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$1 Million Open Call: Employee Ownership Financing & Technical Support Grant

Location: St. Louis, Missouri

Funder: James S. McDonnell Foundation (JSMF)

Total Award: One grant of $1,000,000

Impact Focus: Facilitate business conversions to employee ownership to support wealth building and business success in St. Louis. Special focus on impacting workers in JSMF’s priority populations: individuals and families with low-to-moderate incomes, residents of the City of St. Louis and North St. Louis County, and groups excluded from economic opportunity.

Application Deadline: August 4, 2026

JSMF Intent & Strategic Alignment

JSMF seeks to advance inclusive economic opportunity and wealth creation by expanding employee ownership as a pathway to shared prosperity. Through this open call, JSMF will award one $1 million grant to build durable regional infrastructure that not only provides financing and technical assistance but actively implements employee ownership transactions. The grantee should help businesses progress from learning about employee ownership structures to completing deals and anchoring long-term shared wealth in the St. Louis region.

This initiative aligns with JSMF’s goals to:

  • Build wealth for workers and families of JSMF’s priority populations, contributing to JSMF’s goal of supporting work that helps more than 5,000 households in the City of St. Louis and North St. Louis County surpass $35,000 in net worth by 2034.
  • Preserve and strengthen locally rooted businesses.
  • Support systems-level change in how capital and ownership are structured to support business expansion and wealth creation for JSMF’s priority populations.

Purpose of the Open Call

The purpose of this open call is to select one lead organization or a consortium with the capacity to deploy capital, coordinate expert technical assistance, and build long-term infrastructure for employee ownership, such as ESOPs and other worker-owned models, while prioritizing the successful execution and closing of employee ownership transactions. The selected grantee will act as a trusted regional partner, ensuring that employee ownership becomes a scalable and repeatable pathway for business ownership transitions, improved job quality, and sustained wealth creation for JSMF’s priority populations.

Grant Structure

Single Award

  • One grant of $1,000,000
  • Grant term expected to be 2–4 years
  • Funds may be used flexibly across financing, technical assistance, and ecosystem building, consistent with JSMF objectives

Eligible Lead Applicants

  • Nonprofit organizations
  • Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs)
  • Financial institutions
  • Investment firms
  • Business Support Intermediaries
  • Entrepreneur Support Organizations
  • Multi-organization consortia with a clearly identified lead

Use of Funds

The $1 million grant may support the following interconnected activities, in alignment with JSMF objectives:

1. Catalytic Employee Ownership Financing

  • Subordinated or patient capital to support ESOP and employees’ purchase of a company
  • Recoverable grants or flexible capital for early-stage transactions
  • Post-conversion stabilization and working capital

JSMF prioritizes capital structures that unlock additional financing and reduce barriers for employee ownership.

2. Technical Assistance & Transaction Support

  • Feasibility studies and succession planning
  • Due diligence, legal, tax, valuation, and trustee services
  • Governance and ownership structure design
  • Worker and management training to support long-term success
  • Development of inclusive ownership cultures

Technical assistance should be structured to ensure that employee ownership leads to genuine decision-making authority and meaningful economic benefits for workers, while also supporting the company’s long-term success in St. Louis.

3. Ecosystem & Systems Building

  • Creation or expansion of a St. Louis-based regional employee ownership hub
  • System-level education and outreach, particularly to JSMF mission-aligned employers and their employees
  • Coordination with financial institutions, workforce systems, and community partners
  • Development of standardized tools, templates, and referral pathways

JSMF seeks to invest in approaches that seed a lasting ecosystem and regional capacity to support business conversions to employee ownership, ensuring long-term impact well beyond the life of the grant.

Priority Outcomes

Proposals should demonstrate how the initiative will contribute to:

  • Broad-based worker ownership, especially for low- and moderate-income workers
  • Wealth-building for employees from groups excluded from economic opportunity
  • Job preservation and job quality in the St. Louis region
  • Stronger, more resilient local businesses
  • Leverage of additional capital and institutional partners
  • A sustainable, replicable model for employee ownership for workers with low-to-moderate incomes in St. Louis

Selection Criteria

Applicants and their applications will be evaluated based on their qualifications in the following areas:

  1. Alignment with JSMF Goals – Clear connection to inclusive wealth creation and systems change in support of JSMF’s priority populations
  2. Organizational Capacity – Ability to manage capital, partnerships, and reporting
  3. Employee Ownership Expertise – Demonstrated experience or history of strong partnerships, with a preference for prior success involving employee ownership conversions that yield significant wealth building for employees from low-to-moderate income backgrounds
  4. Deployment Strategy – Clear, realistic plan for using the $1 million grant
  5. Impact Potential – Quality and scale of anticipated workforce, wealth building, business, and community outcomes
  6. Leverage & Sustainability – Ability to attract additional financial and non-financial resources and create a sustainable business model, enabling the hub to thrive beyond the grant period
  7. Successful Track Record – Eligible Lead Applicants must demonstrate a strong track record of successfully structuring and completing employee ownership transactions—such as ESOPs or other worker-owned models—either directly or through clearly defined partner roles. This includes the ability to manage the financial, legal, and operational complexities required for successful conversions and long-term sustainability in the St. Louis region in alignment with JSMF’s priorities.

Contact

For further information, please contact Dr. Gerard Hollins, JSMF Director of Grants and Impact Investment, at [email protected].

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