About Our Work
At the center of our work:
steward-ownership – an alternative to conventional ownership models ensuring companies remain independent and mission-driven.
Since coining the term steward-ownership and since 2015 the Purpose Group exists to make steward-ownership known and accessible to everyone. We inspire and support people, companies and investors around steward-ownership. We help unleash its potential for people, planet and society. In the visual you can see an overview of the Purpose Group.
Steward-Ownership
Steward-ownership offers an alternative to conventional ownership models. It ensures that companies remain independent and mission-driven – by enshrining two core principles in a legally binding way:
SELF-DETERMINATION
The company cannot become an object of speculation but remains self-determined and independent in the long term. The steering wheel always remains in the hands of people who are connected to the company and its mission.
PURPOSE-ORIENTATION
Profits are a means to an end, not an end in themselves. They serve the company’s mission and long-term development or can be used to fund charitable activities. The value created within the company cannot be extracted by the company owners for their personal benefit.
It’s pretty revolutionary what you are doing. And that’s why I’m so excited about steward-ownership.
It just doesn’t make sense to produce a great, sustainable product, but then have an exploitative company structure and culture.
Instead of focusing solely on maximising shareholder value, we need to champion new models for business.
I am a fan of your idea ... From my point of view, this is a relevant building block in the sense of a social-ecological market economy.
Steward-ownership can help companies to stay mission driven and independent for the long term.
Much more experimentation is needed as well as an understanding of historic forms, which showed much more diversity than one would be led to believe from the current dominance of the singular shareholder focused C Corporation.
Key Figures
News: SO:25 Conference
Don’t Miss The World’s Biggest Gathering Around Steward-Ownership
On October 9, the steward-ownership ecosystem will gather again in Berlin for the SO:25 conference. Meet key stakeholders, dive deep in engaging workshops, and simply enjoy the atmosphere among like-minded individuals.
A Global Movement
We’re pioneering steward-ownership.
Since 2016, we inspire and support actors around the world to work with steward-ownership. We closely collaborate with regional affiliated Purpose Partners who operate under the Purpose brand as well as regional changemakers to advance steward-ownership.
Thank You!
None of what we do would be possible without the forerunners – the steward-owned companies, entrepreneurs and investors who, in the face of partly uncharted territories and systemic adversities, have the courage to forge ahead and implement steward-ownership – as well as the many brilliant lawyers, tax consultants, researchers, legislators, thought leaders, changemakers and regional partners and donors contributing to this journey.
Companies We Worked With