Stewards

Introduction & utilization of donation

In May 2024, our Foundation prolonged its collaboration with STEWARDS, offering the necessary resources that would secure the organization’s smooth operation.  

STEWARDS is introducing the Steward-Ownership (S.O.) in Greece, a successful ownership and governance model that prioritizes the long-term well-being of an organization and its stakeholders. S.O. is adopted and operated by many companies worldwide and here you can find some very interesting case studies.

It is actually an alternative-to-conventional corporate ownership structure, which allows organizations to become self-owned and ensures that (a) the steering wheel and voting rights are always held by people who work in the company rather than absentee investors and (b) that profits are treated as a means to an end rather an end itself.

STEWARDS bears the mission to build a thriving Steward-Ownership ecosystem in Greece, promoting social innovation and purpose-driven entrepreneurship. Its solution lies in three layers of activity: raising awareness, creating tools & resources and activating aligned capital to materialize the S.O. theory of change.

In the two years of being operational, STEWARDS has managed to:

- Explore potential for Steward-Ownership adoption with a few Greek organizations that are interested and are considered a good fit

- Identify the appropriate S.O. legal structure that complies with the Greek legislation

- Work closely with the Purpose Foundation to align tools and systems and shape its in-house advisory services framework

- Create a prominent advisory board

- Have online presence via its website and social media

- Establish strong partnerships with international mission-aligned organizations as well as local affiliated stakeholders

- Start drafting an open-source guide for going to Steward-Ownership and a white paper on the alternative financing instruments and solutions for steward-owned organizations in the Greek ecosystem

This year, STEWARDS’ orientation is to conclude the integration of the S.O. structure in Ten Million Hands, which will constitute the first official steward-led entity in Greece.