Women's Bean Project
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Women's Bean Project believes all women have the power to transform their lives through employment. So, we hire chronically unemployed and impoverished women and teach them to make nourishing foods we sell all across the nation through some of the largest retailers. Through her work she learns to stand tall, find her purpose and brake the cycle of poverty. Because when you change a woman's life, you change her family's life. 95% of the women we serve have justice intervention. These barriers to employment are addressed through building self-confidence, gaining the job training and life skills needed in today's workforce to put her on the path to personal and economic self-sufficiency.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Women's Bean Project
Jossy Eyre founded Women’s Bean Project (WBP) in 1989 as a result of her volunteer work at a day shelter for homeless women. Eyre saw that while the shelter kept women safe, it couldn’t help them make lasting changes in their lives. Eyre bought $500 worth of beans and put two homeless women to work - the first step in building the social enterprise we are today. She believed that paying women a wage was critical for self-respect and long-term success, and that chronically unemployed women needed a job training program with a longer duration and more intensive services that those generally available.
Over the years, WBP has grown into a well-defined transitional employment program that operates within a manufacturing operation and is unusual programs due to its paid, practical job skills training provided in the context of an operating business environment over an extended period. Nearly a thousand disadvantaged women have earned their futures at WBP, training opportunities and annual product sales have grown dramatically, and the organization’s reach has expanded to include a sales presence in 1,000 stores across U.S.
Women’s Bean Project is financially healthy with a diversified funding base. One-half of operating revenue is generated from product sales, enabling WBP to be more self-sustaining and growth-oriented than programs solely dependent on philanthropic and government support.
Since 1995, WBP has owned former Firehouse #10, located in the Curtis Park/Five Points neighborhood, which was purchased from the City and County of Denver. This location has served us well, but we have outgrown the space and we are actively seeking a larger building that will allow us to increase capacity.
As we celebrate our 30th year of using a market-driven approach to address unmet social needs, we are proud that our overarching purpose – to provide a transitional job as a stepping stone to self-sufficiency – has remained constant.
Women’s Bean Project (WBP) is a mission-driven social enterprise that generates 50% of its revenue through product sales which are reinvested in the business to provide people with jobs and preparation so they can join the mainstream workforce. Research shows that social enterprises offer a sustainable and cost-effective approach to address chronic unemployment, recidivism, and reliance on public benefits.
The Bean Project offers women from backgrounds of chronic unemployment and poverty a transitional job designed to provide immediate income, overcome barriers to employment, and teach the work and interpersonal skills needed to get and keep a job. We believe that the best way to learn how to work is through a paying job so during the 7- month program period, women "earn while they learn”, an approach that sets WBP apart from many workforce programs.
Two-thirds of each woman’s paid time is spent in structured job readiness training in on-site business owned and managed by WBP: the production of gourmet soups and other dry food products. The business is self-sustaining, and the earned revenue supports women’s salaries. The remainder of each woman’s paid time is spent in life skills classes, workshops, mentoring sessions and working with a case manager. Charitable contributions help support these non-revenue generating activities that are critical for long-term success.
Where we work
External reviews

Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Percent of women still employed post graduation of our program at 12 months.
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Ethnic and racial groups, Sexual identity, Social and economic status, Work status and occupations
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Reports and documents
Download strategic planLearn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Women's Bean Project's goal is to serve every woman who needs us and and is ready to change her life. We provide the support and the environment for her to succeed; however, she must do the work and be ready for the change.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
We address three areas:
Basic needs: housing, transportation, childcare, education
Job-readiness training: attendance, punctuality, listening to directions, following direction, quality control, coping skills, food safety, dry food
packaging certification, operating semi-automation machinery, peer to peer interaction and appropriate work place behavior.
