Minnesota Center for Employee Ownership

What it reported doing in 2024

Mnceo organizes workshops and presentations at various locations throughout Minnesota through our ambassador program. We explain the different models for employee ownership and advise about how best to transition into one of those options. Employee ownership education is a critical tool to achieve our economic development goals. By educating the public on employee ownership, we hope to promote equity and inclusion by expanding economic opportunity, particularly for the benefit of traditionally disadvantaged groups. Additionally, we help connect interested businesses to organizations that can assist them in transitioning to a worker owner model. We participated in 19 conferences, with 14 displays and 38 presentations with 1016 attendees. The Minnesota center for employee ownership (mnceo) partnered with the North Carolina employee ownership center (nceoc) to convene two ambassador program cohorts- the employee ownership ambassador program has been designed as a 4-week program with virtual meetings and independent learning modules. A deep dive into: employee stock ownership plans, employee ownership trusts and worker owned cooperatives, training 48 advisors, small business owners, economic development leaders and community leaders. We also created an employee ownership trusts and worker owned cooperatives, training 48 advisors, small business owners, economic development leaders and community leaders. Mnceo continued to convene and lead the mn broad employee ownership working group with advisors from: worker owned cooperatives (wocs), employee ownership trusts (eots) and employee stock ownership plans (esops) to create a robust broad employee ownership marketplace to every region in Minnesota. We reached out to 139 new partner organizations with 56 new partner leads and 23 partner collaborations. As a result we had 25 businesses contact mnceo to explore employee ownership models with over 45 referrals to services providers. We created our mn top 50 esops report in partnership with the Ohio center for employee ownership at kent state.mnceo partnered with the east central regional development commission, regional economic development leaders, regional hra-edas, local governments and regional commissions to stand up a regional broad employee ownership marketplace. This was a focused work outside of the twin cities metro. We had 12 employee ownership 101 presentations, countywide- 5 full days of (barnstorming)-introducing broad employee ownership to: city administrators, economic development commissions, banks, and small business owners. Mnceo created the worker co. Mn edition podcast to tell the stories of how employee ownership transformed their Minnesota companies. Our first five episode included: windings, inc a mature employee stock ownership plan, wescom, inc. A year old employee stock ownership plan, room and board, a brand new employee stock ownership plan, the improve group, a worker owned cooperative and codeweavers, Minnesota's first employee ownership trust. In 2025 we are creating a worker co. Toolkit for other state centers to use. Creating the podcasts gives us another avenue for spreading the word about different models of employee ownership. We are able to reach many of the public as well as share specific examples of businesses that did the work of switching and are thriving because of it.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 43.1%; rating input score 43
• Program expense ratio: 63%; rating input score 63
• Fundraising efficiency: $10.23 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: Limited
• Foreign activity oversight: Limited
• Grant itemization coverage: Limited
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
• Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Pass
  • Document-retention policy: Fail
  • CEO compensation review process: Pass
  • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Fail
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

• Operating margin: 31.9%; rating input score 83; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.87; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.12; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 26.2%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: Limited
• Revenue growth: 26.8% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 23.6% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings