Stewards

Introduction & utilization of donation

In November 2022, our Foundation was proud to become one of the founding donors of the newly created organization STEWARDS.

Established in October 2022 as a civil nonprofit company, STEWARDS is bringing the innovative concept of Steward-Ownership in Greece.

This is a successful proven model, adopted and operated by many organizations around the world. It harnesses the power of entrepreneurial for-profit enterprise, while preserving a company’s essential purpose to create products and services that deliver societal & environmental value and protecting it from extractive capital.

It represents a viable alternative to shareholder-primacy ownership. In addressing fundamental structural deficiencies of our system, it retools the goals and incentives that guide decision-making in companies in the corporate DNA. By doing so it has the power to transform the economy. Steward-owned companies are committed to two principles:

(1) Self-governance — Control remains inside the company with the people directly connected to stewarding its operation and mission. With the control of the company held in a trust, it can no longer be bought or sold.

(2) Profits serve purpose —Wealth generated by these businesses cannot be privatized. Instead, profits serve the mission of the company and are either reinvested in the company, its stakeholders, or donated. Investors and founders are fairly compensated with capped returns/dividends.

STEWARDS aims to build a thriving responsible-ownership ecosystem in Greece by (a) raising awareness of the steward-led structure as a successful alternative-to-conventional ownership models, (b) creating tools & resources to support the lowering of hurdles for implementing Steward-Ownership locally, and (c) educating, attracting, and activating aligned capital to allow financing for startups to grow or mature businesses to transition from traditional models.

The organization's theory of change lies on its strong beliefs that:

- People work best when they are independent and fully responsible

- Companies are not speculative goods but groups of people working for a purpose

- Profits are means to an end and should further the purpose of the company

- Change for a more sustainable and environmentally conscious economy cannot be achieved by laws but by changing the way ownership and responsibility works

- Companies exist not for shareholders but for people & the planet and this needs to be reflected in their Articles of Association.

Here's a video about Steward-Ownership.