Alison Lingane: Worker-Ownership, the Coop Incubator, and Addressing the Silver Tsunami

Next Economy Now highlights the leaders who are taking a regenerative, bio-regional, equitable, transparent, and whole-systems approach to using business as a force for good. 

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“Good decisions are built into worker cooperatives from the inside out.” - Alison Lingane

In this episode of Next Economy Now, Ryan Honeyman, a Partner at LIFT Economy, interviews Alison Lingane, Co-Founder of Project Equity.

Project Equity is a nonprofit organization that fosters economic resiliency by demonstrating and replicating strategies to increase worker ownership.

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In our interview, Alison and I discuss some of the differences between worker-owned cooperatives, ESOPs (or Employee Stock Ownership Plans) and employee stock options (like you might get as an employee of a tech company like Twitter or Facebook).

We’ll also discuss the startling fact that there are only 300-400 worker owned cooperatives in the entire United States. Alison hopes to change this with her new Coop Incubator program at Project Equity.

Finally, if you are interested in increasing worker ownership at your business, we go over some of the frequently asked questions and steps you will need to consider before making the transition.

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Ryan Honeyman is a Partner at LIFT Economy and author of The B Corp Handbook: How to Use Business as a Force for Good (Berrett-Koehler Publishers). LIFT Economy is an impact consulting firm whose mission is to create, model, and share a locally self-reliant economy that works for the benefit of all life. You can follow Ryan on Twitter @honeymanconsult or email him ryan@lifteconomy.com.