Principle 1: Profits Serve Purpose
Profits are reinvested in the business, used to fairly pay founders and capital providers, shared with employees, and used to improve communities – all to further a purpose.
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We’re bringing steward-owned business structures to the next generation of US entrepreneurs.
Impact-driven for-profit entrepreneurs are vital for economic, social, and environmental innovation. But these founders face an important challenge: how to guard purpose over profit.
We think for-profit steward-ownership is the answer.
Profits are reinvested in the business, used to fairly pay founders and capital providers, shared with employees, and used to improve communities – all to further a purpose.
Stewards safeguard the company’s purpose to benefit all stakeholders (founders, investors, employees, customers, vendors, and communities).
A Purpose Shareholder has no economic rights and has only one job – to veto certain purpose-damaging actions.
Examples of Purpose Share veto rights could be the right to veto conversion away from a public benefit corporation or the right to veto a company sale to a group that doesn’t share the same values.
Having a Purpose Shareholder shows a true commitment to purpose.
There is freedom in structuring, but the most basic form involves a public benefit company and three classes of ownership:
Steward Shares, Economic Shares, and Purpose Shares.
Steward Shares hold voting rights, but no economic rights. Only people close to the business can hold these shares.
A-Shares can be issued for investors and founders. These shares hold dividend rights but limited voting rights.
The Purpose Share holds the right to veto certain actions that conflict with the Purpose.
Steward Ownership US is a dba of Unified Law Group PB LLC, a Steward-Owned Delaware Public Benefit LLC.
© 2022 Unified Law Group PB LLC