Articles & Reports

Marjorie Kelly has had her writing published in many different venues, including during her 20 years as President of Business Ethics magazine (see a link to Marjorie’s Musings columns at the bottom of this page). Her work at The Democracy Collaborative, Tellus Institute and Cutting Edge Capital has led to numerous publications, many of which appear below.

Reports

The Democracy Collaborative

Community Wealth Building: The Path towards a Democratic and Reparative Political Economic System (with Thomas M. Hanna, January 2021). This paper offers a review and analysis of the history and practice of community wealth building (CWB), including its origins in the tumult of the 1960s and ‘70s, how it has evolved over time, and how it has spread from the US to the rest of the world. The authors present some of its institutions and approaches – such as worker owned companies, community land trusts, community development financial institutions, and public ownership – and review their development and how they deliver superior results for workers and communities. Additionally, they discuss the opportunity and challenge of contesting for state resources and support and how, while this is critical to CWB, efforts must be made to embed community control and participation and guard against co-optation and co-dependence. Lastly, the paper addresses how CWB can lead to broader system change.

Opportunity Knocking: Impact capital as the transformative agent to take employee ownership to scale [pdf] (with Jessica Rose, December 2020).
In the wake of COVID-19, this paper argues that impact investors and other capital providers could be the agents to give this crisis a silver lining by catalyzing employee ownership buyouts at scale.

Proposing a bold new approach to growing employee ownership, the the authors make the case for moving beyond “outreach and education” to a capital approach. Organized capital can become the agent for change by becoming “the knock upon the door,” functioning like private equity by simply asking owners if they wish to sell and having the capital available to make it happen, then preparing the company and exiting to employee ownership. The report includes a look at dozen emerging funds taking this approach.

Owning Our Future after COVID-19: A Five Point Plan for US National Economic Reconstruction and Community Transformation [pdf] (with Ted Howard et al, June 2020). This paper proposes a cohesive response to the pandemic crisis in the form of a five-point plan for national economic reconstruction and community transformation: 1) Preserve local community economies by blocking financial extraction and consolidation; 2) Extend public ownership in the public interest; 3) Ground economic reconstruction in a new era of community wealth; 4) Institute a green industrial strategy on the basis of a green stimulus recovery package; 5)Establish a next-generation institute to support the movement for a democratic economy.

Ownership Design for a Sustainable Economy [pdf] (with Sarah Stranahan, January 2020).
In researching the relationship between employee ownership and sustainable practices, we found that employee ownership is not in itself sufficient to guarantee environmental stewardship. The most powerful model combines employee ownership with moral leadership that values sustainability.

Mission-led employee-owned firms: The best of the best [pdf] (with Sarah Stranahan, April 2019). Mission-led employee-owned firms embody a powerful model of enterprise design for a new era of environmental sustainability and social equity. This report shares the story of this emerging model, embodied in 50-plus firms that are employee-owned B Corporations and benefit corporations, plus dozens more employee-owned firms with strong social and ecological missions. These companies offer a distinct alternative to the publicly owned corporation, which was designed for an era of in which large sums of capital were needed to fuel carbon-based industrial enterprises. Now we face new challenges—catastrophic climate change and growing wealth inequality—that demand new solutions. Among those solutions are new models of ownership, or what we are calling next generation enterprise design.

Strategies for Financing the Inclusive Economy [pdf] (with Steve Dubb & Violeta Duncan, August 2016). Designed as a guidebook, this report seeks to demystify the financing of broad-based enterprise, and to show how and where these kinds of enterprises may be well positioned for job-creating growth. It was written with the hope of increasing understanding and comfort levels regarding financing these enterprises among financial service providers, impact investors, foundations, local government, community development leaders, and others. This guidebook forms the third part of a three-volume series, Building the Inclusive Economy, which focuses on the power of broad-based ownership models.

Broad-Based Ownership Models as Tools for Job Creation and Community Development [pdf] (with Steve Dubb & Violeta Duncan, January 2016).
As cities wrestle with the growing challenge of wealth inequality, more and more leaders are looking to broad-based ownership models as tools to create jobs and build community wealth. These models are highly effective, with a positive impact for low- and moderate-income individuals and communities. This report looks at six such models—ESOPs, Worker Cooperatives, CDFIs, Social Enterprises, Municipal Ownership, and Emerging Hybrids—with examples of best practices, and explores how these models can be used in community economic development.

Cities Building Community Wealth [pdf] (with Sarah McKinley, October 2015). In cities across the nation, a few enjoy rising affluence while many struggle to get by. This situation is created in part by the practices of traditional economic development. Current trends threaten to worsen, unless we can answer the design challenge before us. Can we create an economic system—beginning at the local level—that builds the wealth and prosperity of everyone? This groundbreaking report, profiles a growing movement of municipal governments and organizations uniting to change the paradigm of economic development, truly showing the way forward to build community wealth.

A New Anchor Mission for a New Century [pdf] (with Violeta Duncan, November 2014). It was in 2005 that the highly regarded Monitor Institute report declared that the field of community foundations was “On the Brink of New Promise,” and in the decade since, there have been countless working groups and initiatives to introduce innovative approaches to the field. At the same time, largely beneath the radar, a small but growing group has begun pursuing the innovative path we explore here. Mostly in small steps—but sometimes in larger ways—they are adopting elements of what could emerge as a new anchor mission to deploy all resources to build community wealth.

Tellus Institute

Enterprise Financing for WealthWorks Value Chains (April 2014).
This report explores lessons learned over two years of helping enterprises in high-poverty rural areas succeed at finding financing. Clearly articulating the challenges involved with “stakeholder financing,” the report looks at a variety of ways to channel necessary capital into the creation of integrated community-sustaining value chains. These ways include crowdfunding, community loan funds, Slow Money, direct public offerings, and others.

The report was published by the Tellus Institute as part of WealthWorks, a seven-year, multi-stakeholder initiative funded by the Ford Foundation to articulate and test a new systems approach to rural development.

Worker Equity in Food and Agriculture: Practices at the 100 largest and most influential U.S. companies (with Christi Electris et al., October 2012). An understanding of the social impact of the food and agriculture industry requires insight into worker equity, a concept that embraces many issues: fair wages, safe working conditions, the right to organize, job security, professional development opportunities, and employee engagement. This report sets out to review the landscape of company practices and policies in worker equity at the 100 largest companies in the food and agriculture industry in the U.S. market. While harmful practices are widespread—and in some ways the industry norm—there are also promising examples of emerging best practices.

Impact Investing for Rural Wealth Creation: Investing for financial returns and community impact (with Jessica Norwood, Emerging ChangeMakers Network, November 2010). How are impact investors being connected with rural enterprise, in ways that develop multiple forms of wealth? This report outlines key features of impact investment and shares examples of successful models. It looks at the entire value chain of investment – investors, intermediaries, investment vehicles, financial returns, community impact – and examines how design innovations at each stage help impact investments to flow and achieve positive outcomes.

Keeping Wealth Local: Shared Ownership and Wealth Control for Rural Communities (with Shanna Ratner, Yellow Wood Associates, November 2009). Resources do not represent community wealth unless communities own and control them. This handbook looks at various kinds of shared ownership, including cooperatives, employee ownership, community land trusts, municipal ownership, local and tribal ownership, mission-controlled ownership, and community covenants and easements. Each section looks at strengths, weaknesses, the range of applications, expertise required, and sources of assistance.

Articles

Op Eds

Business Ethics

Musings (Marjorie Kelly’s columns from her time as president of Business Ethics)