Workplace democracy? or 'entreprise républicaine'
Weekend Newsletter • Vol. 108
Welcome Back! One big thing: We have been itching since to reveal The Stakehold’s new sponsor. Today is the day! We are grateful to the Rutgers Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing for their support and yours, which will keep The Stakehold free to readers through 2025.
📨 In This Issue
Top Shelf News
Events + Opportunities
Analysis + Opinion
On employee stock ownership plans
On worker cooperatives
On purpose trusts + employee ownership trusts
On the ownership economy
Academic News + Opportunities
In Case You Missed It
🥃 Top Shelf News
The NCEO hosts its second one-day workshop on employee ownership trusts in Philly at the end of this month. Share the word with your EOT-curious colleagues!
Two employee ownership bills advanced out from the Senate HELP Committee
The Democracy Collaborative and WashU received a grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation to launch a community wealth building initiative in Kansas City
🗳️ USFWC members — Board voting is now open; cast your vote (en inglés o español) by Sept 8
🌇 Events
August 5-8: The Oxford Symposium on Employee Ownership in the UK
August 20: The ICA Group invites you to the MassHire Business Resource Seminar in Lawrence, MA
🆕 | September 9-30: NCEO’s crash course on communication in the context of employee ownership
🆕 | September 10-12: The Employee Ownership Canada 2025 Conference in
Calgary, Alberta
🆕 | September 13: Purpose Foundation’s panel, Stewardship: Who should hold power over companies, and who should benefit from their profits? at the Next Economies Summit in Istanbul
🆕 | September 23-25: Common Trust’s second Steward’s Circle in Indianapolis
🆕 | October 7th: Ownership Economy’s Reinventing Corporate Governance for Good (online)
🆕 | October 27 -29: SOCAP Global’s annual convening in San Francisco. The line-up includes employee ownership expert Sean Tamba-Matthew. What other sessions should our readers know about?
For a full list of upcoming ownership economy events, see this page.
🔍 Analysis + Opinion
On employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs)
ESOP beneficiary Kelly Oaks shares how shared ownership has not only increased his wealth but increased his and his colleague’s motivation
ChangemakerXchange highlights Tej Gonza and Slovenia’s Institute for Economic Democracy promoting worker ownership
The Texas Center for Employee Ownership highlighted Texas-based ESOP Betenbough Companies. We’re proud to have employee ownership growing in our own backyard!
ESOP expert (and Stakehold contributor) Ellen Frank-Miller answers 7 questions about how to create an ownership culture
On worker cooperatives
In Pioneers Post, ICA Director-General Jeroen Douglas explains the origins, values, and unique strengths of cooperatives and why they’re essential for a better world
⏳ This article is only open for 2 weeks
Alexander Kolokotronis argues cooperative housing is part of the answer to our nation’s housing crisis
The ICA has published over 180 events on the 2025.coop portal to celebrate the UN International Year of Cooperatives
Nexus Community Partners in St. Paul, MN, announced the first winners of their new grant program
Check out this fun video from Project Equity detailing Maximum Fun’s transition to shared ownership, which has led to a happier corporate culture and higher productivity that its management says is a competitive advantage
Katrina Kazda shares Part 2 of Cooperative Difference in Home Care, highlighting how worker ownership can improve care quality
On employee ownership/purpose trusts + steward ownership
Prudential’s Paula D’Ambrosa created a high-level visual representation of shared ownership — check it out! (h/t: Danny S.)
Learn more about Rocky Mountain Employee Ownership Center and their mission to empower workers across Colorado
Certified EO highlighted three cities that have embraced employee ownership. Did yours make the cut?
Ownership Works is celebrating a milestone —they’ve now partnered with 100 firms to build shared ownership into private equity transactions
The Tandem Center has teamed up with the Employee ownership Expansion Network (EOX) to support their mission of increasing direct ownership
This episode of the Zolidar podcast dives into the rationale and structure behind one firm’s transition to a perpetual purpose trust
On the ownership economy
Erinch Sahan is stepping into the role of Associate Director of Investment at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, where he’ll lead efforts to align JRF’s £400M endowment. Congrats Erinch!
A new case study from a Jobs to Move America program outlines the positive and equalizing impacts of novel Community Benefits Agreements
Cooperación Santa Ana and Solidarity Research Center released a policy report aimed at making Orange County a regenerative economy
Rachel Eva Merfalen created a Tolkien-style map of the employee ownership ecosystem, highlighting key models and themes like worker voice and wealth
Gary Community Ventures is making the case for Ownership Investing—a strategy to help families build wealth through access to assets like homes and retirement accounts
📘 Read the report to learn how it works
Senators Daines and Hassan introduced a bipartisan bill to expand employee ownership and boost retirement security. ESCA says it supports this effort and will work with Congress to grow worker ownership
In the Main Street Journal’s latest issue, Oscar Abello shares insights on neighborhood-scale capital, gentrification, and local investment. His rallying cry: “Not for Sale”
Peter Koehler and Loren Feldman released a podcast episode discussing how we can better support small businesses
Jem Stein kicks off a LinkedIn argument about whether increasing the wealth of social entrepreneurs constitutes its own form of social impact
The owner of Colorado-based Melanzana says they are on their way to 100% employee ownership
Academic News + Opportunities
A belated congratulations! to Adria Scharf, now the Assistant Professor of Practice and Senior Associate Director of the Rutgers Institute
Timothée Duverger and Chritshopher Sente have a new book coming out: Une autre entreprise est possible, or Another Company is Possible
We got curious about the phrase entreprise républicaine, or “republican enterprise.” How does that strike you, dear reader?
Congratulations to Stephen Timothy Salter for defining his master’s thesis, Realizing a Participatory Democratic Political Economy With Worker Cooperatives
ICYMI
EOX has a newsletter as well! Sign up here
The Democracy Collaborative makes the case that a truly democratic economy—rooted in shared ownership—is key to lasting equality and democracy
The Roosevelt Institute’s essay collection Restoring Economic Democracy argues that America needs a democratic economy, where markets are shaped by public purpose, not just corporate power, to strengthen democratic institutions
Check out the Georgia Social Impact Collaborative’s summary of Transform Finance and Lafayette Square Institute’s policy reports on the Employee Ownership movement
Also see our Shared Ownership 101, prepared for last summer’s Georgia Shared Ownership Convening
In honor of it being the United Nations International Year of the Cooperatives, check out highlights from last year’s global cooperative conference in New Delhi
The Aspen Institute released video and audio recordings from last week’s event, “Fixing Work: Recent Lessons from In the Field”
Purpose Foundation held a panel on steward ownership and some of the challenges of transitioning to shared ownership in today’s environment