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🔋 Update on the EOX Grant Program

What $2.08M is doing to expand employee ownership across the State Center Network.

EOX is now in the second year of Capacity Grants to State Centers, alongside a new slate of Project and Storytelling Grants supporting work across the Network.

The purpose of the EOX Grant Program is straightforward: give State Centers the resources to grow their organizations, reach more business owners, and pursue ideas that make sense for their local landscapes.

$2.08 MILLION
deployed directly to State Centers to date, with more funding coming in 2027!

Capacity : In West Virginia, grant support helped WVCEO hire its new Executive Director, Adam Sigman, adding dedicated leadership to expand the Center’s statewide work.

Projects : Iowa is building data tools to identify stronger prospects for employee ownership outreach. Tennessee is launching a digital succession-navigation experience for business owners. Michigan is packaging the systems behind its state-supported Transition to Employee Ownership program into a playbook other State Centers can put to use.

Storytelling : Alabama, Connecticut, Texas, and Wisconsin are creating new films and podcasts that give business owners a chance to see and hear employee ownership through the experiences of real companies...and real employee owners.

The benefit extends beyond the individual grants. A proven approach from one Center can give another Center a head start, whether it is a better way to identify prospective businesses, organize regional outreach, run a technical assistance program, or tell a story that gets an owner thinking differently about succession.

See what these grants are powering across the EOX Network.

CLICK HERE TO SEE WHAT THE STATE CENTERS HAVE CREATED

EOX is grateful for our generous supporters who continue to help us fund this program that is fueling momentum for the employee ownership movement. We especially thank Ken and Valerie Baker, JPMorganChase, and the Prudential Foundation for their substantial contributions to this effort. THANK YOU!

NEWS ACROSS THE EOX NETWORK

SPOTLIGHT: The Illinois Center for Employee Ownership awarded a $500K grant from the state.

The state of Illinois made its first investment in employee ownership initiatives as part of the fiscal year 2027 budget, granting $500,000 to the Illinois Center for Employee Ownership. A substantial portion of those funds will be used for technical assistance grants to expand the number of employee-owned companies across the state. Funds will also be used for expanding education and awareness of employee ownership as an economic development and succession tool.
READ THE BILL →

EOX Board Highlight

Dr. Adria Scharf Named Director of Rutgers Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing. READ MORE →

ALCEO celebrates Torch Technology's $992.3M Air Force contract that will bring new opportunities to its employee owners →

GACEO continues to share the power of EO across GA, attending the Athens Area Chamber Pancakes & Policy breakfast →

IACEO seeks sponsors for students to attend the annual IA-CEO EO Conference in October →

MICEO launches the West Michigan Employee Ownership Council with KConnect, helping retiring business owners keep jobs local →

MOCEO continues to build partnership with the local Hispanic Chamber, attending Cafe de Empresarias →

NCEOC shares testimony from Mike Mattachione of Mattachione Construction, Inc. on why he chose an ESOP →

OEOC to host a 2-day Ohio Employee Owner Retreat at Hueston Woods Lodge. REGISTER TODAY →

RMEOC is now accepting vendor applications for their October 11th People's Festival →

VEOC receives mention from Vermont Public's interview with Front Porch Forum and their wish to become employee-owned →

WACEO partners with the Ownership Capital Lab to bring the EO Capital Roadmap to Seattle. REGISTER →

WICEO co-hosts a succession planning workshop alongside the Wisconsin SBDC Network and Milwaukee County →

SHOW YOUR SUPPORT

Subscribe to Stakehold while supporting EOX — Thanks to the generosity of EOX supporter GO ESOP LLC, every new subscriber to The Stakehold weekly newsletter means a donation towards EOX's mission of expanding employee ownership.

The Stakehold is quickly becoming a go-to source for weekly news, ideas, resources, policy updates, and developments across the EO landscape. We’re grateful to GO ESOP LLC and The Stakehold for a partnership rooted in a shared goal of reaching more businesses, employees, and communities with employee ownership. To SUBSCRIBE, simply click the button below and complete the short form.

POLICY CORNER

WASHINGTON DC - Senate Committee Votes to Add $78M in Mandatory Spending to the EO Initiative at the DOL

The program is designed to protect American jobs and manufacturing over the next 10 years as 2.5M baby boomer business owners retire.
READ HERE →

UPCOMING EVENTS

🗓️ Check out the EOX Events Calendar!

CONFERENCE — North Carolina Employee Ownership Conference

hosted by the North Carolina Employee Ownership Center (NCEOC)

September 16, 2026 | Raleigh, NC

REGISTER →

CONFERENCE — IACEO Annual Employee Ownership Conference

hosted by the Iowa Center for Employee Ownership (IACEO)

October 01, 2026 | Ankeny, IA

REGISTER →

EO CELEBRATION — The People's Festival

hosted by the Rocky Mountain Employee Ownership Center (RMEOC)

October 11, 2026 | Denver, CO

REGISTER →

EO CELEBRATION — Celebrating EO in Wisconsin

hosted by the Wisconsin Center for Employee Ownership (WICEO)

October 22, 2026 | Madison, WI

REGISTER →

EO IN THE NEWS

The dignifying solution to America's Care Crisis — The Washington Post: Employee ownership turns care work jobs into good jobs—and leads to better patient outcomes.
READ HERE →

As M&A Activity Swells, ESOPs Emerge As A Potent New Player — Forbes: Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) are emerging as significant players in the booming global middle-market M&A landscape, both as acquirers and targets.
READ HERE →

FOLLOW US ON LinkedIn!
Keep in touch with our upcoming travels. Who knows, you might even get tagged in a post when we cross paths.

Help us reach our goal of increasing our LinkedIn following by 40%.
FOLLOW US →

Or even better...encourage your followers to follow us! Because who DOESN'T need to know about employee ownership?

EO RESOURCES

💻 Transform Finance adds new, bigger funds to its 'Alternative Ownership' database
the database provides a helpful starting point for investors seeking funds to back, and for advisors and businesses seeking capital for transactions.
CHECK OUT THE DATABASE →

📊 The ESOP Almanac - brought to you by Aaron Dean with Deanalytics
A free, public, newspaper-style record of U.S. employee ownership — every Form 5500 an ESOP has filed since 2009, turned into something you can actually read.
CHECK IT OUT →

SUPPORT EOX

Want to get more involved in a State Center near you or at the national level? Please email Steve Storkan at storkan@eoxnetwork.org.

If you're interested in donating to support our work to expand employee ownership across the United States, please click the button below to make a tax-deductible gift to the Employee Ownership Expansion Network!

EOX EIN: 83-2849677

Copyright (C) 2025 Employee Ownership Expansion Network. All rights reserved.
1405 S Fern St., Box 534, Arlington, VA 22202

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