You Built Your Business. What Will Your Legacy Be?

Apply Now & Transition Your Company to Worker-Ownership

The Business Legacy Fund helps retiring business owners sell their company to their employees, saving jobs while gaining fair-market value for their company and securing their retirement.

The Fund also enables business owners to expand ownership to their employees while continuing to work with their business.

Financing is accompanied by technical assistance to ensure a successful transition.

Benefits to business owners include selling for fair-market value while gaining tax advantages. Community benefits include broadening ownership and creating long-term business stability.

Apply now be considered for the program.

Questions? Contact Ellen Vera, the Fund’s Co-Director, at ellen@coopcincy.org or (513) 549-3381.

Testimonials

“The Business Legacy Fund is an innovative way for retiring business owners to sell their businesses for fair-market value and preserve local jobs, but more importantly, the Fund will help create a more resilient and stable economy for our city’s future.”

— Aftab Pureval, Mayor of the City of Cincinnati

“Co-op Cincy has been very helpful…. They came with a ready-made template.”

— Brandon Z. Hoff, founder of Heritage Hill, which became worker owned in 2022

“Co-op Cincy and Ellen Vera in particular really walked this business through all the stages that were required to make this transition a success…. That support system was there. We could not have figured out how to do this without the help of Co-op Cincy.”

— Katie McGoron, founder of Shine Nurture Center, which became worker owned in 2022

“We were concerned about
what would happen when we eventually retire.… This is a structure that allows the company to continue forward into the future.”

— Tom Ewing and Tim James, founders of Ewing Controls, which became worker owned in 2017

A secure future for you, your employees, and your business.

Selling to your employees can offer you a financially attractive exit along with providing security for your current employees. With this option, you can retire or scale down your hours while maintaining your legacy.

Become Worker Owned is an initiative of Co-op Cincy, a business incubator that partners with individuals and organizations to create a collaborative network of family-sustaining, worker-owned businesses.

Unprecedented numbers of business owners exiting

As business owners across the region agonize over how to keep the lights on in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, those nearing retirement may be searching for creative solutions to secure their legacy and bank accounts. More than 40% of the country’s small business owners are 55 or older, and the majority have poured their savings into their companies. Figures are even higher in key industries such as manufacturing, where 71% are nearing retirement.

A proven succession strategy

Even before the pandemic, only 15% of small businesses successfully transitioned to the next generation, and only 20% of commercial listings sold.

That’s why we created the Business Legacy Fund. By transitioning a business to worker-ownership, the Business Legacy Fund secures fair-market value for the owner while preserving jobs.

More than 1,500 manufacturers have already sold their companies to their workers through the creation of employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) or worker-owned cooperatives. Companies in other key industries—such as construction, health care and the broader care industry—are following suit.

A secure future

Selling to your employees can bring you a secure retirement. At the same time, your employees and region will benefit from job retention and stability. You have the option to retire or scale down your hours while building your legacy.

The two basic structures are worker-owned cooperatives (co-ops) and employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs). Both options can preserve the mission of your company and provide significant tax advantages at the time of a transition. Both options also strengthen the local economy through stable, resilient jobs that build wealth in the community.

Co-op Cincy's Business Legacy Fund partners with the Minority Business Accelerator, the African American Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Cincinnati Microenterprise Initiative, and All-In Cincinnati. The program is funded in part by a grant from the Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile, Jr. Foundation.

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