Life-skills: Computer and financial literacy, adult numeracy and literacy, WRAP - Wellness Recovery Action Planning, Organizational skills,
Dress For Success, Art & yoga, Math Literacy, Language Literacy, GED Support, addiction support.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Women's Bean Project hires every month to allow for all women seeking employment and the desire to transform her life. The number one way women find us is word of mouth. She knows someone who has been through the program and has turned her life around. After that women learn about us through places she has spent time, such as the judicial system (parole officers, probation officers, half way houses, judges), rehab centers, churches. We also have a new program Take TWO, where we interview inside the women's correctional facility.
Our programs are taught by Community Partners. We actively cultivate these community partners to meet the demands of current workforce needs, to ensure our graduates are fully prepared to handle the demands as they enter their new position within the community. These include computer and financial literacy classes, adult numeracy and literacy, organization, Wellness Recovery Action Planning to maintain their sobriety, Art and yoga for coping skills.
Each woman has a job coach to prepare her with the documents she will need to secure a career entry-level position within the community. (Letter of explanation, resume, and anything specific to the position she is seeking).
Mock interviews are performed multiple times in preparation to actual interviews. Practicing allows her to make mistakes and receive constructive feedback.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Over the last 30 years we have served over 1000 women. We have added semi-automation to the production processes in order to give more applicable skills in today's job market. We are working to move to a new facility in order to be able to have the space, technology, and programming needed for better serving the women and increasing the amount of women we can impact each year.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
-
Who are the people you serve with your mission?
Average age is 38, female or identify as female, has 2-3 children, 95% are justice involved, are chronically unemployed and living at or below the poverty level.
-
How is your organization collecting feedback from the people you serve?
Electronic surveys (by email, tablet, etc.), Focus groups or interviews (by phone or in person), Case management notes, Constituent (client or resident, etc.) advisory committees, Suggestion box/email,
-
How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals,
-
What significant change resulted from feedback?
We implemented Wellness Fridays. This happens every Friday from 3-4:30pm to encourage self-care and help to understand the great benefits of self-care. This comes in the form of trauma-informed yoga, Beautifully Broken Art classes, speakers on nutrition and exercise, and more.
-
With whom is the organization sharing feedback?
The people we serve, Our staff, Our board, Our funders, Our community partners,
-
How has asking for feedback from the people you serve changed your relationship?
An increased move to inclusiveness and equity.
-
Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback, We ask the people who gave us feedback how well they think we responded,
-
What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, We don’t have the right technology to collect and aggregate feedback efficiently, Staff find it hard to prioritize feedback collection and review due to lack of time, It is difficult to get honest feedback from the people we serve, Difficulty in contacting some of the population we serve once they have graduated the program.,
Financials
Unlock nonprofit financial insights that will help you make more informed decisions. Try our monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights?
Learn more
about GuideStar Pro.
Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Women's Bean Project
Board of directorsas of 07/29/2022
Julie McFall
JESSI Exceptional Search Services, Inc.
Term: 2019 - 2021
Julie McFall
JESSI Exceptional Search Services
Leslie Karnauskas
CFO Consultant
Gwen Young
Greenberg Traurig
Amy Bittner
Mercer
Anna Conrad
Impact Leadership Solutions
Bret Duston
Academy Bank, N.A.
Bryce Kelley
Kelley Bean CO, Inc
Amy Kuark
Western Union
Bob Kumagai
Daniels College of Business, University of Denver
Holly Leeser
Arnold & Porter
Jerilynn Martinez
Colorado Housing and Finance Authority
David Prichard
Teegarden Financial Corporatiion
Leah Russell
Vertafore
Ann Swanson
Community Volunteer
Krystal Than
Peak Dental Services
Roger Twisselman
Johns Manville
Hope Wisneski
Graduate School of Social Work, University of Denver
Kara Veitch
Isaacson Rosenbaum
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
-
Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Not applicable
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? GuideStar partnered on this section with CHANGE Philanthropy and Equity in the Center.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Sexual orientation
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 10/20/2021GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.