Community Empowerment Edition

and

Dec 08, 2024

Welcome Back

We’ve got a lengthy one for you this week. Dig in!🤓

📝 What We’ve Been Writing

Dr. Hand writes a tiny book review of Corey Rosen’s Beyond Engagement
Dr. Hand is on his way back from Oxford, where he spoke on shared ownership at the Skoll Centre Community Convening

🗞️ News To Know

Journalists in Colorado want to buy and own their paper; drivers in Colorado now own their own ride-sharing app.
The Iowa Center for Employee Ownership won a grant from USDA’s Rural Cooperative Development Grant program
Andy Farquharson launched his new podcast, Alternative Exit. The first episode features the one and only Corey Rosen:

🔍 Research & Analysis

Bill Flederbach recaps the recent Ownership Works convening in New York
David Stedman explains how homeownership aid can bolster employee well-being
Evan Edwards asks and answers what happiness has to do with productivity
Clark Wilson explains employee ownership trusts to (Canadian) business owners
Daily Kos user Phil Kovacs (?) makes the case for user ownership of the Twitter alternative BlueSky
ImpactAlpha’s latest podcast asks “how much employee ownership is enough?”

📈 ESOPs

Pete Stavros asks pension funds to support legislation boosting ESOPs
The Employee Owned S Corporations of America (ESCA) discuss whether employee ownership can meet the challenges posed by the “silver tsunami” of retiring business owners
Cara Benningfield points to this archived webinar from Forvis Mazars US’s interview on ESOPs, and how to use them for business succession
Benchmark International suggests ESOPs as an alternative in today’s tough M&A landscape
Succession Plus points to ESOPs to boost retention, increase engagement, and drive innovation
Pete Gudzak encourages constructing business owners to consider an ESOP as an alternative to selling the business to a third-party

🏋️‍♀️ Community Empowerment, Cooperative Models, and More

Now available: the video recording and podcast episode from the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program’s “Workplace Democracy: Sharing Power and Decision Making at Work” event
Kosta Juri and Tej Gonza recently represented Inštitut za ekonomsko demokracijo in Argentina and Colombia as part of the ADELANTE UE ALC initiative to collaborate to build a more inclusive, employee-owned economy
Nonprofit Quarterly has two pieces on cooperative ownership. Emily Thaden explains the importance of resident ownership; Doug McElroy says Co-op Ownership Is Community Control
Impact Alpha explores private equity firms’ sharing profits with low income workers, a small but significant shift in wealth distribution
The Main Street Journal suggests that the new Republican majority could support small businesses by allowing communities to create investment cooperatives by highlighting the success of cooperatives in Alberta, Canada

🕴️ Business Transformations

Taylor Manning and Siobhan Speirits transformed Cafe Olli into a worker-owned business, emphasizing the advantages of collective ownership in the restaurant industry
The founder of Cargas, a technology firm, shares his decision to retire and focus on promoting employee ownership through his nonprofit, Tandem
This reddit post featuring Eric Wallace’s discussion on Left Hand Brewing’s commitment to creating positive change through employee ownership in the brewing industry
The Ownership Economy’s latest episode, “Fostering Employee Ownership in Today’s Economy,” features Christian Kroll, founder of Ecosia, a steward-owned company in Germany

🌇 What’s Coming Up: Events

December 11: Rutgers’ workshop on Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) and Labor Market Inequality: Investigating the Motherhood Penalty, Marriage Premium, and Racial Disparities
🆕 | December 11: The American Law Institute (ALI) and European Law Institute (ELI) is holding a joint webinar on Enterprise Foundations, register here
December 12: The Ownership Capital Lab and Transform Finance host a webinar on their most recent in-depth EO research & investing opportunities
December 17: The Menke Group hosts a webinar on how to Maximize Success with ESOPs in 2025
January 13-17, 2025: This year’s Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning includes a session featuring Natalie Reitman-White on using purpose trusts for business succession
February 3-4: NCEO hosts Is an ESOP Right for You? in Austin, Texas
February 20, 2025: Attend “The Employee Ownership Transition: A Deep Dive” a workshop on the process of selling to an employee ownership trust (in Scotland)
April 9-10 2025: The Aspen+Rutgers Employee Ownership Ideas Forum in Washington, DC. Tickets will be released via the Aspen EOP mailing list
🆕 | October 23 2025: Planning for the IA-CEO 3rd Annual Employee Ownership Conference in Ankeny, IA has begun. Sponsorship and contact information on this LinkedIn post

🕰️ In Case You Missed It

Last month Dr. Hand argued for an ownership economy. Two other thinkers making overlapping arguments:

Daniel Chandler similarly calls for more predistribution in his New York Times op-ed “The Democrats Are in Trouble. This Man Can Save Them”
In a 2023 podcast, Delilah Rothenberg lays out how the Predistribution Initiative is working toward that reality

EO+WD | Employee Ownership + Workplace Democracy