B Corp Certification is a designation that a business is meeting high standards of verified performance, accountability, and transparency on factors from employee benefits and charitable giving to supply chain practices and input materials.

CDFI Fund is an independent agency administered by the U.S. Department of Treasury.

Refers to a business specialist who is experienced with one or more aspects of employee ownership (e.g., valuation, entity selection, taxation, etc.)

As opposed to proprietary deals, shopped deals are "shopped" out to many competing financial buyers, and are run by investment banks. It provides more leverage for the seller to get the best price.

Money owed for a good or service purchased on credit. Accounts payable are a current liability for a company and are expected to be paid within a short amount of time.

Cooperatives are voluntary organisations, open to all persons able to use their services and willing to accept the responsibilities of membership, without gender, social, racial, political or religious discrimination.

Any unique financial statements pertaining to EO companies, such as an ESOP Participant Statement

Open-book management (OBM) is the business practice of creating transparency by sharing financial information with employees

IRC (1986) section 1042 allows an owner of a closely-held C corp to defer or potentially eliminate capital gains taxation on “qualified securities” they sell to an ESOP if the seller reinvests the sale proceeds into “qualified replacement property” (QRP).

Preferred stock represents ownership in a company with higher claims on dividends and asset distribution compared to common stock.

Court cases which pertain to EO companies, such as that brought by EBSA within the DOL against ESOP companies.

Certification that a business is at least 51 percent owned, controlled, operated, and managed by a woman or women.

The choice of legal entity for an employee owned company, e.g., C corp, S corp, LLC, etc.

A franchise (or franchising) is a method of distributing products or services involving a franchisor, who establishes the brand’s trademark or trade name and a business system, and a franchisee, who pays a royalty and often an initial fee for the right to do business under the franchisor's name and system.

A Limited Liability Company (LLC), is a company managed by members or elected managers, like a partnership, but with the financial and legal responsibility of the members limited to the amount of capital they have invested in the business.

Making a plan in advance, naming the people or organizations you want to receive the things you own after you die, and taking steps now to make carrying out your plan as easy as possible later

Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS) 136 was issued by the AICPA’s Auditing Standards Board to address changes to audits of employee benefit plans subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) (including ESOPs).

All of the steps that go into the selling of a business, often broken down into operational (people and processes) and financial (EBITDA, etc.) planning. This includes defining the goals/objectives of the selling owner(s).

A Directors & Officers (D&O) policy protects the personal assets of directors, board members, and other managing members if they are personally sued for mismanagement.

S Corporation ESOPs must test for section 409(p) which states an S Corp ESOP cannot allocate shares to disqualified persons during any nonallocation year.

A producer owned co-op for farmers to be able to market their crops together and/or purchase inputs together to reduce costs and eliminate "middle men" in the value chain.

An SBA special classification of small business which is predominantly owned by individuals belonging to a racial minority.

An example of storytelling about an employee owned company (or companies) which may include transition, mature functioning, winding up, etc.

The primary responsibility of ESOP fiduciaries is to run the plan solely in the interest of participants and beneficiaries and for the exclusive purpose of providing benefits and paying plan expenses. Fiduciaries must act prudently.

In an equity/stock sale, the buyer purchases equity in the business (or in cases of 100% of the equity, the entity itself) and thus also includes the liabilities of the company (therefore typically seller preferred).

SBDCs are locations where SBA employees offer technical assistance to small business owners

A budget is an estimation of revenue and expenses over a specified future period of time. A budget can be made for a person, group of people, business, non-profit, government, country, or just about anything else that makes and spends money.

Statistics pertaining to EO companies, e.g., how many EO companies there are, increases to EBITDA following EO conversion, etc.

A non-profit entity organized and operated for charitable purposes.

of looking or feeling more diverse, without any meaningful participation, and often