Learning journeys on steward ownership
Courses and workbooks designed to meet you where you are – whether you're just curious, actively exploring, or ready to implement steward ownership in your company.
Choose your learning journey
Steward-Ownership 101
For everyone curious, exploring, or already working with steward-ownership. Discover the core principles, legal implementations, and real-world examples behind steward-owned businesses.
Steward-Ownership Aligned Financing
Especially relevant for founders thinking about raising external capital, and for investors who want to understand which instruments are compatible with the model – and how fair returns and long-term independence can work at the same time.
Toolkit on steward-ownership
This practical guide helps entrepreneurs find out if steward ownership is the right decision for their company and go the first steps. Also useful for advisors supporting companies on this path, and for investors who want to understand what a company actually goes through in this process. (This workbook will soon be updated and included here as a new learning journey.)
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Who are these courses for?
Entrepreneurs & Founders
Investors & Funders
Practitioners & Curious Minds
FAQs
Yes, all learning journeys and the workbook are fully free and openly accessible. The Purpose Foundation makes these resources available to support companies on their path to steward ownership.
That depends on how you engage with the material. Steward Ownership 101 is structured like a book – 7 chapters you can read at your own pace, come back to, and share with colleagues. Most people spread it over several days rather than reading it in one go.
The Aligned Financing journey is designed to be worked through alongside real decisions in your company: some milestones ask you to pause, reflect, and actually build out your own financing structure before moving on. That process can take weeks and that's intentional.
The Toolkit is in a different category entirely. It's an 8-stage journey with working documents, reflection exercises, legal templates, and country-specific resources. Some people move through it in a few weeks, others over several months – depending on how far they go and how complex their situation is.
If you're new to steward ownership, begin with Steward Ownership 101: it covers the foundational principles and real-world examples. If you want to learn how you can implement steward ownership in your business, have a look at the toolkit. For a deeper dive into financing steward-owned companies, read the Steward Ownership Aligned Financing Guide.
Yes, steward ownership can be implemented using existing legal structures in most jurisdictions. In our course you learn about different models, such as foundations, trusts, or share classes, that are commonly used to encode steward ownership principles in a legally binding way.