THE GREG STELTENPOHL
PRAGMATIC
VISIONARY AWARD
A blank-slate grant for food-systems change-makers using business as a force for good.
ABOUT THE AWARD
The Greg Steltenpohl Pragmatic Visionary Award seeks to encourage and support innovators, entrepreneurs, and change makers building a more positive, plant-centric food system. With a $100,000 annual prize, the award celebrates vision in action and values manifested through businesses that generate personal, community, and planetary health.
INITIATIVES WILL BE EVALUATED FOR THEIR EMBODIMENT OF
FOUR CORE ENTREPRENEURIAL PRINCIPLES:
SYSTEMS
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
PRAGMATIC
VISION
ETHICAL
LEADERSHIP
CREATIVE
TRANSFORMATION
AWARD ORIGIN
Greg Steltenpohl 1954-2021
Best known for the successes of Odwalla Juice Co. and Califia Farms, Greg was a pioneering leader of the natural and organic food industry, living a mission-driven career that prioritized environmental sustainability, employee empowerment, creative corporate culture, and authenticity as core drivers of business success.
TEAM & CONTRIBUTORS
The Pragmatic Visionary Award was conceived by friends and family of Greg Steltenpohl as a way to honor and continue his legacy of social entrepreneurship. It is administered in collaboration with the Plant Futures Initiative.
AWARD COMMITTEE
GARY
HIRSHBERG
KEN
SADOWSKY
ELI
STELTENPOHL
SONIA
HENDRICKS
NINA
GHEIHMAN
ADDITIONAL COFOUNDERS AND ADVISORS
AMY
GOLDSMITH
JESSICA
VITALE
KIFF
GALLAGHER
MIKE
BURBANK
WILL
ROSENZWEIG
ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS
The mission of the Greg Steltenpohl Pragmatic Visionary Award is to support early-stage entrepreneurs working to create a more positive, plant-centric food system.
TO BE CONSIDERED ELIGIBLE,
A VENTURE SHOULD:
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2
3
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Be an established for-profit business or intend to use business as a means for change.
Operate in the broader food-system. Ventures at any stage of the supply-chain are welcome, this not limited to consumer-facing products.
Be plant-centric. Companies need not explicitly identify as a vegan or plant-based, though a more plant-centric food system should be a result of their work.
Be early-stage. The award committee will seek to support ventures for which $100,000 will be of material difference to the team’s success.
IN ADDITION TO THE MERIT OF THE TEAM AND ITS STRATEGY, VENTURES WILL BE EVALUATED USING 4 CORE VALUES
Systems Entrepreneurship: A holistic understanding of the food system that leads to purposeful engagement with one or any number of interconnected issues of the food system such as personal well-being, environmental health, equity and access, inherent at the core of the enterprise and its design.
Pragmatic Vision: The ability to define a more positive future while maintaining a bias for action; recognition that positive transformation is an ongoing process free from perfection.
Ethical Leadership: A values driven mindset that benefits a broad and diverse group of stakeholders (consumers, employees, producers, mission participants) particularly in the areas of diversity, inclusion, justice, and security.
Creative Transformation: Working to evolve commerce and culture from ego-centric to community and eco-centric organization.
HOW TO APPLY
Please follow these steps to submit your application.
CREATE
a PDF deck that
includes the following:
EMAIL
info@pragmaticvisionaryaward.org
with the following information:
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A clear articulation of the company mission, vision, the problem they address and solution they offer
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Bios of team leader(s)
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An abbreviated business plan covering at least 1 year
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Details of how the grant money will be used and the impact that will create
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Subject name should be as follow: “APPLICATION: Project or team lead last name, date (MM.DD.YY)”
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Attach the PDF file to the email
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Include your contact info in the body of the email and PDF attachment
SEND
between October 1, 2023 –
January 15th, 2024
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Applications will be reviewed after all are submitted
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Recipient will be notified on February 15th, 2024
CONTACT US
For more information and periodic award news and updates, please submit your info below. Or email info@pragmaticvisionaryaward.com.