Aligned Financing
What this is about
The conventional financing story runs like this: you need capital, you take on investors, you give up equity, and somewhere down the line you plan for an exit. It's so standard that most entrepreneurs never question it. But the model carries hidden costs: to your company’s independence, its mission, and the ability to build for the long term.
Since this is exactly what steward ownership is all about, it calls for alternative financing structures, ones that align with long term independence and purpose-orientation: steward ownership aligned financing (SOAF). It starts from a different premise: Capital can be separated from control. Investors can receive fair returns – through profit participation, subordinated loans, or non-voting shares – without gaining governance rights over the company's direction. The mission-orientation stays structurally protected, not just culturally aspirational.
This isn't a niche workaround. Many companies around the world have raised meaningful capital this way — at growth stage, in transition, and in buyback situations. The resources here tell those stories and explain how the instruments work.
Principles of steward ownership aligned financing
In steward ownership aligned financing, the quality of the investment (i.e. how the investment is structured) and the relationship with the company are designed in such a way that investors become financing partners of the company, while ensuring two core principles:
No commodification of the company as a whole
Preserving the company’s entrepreneurial autonomy
Thus, the relationship between the financing partner and the company is defined by:
- the entrepreneurial control never being overtaken (bought),
- and economic claims being limited in terms of duration, amount, or influence.
There's no single instrument. Steward ownership aligned financing can be structured using debt or hybrid forms. Some instruments are inherently aligned; others can be adapted. What matters is whether the conditions above are met, not which category the instrument sits in.
Resources on aligned financing
Need a quick intro? 5 resources over 5 weeks: Sign up to our free email series to get key resources and why they matter for you to your inbox!
Audience
Topic
Type
Language
Region
WILDPLASTIC® – Aligned Financing
Explore how Wildplastic found a way for its financing structures to be purpose-aligned and matching its long-term mission of combatting plastic pollution
Haferkater - Aligned Financing
Find out how Haferkater reinvented train station food and investment with crowd support and aligned investors.
Rethinking Finance with Aunnie Patton Power
This interview explores the need to rethink how we fund businesses. Aunnie Patton Power shares why conventional models don’t fit most companies and how alternative, aligned financing can open new paths forward.
Steward Ownership Aligned Financing (SOAF) 101
Read about the core principles of steward ownership shape financing structures: investments that don’t buy control, limit returns in duration, amount, or influence, and create mission-aligned liquidity paths that avoid commodifying the company as a whole.
Organically Grown Company
Organically Grown Company (OGC), one of the largest organic produce distributors in the U.S., was one of the 1st companies in the U.S. implementing a Perpetual Purpose Trust structure to solve their succession and financing challenges.
SO:25 Achim Hensen: SOAF – How do you fund steward-owned companies?
Achim Hensen unpacks how steward-ownership serves as a compass for developing new qualities of financing that truly match the company’s needs. He draws on 10 years of experience investing in steward-owned companies and building radically different funds.
Stapelstein
The founders of Stapelstein® sought to regain control and secure independence. Through steward-ownership and aligned buy-outs from old investors, they achieved long-term stability.
VYLD
German start-up VYLD promotes menstrual health while protecting oceans. Their mission: create innovative, eco-friendly, healthy seaweed-based products – starting with tampons – with steward ownership.
Your practical guide to steward ownership aligned financing
Three milestones, eight chapters. From understanding why conventional capital often doesn't fit, to mapping your specific financing needs, to preparing for real investor conversations. With tools, case studies, and checkpoints throughout.
Free to access · Self-paced · Startups & SMEs
5 emails to get you started
We know there are a lot of resources on steward ownership. That’s why we want to make your start easier: With our 5-part email series on steward ownership aligned financing!
How does it work? Sign up below and get one resource once a week! We'll give you a quick summary and tell you why the resource matters for your situation. And don't worry: You'll just receive these five emails. If you want to stay in touch afterwards, that's totally up to you!
FAQs
This is one of the most persistent myths and it's largely a product of the financing landscape we've been told is normal. The reality is that between a bank loan and conventional equity lies a wide spectrum of instruments: subordinated loans, profit participation rights, revenue-based financing, silent participations, crowdinvesting, and more. Many of these have been used for decades by companies of all sizes.
A growing number are actively looking for alternatives to the conventional equity model: impact investors, family offices with long time horizons, foundations, or mission-aligned funds. And while the entrepreneurial control (the majority of the voting rights) remains with the company’s stewards, not with investors, the investors can be meaningfully involved in the company. Examples include consultation and information rights, veto rights on clearly defined topics, advisory or investor board roles. So, in steward ownership, capital does not buy control. Instead, investors act as financing partners, whose perspectives and interests are considered within clearly defined governance structures.
Bosch. Zeiss. Patagonia. These are not small, slow-growing companies and all are built on ownership structures that separate economic rights from control. Steward ownership is fully compatible with ambition, growth, and profitability. The difference is that growth serves the company's purpose rather than the other way around. Many steward-owned companies are highly profitable precisely because they can invest for the long term without being pressured into short-term extraction.
More questions? You're very welcome to join us.
Our open Q&A calls are a relaxed, interactive session where you can ask your questions, listen to others', and get a real sense of what steward ownership means in practice – including for aligned financing.
Join the next info call