How to shop worker-owned businesses (maybe)

Jul 17, 2026

Welcome back! Top shelf news:

Hacker News user IESAI_ski announced the creation of workerowned.info, a search tool for shopping online from worker-owned companies
For TIME, Lynn Forester de Rothschild from the Council for Inclusive Capitalism argues that AI should lead to an ownership economy (h/t Jenny Everett)
- Similarly, Jonathan FP Rose thinks we should tax AI use to fund the social disruption caused by job loss
- And of course we have thoughts

Events
Upcoming + Opportunities
Employee Ownership
ESOPs + Worker Cooperatives
The Ownership Economy
Community Ownership + Steward Ownership + Purpose-Driven Ownership
Academic News
Call for Papers + New Research

To see a comprehensive list of events, check out our Events page.

July 16: Startup Colorado hosts an info session with the head of the Rocky Mountain Employee Ownership Center, Minsun Ji
- Also, researchers from the University of Minnesota present their findings on business succession and transitions
July 21: Rachel Eva Merfalen and Tom Strong’s Employee Ownership and the Skills of the Future webinar
July 22: EO Canada hosts a webinar on exit options for selling owners
July 23: Exit Planning Institute’s webinar on ESOP financing

PURPOSE is looking for a Co-Steward and Managing Partner to co-found its SO Capital team
The Cooperative Development Institute is hiring an Executive Director

Project Equity wants to make 30% of Washington businesses employee-owned by 2036
Registration is open for the Ohio Center for Employee Ownership 2026 National Employee-Owner Summit
The Texas Center for Employee Ownership was awarded a grant by the Austin Community Fund to support its ongoing initiatives
Scott Moon of the Baker Project compares ESOPs with direct employee ownership
In ImpactAlpha, Julie Menter surveys the expansion of expansion of capital infrastructure for alternative ownership (paywalled)
Christopher Marquis of Regenerative Insights interviews Miren Oca, CEO of Ocaquatics, an employee ownership trust
Ownership Works affiliate Lightyear Capital included an Employee Purpose Plan with their recent investment in Prosperity Partners

Richard, a construction company (IL), and Decker’s Market, a grocery chain (WY), are now employee-owned. Congrats!
ESOP M&A: Armstrong Garden Centers (CA) acquired Pike Nurseries (GA); and Gemini Industries (OK) acquired Industrial Coating Solutions (WA)
- Success interviews Shannon Litton, CEO of 3LS, on how to maintain culture while building through acquisition
Expanding ESOPs selected Bob Whalen as its CEO spotlight
The Star Tribune maps Minnesota’s largest employee ownership plans
In HR Executive, Ulteig CHRO Sara Chapman cautions that an ESOP is a foundation, not a substitute, for a people-centric culture

Michelle Schry represented US co-ops at a United Nations sustainability event
Cooperative Works explains what changes in federal funding for non-profits means for co-ops
Registration is open for the 10th Annual National Home Care Cooperative Conference in Tacoma
- Elias Crim also introduced Elevate Cooperative, uniting 14 home care worker co-ops across 11 states (h/t TXCEO)
🇨🇺 Cuba approved new laws designed in part to strengthen its agricultural cooperatives
ICYMI: Solidfund is an international group that distributes capital to co-ops in need of capital
🎙️ Cooperation Now launched its podcast this week with Episode 0: Introducing the Routledge Handbook
🎙️ For The Purposeful Strategist, Belden Menkus interviews ICA Director Jeroen Douglas

Aunnie Patton Power and Erinch Sahan open pre-orders next week for their new book, Brave New Capital
Santhosh Ramdoss reframes the American Dream as an ownership dream
Tom Powdrill drew on Spain’s new Democracy at Work report to argue that ownership and worker voice are distinct forms of economic citizenship

🇬🇧 Power to Change published a report outlining the economic benefits of community ownership
OPAL Community Land Trust showed how its permanent land ownership structure shields affordable homes from federal financing disruptions
Rupal Patel uses the New York Knicks‘ championship win to make the case for community ownership and culture
- Also in New York, Mayor Mamdani re-purposed an underused parking lot into a public community hub via a community land trust

Steward Ownership created a tool to help entrepreneurs considering steward ownership for their businesses
The Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society announced The Future of Ownership, its research project on steward ownership

Read Hannah Sandmeyer’s purpose-built business lens on The Onion’s acquisition of conspiracy news outlet Infowars
Devin D. Thorpe’s Superpowers for Good released its inaugural PurposeBuilt100 list of the fastest-growing purpose-driven companies in the US

The call for papers is open for the Steward Ownership Festival Amsterdam
Enrica Chiappero-Martinetti argues for bending capabilities research toward more human-centred organizational design
Giulia Belotti argues for alternative ownership of carbon dioxide removal technologies
Chieh Lin and company find that broad-based employee ownership “is associated with lower abnormal accruals, more persistent earnings, and a reduced likelihood of financial restatements and securities class action lawsuits.”
- Pairs well with Colin Birkhead’s 2024 paper on earnings management
A new chapter from Matthew Thompson connects community wealth building and the foundational economy
Laura Ariadne Martin reviews Bernardo Ferro’s Hegel Beyond Liberalism, which reclaims Hegel’s vision of freedom

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