interpersonal skills.

Flowercart is 100% non-government funded; the majority of revenue is generated through a variety of programs including wholesale and retail bread products - Baker’s Choice Fine Foods, Developmental Services Areas which includes a variety of service based jobs, a crafts and arts studio, a commercial kitchen service, and woodworking. Not only does Flowercart assist individuals with intellectual disabilities in developing skills for the workforce, they are also providing dedicated and hardworking employees to a variety of service-based business within Nova Scotia. Flowercart is a remarkable social enterprise that is impacting many lives each and every day. 

Canada Cold Press Juice 

Picture
http://www.canadacoldpress.com/

 What started as a classroom project by a few students, Canada Cold Press is beginning to generate a great deal of momentum in Nova Scotia and Atlantic Canada. Canada Cold Press has an objective of providing Nova Scotians with “a healthy, convenient, raw, on-the-go beverage while effectively utilizing the locally grown produce within the province” (Canada Cold Press, 2015). Not only does this product benefit consumers, it helps farmers a great deal. It is much too often that grocery stores will only accept certain sizes of fruits and vegetables, and those which don’t make the cut aren’t purchased. This leaves farmers with less and less revenue. However, Canada Cold Press Juice, with 1.5 – 2 lbs of produce in each bottle of juice, is driving a stronger balance in GDP between urban and rural Nova Scotia. 


Wear Your Label

Picture

http://wearyourlabel.com/

This company, founded in Fredericton, New Brunswick, was inspired by the founders’ experience with mental illness and the frustration regarding the stigma. Wear Your Label creates fashionable clothing that is designed to “create conversations about mental health, give back to mental health initiatives, and ultimately end the stigma (in style)” (Wear Your Label, 2015). 

What is particularly unique about this company is their integration of individuals suffering from mental illness into each product – every piece of clothing is created by someone who might be struggling with a similar illness. Furthermore, each model used in the look-books of the Wear Your Label clothing has experienced or is experiencing mental illness; no photos are photo shopped or edited from their natural beauty.

To top it off, this social enterprise allocates 10% of their profits to mental health initiatives. After having only been in full operation for one year, Wear Your Label is a perfect example of an enterprise that is back by limitless passion and dedication that is making meaningful impact across New Brunswick, Canada, and even abroad.

New Brunswick Association for Community Living 

Picture
http://nbacl.nb.ca/

The New Brunswick Association for Community Living, established in 1957, is a provincial non-profit organization that works to build more inclusive communities. The organization helps both children and adults who have an intellectual disability to live lives where they can learn, work, and play. They value equality, including self-determination, autonomy, dignity, respect, integration, participation and independent living, inclusion, which involves the values of belonging, acceptance and citizenship. The principles include rights and responsibilities, empowerment, participation, individual focus and coherency. 



Hemmings House

Picture
The mission of Hemmings House is "to inspire peace and empathy throughout the world". The method that they use to do this is film. By capturing stories in video, Hemmings House acts upon their mission. They "believe that companies have the power and the resources to solve many of our world's problems. There has never been a time before in history where we as a corporate community have had some many opportunities to create positive global social change. We believe that telling great stories can act as fuel for positive social impact movements" (Hemmings House, 2015).  Hemmings House has worked on a variety of initiatives including CodeKids, The Milleniam Dream,  Save the Paramount, Melting Lands, among many other. Some of their clients include SalesForce, CBC,  Women's Network, HGTV, and Blue Ant Media. 

"We work with movement-based brands that share this understanding and invest in positive impact that creates a more empathetic world. And if we have a more empathetic world, we believe that at the very least every person on the plant's basic needs could be met. A happier and kinder world is the mission of Hemmings House; it is the core of everything we do" (Hemmings House, 2015). 

Please see their website for videos & trailers at http://hemmingshouse.com/. 

Wicked Ideas

Picture
www.wickedideas.ca
"Wicked Ideas wants to change the conversation around big issues. We do this by diving deep beneath the surface of existing conversations. Our two streams are through research and media" (Wicked Ideas, 2015). 


Through the research stream, clients are able to better adapt to new environments with Wicked Ideas' advanced data analysis. Using this information, Wicked Ideas is able to create strategies that are based  on a community-focused lens. "Our comprehensive data analytics solution gathers and analyzes complex sets of structured and unstructured data to provide clients with intelligence on the combined impact regional, national and international issues have on public levels of trust in government, institutions, and corporations" (Wicked Ideas, 2015). 


In the Wicked Ideas Media channel, they are able to interact with the community through social media to dive deeper into complex issues. To ensure that there is progress from these conversations, Wicked Ideas gears the conversations to be citizen-led and solutions-focused. As described on their website, "Wicked Ideas creates smart, sassy content in two ways: Solutions journalism and Data journalism". 




Location

About the pond-deshpande centre

The Pond-Deshpande Centre acts as a catalyst to advance innovation and entrepreneurship in New Brunswick and the region by facilitating collaboration among entrepreneurs, emerging and aspiring companies, students, faculty and alumni.

The PDC works within the innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem to create learning & mentorship opportunities for aspiring innovators that will provide them with a sound foundation in technical and social entrepreneurship, give them the opportunity to engage in the experience and explore their possibilities for success.

The PDC also serves as a resource for new entrepreneurs to help translate their ideas into companies, products or services.

Contact Us

Subscribe

Join our mailing list today!
Join Now
  • Home
  • Start Your Journey
  • Inspiration
    • Community Champions
    • Social Enterprises in the Maritimes
    • National & International Social Enterprises
  • Education
    • Post-Secondary Education
    • Community Education
  • Growth
    • Accelerators
    • Funding Opportunities
    • Pitch & Skills Development Competitions
  • Support Network
  • Contact