Mission-driven for-profit entrepreneurs often face the tough task of deciding how to balance mission protection with growth. In this blog series, we will explore how traditional corporate entities can anchor their mission in the corporate DNA. In the initial three posts, we will discuss mission-anchoring strategies including: golden or veto share; voting trusts or voting …
Governance and Shared Ownership
The New Trusts: Democratic Ownership Beyond the ESOP
This webinar on emerging explorations on trust structures—their promise and their problems features Nathan Schneider (University of Colorado Boulder), Christopher Michael (Christopher Michael P.C.), Camille Kerr (Upside Down Consulting), Derek Razo (Purpose Ventures), Sara Stephens (Sustainable Economies Law Center), and our very own Jason Wiener (Jason Wiener | p.c.). A new generation of lawyers, investors, …
Reflections on Our 5-year Anniversary (est. 2014)
Today marks the 5-year anniversary of our firm, Jason Wiener|p.c., a public benefit corporation. For any start-up or entrepreneur, this occasion is ceremonious and marks a point of reflection and inflection. Many think about the strategic pivots that led to their success (or survival), and the humble ones acknowledge the dumb luck along the way. …
A Leap forward for the Cooperative movement
As a cooperative attorney nothing is more exciting than stumbling on the odd article sharing a cooperative success story. Some days though, it’s more than the random, obscure news story, some days it’s an announcement that makes it feel like the movement is going mainstream. Today is one of those days. Today Evergreen Business Services …
Last Legal Cafe of 2018 – it’s free!
We will be hosting our last legal cafe of 2018 on Tuesday, November 13th at Wayfinder Coop! This free workshop will introduce attendees to the basic principles of cooperatives, explain what makes Colorado cooperatives special, and teach attendees how cooperatives can raise capital. You will leave with a better understanding of what the cooperative model …
Tax Advantages of Selling to a Worker Cooperative
Why Try a Worker Co-op Business owners should think carefully and develop a strategic plan for exiting a business. You, the business owner looking to sell, can leave your business by selling it to family members or third parties, merging it into a larger organization, selling it to employees through an employee stock ownership plan …
Corporate governance for stakeholders
My journey to the practice of law has not been linear. My sensitivity to injustice and inequality, on the other hand, has been a constant driver. I’ve always been in search of a solution, which led me to seek a deeper understanding of the systematic ways inequality has been ingrained into the fabric of society, …
The Cooperative Business Model
This is a re-post of a webinar that Linda and Jason led on the cooperative business model. It was hosted by the National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA) in 2015. It discusses the different types of cooperatives, what it means to be a single class vs a multi-stakeholder cooperative, how cooperatives raise capital, governance, operations, and …
Limited Cooperative Associations and Early Stage Financing
Cooperatives are the original social enterprise business model and Colorado is emerging as the “Delaware of cooperative law,” thanks in no small part to limited cooperative associations (LCAs), authorized by C.R.S. Title 7, Article 58. The limited cooperative association is a relatively new entity type, adopted in Colorado in 2010. It offers a balance of …
Colorado is leading the way in cooperative law
There are lots of reasons to love Colorado – the sunshine, the mountains, Colfax Avenue and all its splendid weirdness, just to name a few. While those things are all great, the coolest thing about Colorado is that it’s leading the way in innovative uses of the cooperative structure, in no small part thanks to …
