Employee Ownership Blog

Dallan Guzinski

Join Us This December for the Communications Committee Crash Course

A former communications committee member at a mature ESOP company recently told me that her participation on their company's committee gave her the tools to apply for an open plan administration position at the company that she did not previously have the experience for. She noted that being in a position to educate and communicate technical information to her colleagues made her a better learner in the process, but that the learning never stops. Whether you're new to employee ownership or ESOP communications or you need a refresh, there's always more to be shared and ideas to be had when working with other employee-owners in all 50 states.

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Corey Rosen

State Small Business Credit Initiative Program Now Allows Funding for Employee Ownership

The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (P.L. 117-2) included an appropriation of $10 billion for another round of funding for the State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI), a program that has been in place since 2010. SSBCI funds might make it easier for lenders to ESOPs to provide larger and less collateralized ESOP loans or for mezzanine lenders to loan at lower rates.

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Corey Rosen

Trustee Litigation Risks in Ongoing ESOPs Are Very Low

A new NCEO analysis of ESOP litigation in closely held companies over the last 10 years shows that of 74 lawsuits involving trustees, 54 were for issues dealing with a transaction. The large majority of these concerned the ESOP’s initial purchase of shares from a seller, with the remainder dealing with either a second-stage transaction (1 lawsuit) or the sale of the company (5 lawsuits).

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Corey Rosen

Grassroots EO Organization Launches: Ownership America

Jack Moriarty has announced the launch of Ownership America, a “public policy and grassroots advocacy organization founded to turn Americans into owners.” Founded by Jack Moriarty, who is now its director, Ownership America’s first efforts will focus on generating policy proposals and grassroots initiatives to help grow employee ownership. The first two projects include putting an advisory referendum urging support for employee ownership on the ballot in Massachusetts and drafting proposed legislation to create an Employee Equity Investment Act. The proposal would create Employee Equity Investment Corporations (EEICs), entities designed to help fund middle-market ESOP transactions. EEICs would function much like Small Business Investment Companies. EEICs would “deploy a combination of privately raised capital and federal loan guarantees to make a range of subordinated debt and equity-like investments in eligible businesses. EEICs would provide subordinated ‘first dollars in’ to a deal—funds that serve the same function as equity in the eyes of other lenders.” A number of legislators have already expressed interest in the idea.

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Dallan Guzinski

Survey Your Employee-Owners with a Little Help from Your Friends!

When employee-owned businesses openly share their best practices or approaches to employee engagement and communication, it’s not lost on those attending our conferences for the first time. Some of the best ideas or solutions attendees get from our conferences come directly from other employee-owners and ESOP companies. This networking and collaboration is a huge part of why so many employee-owned businesses thrive. 

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