VEOC Conversion Technical Assistance Grant Program

Thanks to the 2022 earmark from Senator Bernie Sanders, the VEOC is thrilled to announce the availability of $50,000 in technical assistance grant dollars for those interested in exploring employee ownership!

While the VEOC sometimes provides direct technical assistance during the employee ownership conversion process, the center refers businesses to specialists for services such as feasibility studies, business valuations, or legal assistance. Through the grant program, we will now be able to help cover the costs of these services for qualifying business owners and employee groups.

Allowable Uses:

Business Owners considering the sale of their business to the employees via a broad-based structure such as a worker co-op, ESOP, Employee Ownership Trust may apply to the program to receive 1:1 matching funds up to $5,000 for the reimbursement of expenses related to an initial assessment, such as a valuation and/or feasibility study. The reimbursed service and vendor must be approved by the VEOC prior to the initiating the work.

Employee Groups seeking to purchase their workplace via a broad-based employee-ownership structure may apply to have up to $5,000 of expenses reimbursed related to the assessment and transaction. Such expenses must be pre-approved by VEOC, and may include (but are not limited to):

• An independent review of the company valuation by a consultant

• Legal expenses related to entity formation, capital raising, and transactional work

• Project management support to the group by a co-op developer

For more information or to apply for a technical assistance grant, contact us at info@veoc.org.