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Kerala Taylor
PixelSpoke News Announcement
Community Giving Spotlight: Project Equity Harnesses the Power of Employee Ownership
Kerala Taylor
PixelSpoke News Announcement
Last updated: November 15, 2023
PixelSpoke was excited to select Project Equity, a national leader in the movement to expand employee ownership, as one of our 2023 Community Giving partners!
At PixelSpoke, we’re serious about giving back. In fact, community giving is written into our cooperative bylaws. Each year, we donate 10 percent of our profits to organizations that are creating a more just, equitable, and sustainable world. Five percent of our profits support nonprofits that are dedicated to promoting credit unions as a force for good and/or supporting a cooperative economy. The remaining five percent support nonprofits selected by team members as part of our employee-led giving program.
What Project Equity does
Founded in 2014, Project Equity helps businesses transition to employee ownership, securing liquidity and a fair sale price for the owner while helping employees build equity and a solid career path. It conducts in-depth regional data studies that analyze business and workforce numbers to help communities retain jobs and address long-standing wealth inequalities that can hold local economies back. It also works with other leaders in the field to advance policies and practices that scale employee ownership across the nation.
How Project Equity inspires us
It’s no secret that PixelSpoke is a passionate proponent of the cooperative model. Ownership is an incredibly powerful way to create more access to financial inclusion and well-being. In keeping with our core value “Everybody Wins,” Project Equity has identified innovative and effective ways to help business owners pass on their legacies, create more local prosperity, increase job retention and satisfaction, and build more generational wealth.
Our accomplishments in 2023 are the direct result of the support of the donors, investors, and partners that make our work possible. We helped to pass legislation at the state and federal levels, teamed with Morehouse College to publish groundbreaking research on Black wealth building, and hosted our inaugural Employee Ownership Equity Summit.
At the same time, we never lost sight of the power that employee ownership has to change lives, one worker at a time. In supporting business transitions to worker cooperatives, employee ownership trusts (EOTs), and employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs), we observed the profound effects on employee-owners, including becoming debt-free, purchasing homes, and experiencing the fulfillment of contributing to their company’s direction and sharing in its success.
– Evan Edwards, CEO, Project Equity
Beyond the dollars
We have long seen a lot of potential synergy between the B Corp and employee ownership movements, and we’ve had conversations with Project Equity about tapping into the B Corp community to inspire more businesses to transition to employee ownership. In 2024, we look forward to continuing the conversation, raising awareness about the power of employee ownership in our own networks, and attending Project Equity’s next Equity Summit!
