Cooperative Fund of New England Is Meeting the Challenge by Micha Josephy Cooperative Fund of New England (CFNE) is a community development financial institution (CDFI), founded in 1975 to provide financing and development support to New England’s cooperatives. CFNE aggregates loan capital largely from individual and family trust investors, as well as co-ops, government agencies, foundations […]
Continue ReadingEvergreen Cooperatives Launch Fund for Employee Ownership
New Fund to preserve jobs by acquiring companies and converting them to employee ownership “ Our theory is that the reason employee ownership has been slow to grow is a lack of agency — no one is incentivized to promote employee ownership conversions in a way that can compete with the strength of the traditional mergers and […]
Continue ReadingNext Generation Enterprise Design: The employee-owned benefit corporation
New research from Fifty by Fifty focuses on employee ownership and environmental sustainability.
Continue ReadingEmployee Ownership Policy Update
With mid-term elections around the corner, Fifty by Fifty is tracking the latest policy developments in the employee ownership arena. SBA draft regulations open for comment The Small Business Administration has issued proposed regulations to clearly define the loan process for the 7 (a) Preferred Lender Program, following the passage of the Main Street Employee Ownership […]
Continue ReadingBeneficial State Bank’s Investment in Rural Oregon Builds Community Wealth
North River Boats ESOP Conversion Aided by Mission-Oriented Lender The following article is based on Allison Sackett’s original blog posted at Beneficial State Foundation. Banking is often synonymous with extracting wealth from communities; but not all banks use this model. On the West Coast, Beneficial State Bank, founded by Kat Taylor and her husband, Tom Steyer, is committed […]
Continue ReadingGetting Serious About Scaling Up Worker Cooperatives
New Report Analyzes Market for Co-op Conversions by Alison Powers In September, Capital Impact Partners and the ICA Group, with support from Citi Community Development, released a groundbreaking report, “Co-op Conversions at Scale: A Market Assessment for Expanding Worker Co-op Conversions in Key Regions & Sectors.” The report points to an enormous opportunity to convert […]
Continue ReadingYes! Magazine: A Boost for the Worker-Owned Economy
By Fran Korten Business owners looking to sell their companies to their employees just got a helping hand from the federal government. It’s the first such measure that’s passed Congress in more than 20 years. Tucked into the omnibus National Defense Authorization Act signed by President Trump in August 2018 was language directing the U.S. […]
Continue ReadingBerrett-Koehler: Connecting People and Ideas to Make a Company that Works for All
A Multistakeholder Ownership Design Protects Company Values By Sarah Stranahan Berrett-Koehler Publishers (BK), an Oakland, California -based independent publisher, created a Constitution in 2016 that begins with the words, “We are embarked together on a journey to do the seemingly impossible — to create a world that works for all. No road map exists for this journey, so we are […]
Continue ReadingNew Employee Ownership Mandate for Small Business Development Centers
SUNY Center preparing to support employee ownership transitionsF The nation’s roughly 1,000 Small Business Development Centershave a new mandate. The newly passed Main Street Employee Ownership Act (MSEOA) directs these technical assistance centers, which are hosted by universities and state economic development agencies all across the country, to reach out to small business owners to educate them about […]
Continue ReadingNews Roundup: Bipartisan Legislation to Boost Employee Ownership
New Small Business Administration Mandate Garners Media Attention by Erin Kesler Signed into law last month, the John McCain National Defense Authorization Act contained a provision to expand employee ownership to more Americans. Drawn from Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s (D-NY) Main Street Employee Ownership Act, and informed by the hard work of employee ownership advocates including Fifty by Fifty, […]
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