The Empty Bowls Project: Creating, Leading, and Sustaining a Social Enterprise

Year: 2014
Published in: Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice
Cited as: Anderson, Stella E., Betty S. Coffey, and Heather Dixon–Fowler. “The empty bowls project: creating, leading, and sustaining a social enterprise.” Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice 38, no. 5 (2014): 1237-1247.

Social Enterprise, Empty Bowls

Lisa and John never envisioned that a luncheon held 20 years ago at their local high school would grow into The Empty Bowls Project, an international grassroots effort to fight hunger. The premise is simple in that potters, educators, students, and others create handcrafted bowls and serve a simple meal of soup and bread. In exchange for cash donations, attendees take home the bowl to recall all the empty bowls in the world. Monies raised are donated to community-based organisations working toward food security. The founders subsequently formed the nonprofit Imagine Render and now are considering their succession and future direction.