It is hard to believe that May is in full swing, and we are excited to share our monthly updates, events, and happenings with you.
In this month’s issue:
We are proud to share about our new Advisors—a group of bold thinkers, investors, and Ownership Economy change makers helping to create an economy that supports all of us.
We invite you to join our next EO Fund Spotlight, where we'll highlight three innovative, place-based funds that are redefining how capital can serve communities.
Learn about how we are lifting our voice to share about employee ownership and the value it creates for our society & economy.
We hope you read on & stay tuned for more on what’s ahead. And if you feel so inspired, we always invite you to support our work.
Warmly,
Alison Lingane, Founder
Ownership Capital Lab
Welcome, Ownership Capital Lab Advisors!
This month, we are excited to introduce our new Advisors—a dynamic group of bold thinkers and visionary investors working to grow the Ownership Economy. They have already played an important role, providing strategic guidance and support, and we are thrilled to have them as formal Advisors to honor the contributions they have made to our work and to the shared ownership field at large. They are:
Smith Das, Senior Director, Investments, World Education Services
Margot Kane, Chief Investment Officer, Spring Point Partners
Devin Murphy, Founder & Principal, Integrated Purpose; Senior Fellow, The Aspen Institute
Annie Patton Powers, Oxford Impact Finance Initiative, University of Oxford; Impact Fellow, The ImPact; Academic Director, The Beam Network
Read more about this incredible group of leaders on our website. We are so grateful to our Advisors for joining us in this work, and look forward to all we will accomplish together!
What we heard:Ted, shared the win-win of EO–that, “When structured correctly, investors can realize great returns . . . and at the same time deliver phenomenal outcomes for owners, communities, and employees.” Lindsay shared that EO “checks all the impact boxes” and made a powerful statement for philanthropy, “There is not a better place for [philanthropic] dollars to go today if you care about bridging the wealth gap.” And Catherine made clear that EO investing should be taken seriously not just as an impact strategy—but as a mainstream, smart strategy to drive value, "Employee ownership is not a niche, fluffy impact strategy. It's a large driver of value, and it comes from the workers you're investing in, who create that value day-to-day." We could not have said it better!
In April, we hosted a conversation on NextGen investors for social impact: The power to scale EO, with Teresa Wells of AlTi Tiedemann Global, Dipti Pratt of Toniic, and Leslie Rosenberg of Humanize Wealth. Our expert panelists shared about the dynamic ways they are working to advise, support, and guide NextGen investors and philanthropists to create a positive social impact and build the Ownership Economy.
What we heard: Teresa shared that in these polarized times, employee ownership is especially compelling to “investors across all kinds of risk and return objectives” because “it is just good for business” and “good for the economy”—in addition to the social impact it generates for workers and their families. Dipti noted that ownership has become a key focus of investors, family offices, and foundations because it offers a “clear and easy solution” to addressing racial inequities and the wealth gap. Leslie spoke about the importance of employee ownership in building both “wealth and power” and also encouraged funds to “democratize access to these investments” by developing strategies to take in smaller investments.
This conversation was inspiring and hopeful. We are grateful to our brilliant speakers for sharing their innovative work with us. We encourage you to watch the full recording here.
New bipartisan bill: Lawmakers champion employee ownership
We’re thrilled to share that the bipartisan American Ownership and Resilience Act (AORA) was introduced on May 7th. This proposed legislation would bolster U.S. economic stability by promoting the expansion of employee ownership. If passed, AORA would help specialized employee ownership funds grow faster, to transition more businesses to employee ownership, especially during this important Silver Tsunami window. AORA would establish a zero-subsidy investment facility within the Department of Commerce to support private institutional funding to finance the sale of privately held businesses to their employees via an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) or worker cooperative.
Huge gratitude to all of the organizations and advocates who worked on this bill, lead by Jack Moriarty at Lafayette Square Institute, as well as the bipartisan legislators, and their staff, who introduced the bill.
In this next Spotlight, we are elevating a set of funds that are place-based, designed to bring evergreen funding to the needs of the region where they operate, and raising catalytic capital to address wealth gaps and preserve small businesses and economies throughout the United States. These are:
If you want to learn more about EO investing more generally, as well as models of investment that prioritize non-extractive approaches to wealth-building, this session is for you!
Field engagement survey: Help shape the Employee Ownership Capital Roadmap!
Ownership Capital Lab is hard at work developing the Capital Roadmap for Employee Ownership. Kicked off in January 2025 with research supported by a student team from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business in partnership with McKinsey, the Roadmap will provide national data and insights on EO investing, outline investment growth opportunities, barriers and solutions, and showcase scalable EO initiatives that can attract more capital. As part of this process, we are inviting our community to help guide the Roadmap’s development.
What will it take to advance EO investing from a nascent to a more mature market, attracting significantly more capital? We would love to hear your thoughts!
Questions? Comments? Feel free to contact us with any ideas you want to share.
Raising our voice: How to reduce economic inequality by expanding employee ownership
In the Nonprofit Quarterly, our CEO & Founder, Alison Lingane and Julie Menter of Transform Finance write about what makes Employee Ownership so special, why it is the actionable solution we need to advance in this particular moment to transform the economy, and how we scale EO nationally.
They share, “In an era of deep inequality and institutional distrust, employee ownership offers more than a business model—it offers a path to building community wealth rooted in economic democracy. It’s a strategy that aligns economic and social goals, empowering workers while preserving the businesses that anchor our communities.” Read on for more!
Capital is a barrier to — and the biggest opportunity for — the growth of employee ownership. The Ownership Capital Lab focuses on capital as a growth and scale lever for employee ownership, and we have a vision to grow capital to finance employee ownership by $1B in the next 5 years. The Lab focuses on strategies for financing employee ownership with capital that allows for a slice of the value and return to accrue to the employees., identifying, piloting and supporting the uptake of (or directly launching) these strategies. The Ownership Capital Lab is fiscally sponsored by The ImPact.
Donate to help us grow employee ownership
Your support is not just a donation—it's an investment in a movement that’s reshaping the future of work. By contributing to the growth of employee ownership, you're helping create a world where opportunity is available to all, where businesses are rooted in communities, and where wealth is shared more fairly.
Here’s how your donation directly impacts lives:
Empowers workers
Reduces wealth inequality
Fosters stronger workplaces
Strengthens local economies
Builds an economy for all
Will you help us scale this powerful movement? Your donation will be the catalyst for a brighter future.
