Where Does Your Money Go?

The Employee Ownership Foundation's single goal is to help more individuals become employee owners.

When you participate in ESOPATHON, the funds you raise will fuel the mission of the Employee Ownership Foundation and help expand access while protecting those who already have an ESOP.

Here is an overview of some of the Foundation's programs in 2023.

ESOP Educational Programs
The Oxford Symposium on Employee Ownership

In 2022 the Employee Ownership Foundation stepped onto the international stage as the lead sponsor of the 7th annual Oxford Symposium on Employee Ownership, held at Oxford University in the United Kingdom. Together with our key strategic partners, the UK-based Center on Business and Poverty and the European law firm Fieldfisher, the Foundation sponsored a truly groundbreaking effort that brought together representatives from multiple countries across several continents to discuss the barriers to expanding employee ownership.

Central to the Symposium’s success was the active participation of high-level government officials from multiple nations. Notably, the United States Senate was represented by six very senior-level staff from the Senate Finance Committee, Health Education Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and Senate Budget Committee. These attendees, whose travel and expenses were sponsored by the Foundation, are some of the most influential officials in Washington with direct roles in U.S. policy impacting ESOPs. The delegation from the UK included Dawn Butler, a Member of Parliament, and Baroness Sharon Bowles of Berkhamsted, both longtime supporters of employee ownership. Several other nations were represented by government officials learning about employee ownership as they are actively forming their own policies, including delegations from Canada, Denmark, and Spain. In the following year, the Oxford Symposium grew to more than 20 countries and is slated for additional growth this year.

Leading in an Ownership Setting

An educational partnership between the Employee Ownership Foundation and University of Pennsylvania, the program addresses the relationship between ESOP companies and the effectiveness of their leaders. A key focus area is how leaders can foster employee engagement that impacts the company’s bottom line.

Limited to just 20 participants each year, this program for CEOs is focused on enhancing each participant’s leadership effectiveness, and on building a network of ESOP CEOs who can share resources and best practices to enhance the success of ESOPs across the county.

ESOP Employee Owner Accelerator

This one-day course is designed primarily for non-managerial employee owners who would benefit from a deeper knowledge and understanding of basic business concepts and ESOP operations. The course is offered in concert with The ESOP Association’s Chapter meetings, and includes interactive lectures, media-driven case studies, small group discussions, and structured exercises. The program is designed to develop a solid foundation and new perspectives on ownership. The ESOP Employee Accelerator program promises to be one of the most exciting new offerings from the EOF and something that will return both personal and company benefits for employee owners who attend.

Business Succession Video Series

Our popular Business Succession video series, started in 2021, released several more company and professional videos in 2022. This series has been a tremendous boon to those trying to explain or understand ESOPs, to policy makers trying to understand the ESOP journey, to our ESOP professional community, and to media outlets seeking information on ESOPs. The real-life stories shared in these videos, which clearly communicate the value of ESOPs and their impact on business owners’ legacies, the employee owners, and their communities, have been a powerful tool in our education efforts.

Scholarship Programs
Charles R. Edmunson Scholarships

The EOF proudly grants 10 scholarships annually in the name of Charles Edmunson. These scholarships are one of the Foundation’s core programs, created nearly 25 years ago to help defray the cost of sending non-management employee owners to programs that promote and offer education on employee ownership.

EOF Trustee Scholars NEW!

Last December, the Employee Ownership Foundation formally launched our Trustee Scholars Program. We started this scholarship program to better connect our employee owners, their families, and their companies to the work of the Foundation, and to instill within new generations the transformative power of employee ownership.

Each year, the Foundation will award two scholarships of five thousand dollars each, and each scholarship is renewable for up to four years. That means a student working toward a four-year degree can receive up to twenty thousand dollars from the Foundation to help pay for tuition and other expenses.

With the Foundation’s mission to grow employee ownership, what better advocates could there be than the children of employee owners, who have had a front-row seat to the life-changing benefits that come with working at an ESOP.

Because of the enthusiasm for the Foundation’s mission, and the generosity of our ESOPs and employee owners, especially during ESOPATHON, that we are able to fund the Trustee Scholars. It is your support over the years that allows us to pay it forward and give back to our community.

Employee Ownership Research

Research is central to the Foundation’s mission. Over nearly three decades of existence, the EOF has been the nation’s leading sponsor of data collection and research programs in employee ownership, funding millions of dollars in survey analysis, fellowships, and academic inquiry.

 For the past four years, the Employee Ownership Foundation has funded the National ESOP Employee Survey through Louis O. Kelso Fellowships at the Rutgers Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing.  

Groundbreaking Market Research

The EOF and The ESOP Association have just concluded a comprehensive, first-of-its-kind market research study into Americans’ attitudes toward ESOPs and employee ownership. TEA
and EOF will be releasing findings and guides to help ESOPs and professional service providers
gain an edge in marketing, internal and external communications through data-driven insights
that resonate with key audiences, including customers, employees and prospective hires,
elected officials and the American public, and prospective ESOP founders.

EOF Executive Series Research

In 2022, using the data collected, the Foundation partnered with Rutgers to begin a yearlong series of academic inquiry that explores different questions that current and prospective ESOP executives and employees face. Below is a selection of questions that the EOF Executive Series Research explored.

• How do pay and other benefits compare between ESOP and non-ESOP firms?
• ESOP Communications: Does It Even Matter?
• Do ESOP Employees Have Better Relationships With Their Supervisors?
• Younger Workers in ESOPs: What To Do?

 Additionally, the EOF is pleased to continue supporting the Louis O. Kelso Fellowships which support academic research that conveys the value of employee ownership and help other successful businesses become employee owned.

 We are proud of the continuing programs sponsored by the EOF and excited about the new offerings launched last year.  This year promises to bring growth in these areas, and new exciting additions to the Foundation’s efforts promoting employee ownership. 

To access these resources and learn more about the Employee
Ownership Foundation’s work, please visit the Foundation’s website at: