We build worker-owned businesses that create sustainable jobs, share financial success, and help people build economic security.
Explore the websiteMost businesses belong to one owner or a few investors. The people who do the work get a paycheck. When business slows down, those people are often the first to lose their income.
We want to try it the other way around. When the owner of a healthy business is ready to retire, we help the people who already work there buy it and own it together. The customers stay, the work continues, and the business keeps selling its service like any other company. The money that comes in pays everyone's wages first. What is left is shared by rules the group agreed on, so the people doing the work also share in the reward, and a good year helps carry them through a bad one.
An example, not a real company yet
This split is our proposed starting plan, not a promise of what anyone will earn. A business with little cash in the bank keeps more of it. Wages always come from money customers have actually paid, never from hoped-for profit.
Livelyhood Federation is a new organization. Right now the work is early and unglamorous: talking to business owners who are ready to retire, to the workers in those businesses, and to cooperative lawyers and lenders about how to fund and structure a buyout properly.
We have not hired anyone and we have not taken anyone's money. We will not do either until there are paying customers and a plan that still works in a bad year.
We are starting in California. Our first job is to find one healthy business whose owner wants to retire and help its workers buy it. After that, we help the next team of workers do the same, and the businesses back each other up. That group of businesses is the federation.
Founding team
Words we use
Each one exists so that a job here can still be a job in a bad year.
Each business must earn enough from customers to pay its people. We do not rely on donations or investors to cover wages.
Every member gets one vote. Good results go into pay, savings, growth, and each member's ownership share.
We add people only when there is enough customer work and enough savings to support them.
Worker ownership already works at scale. We are adapting proven pieces for a U.S. setting.
A group of worker cooperatives that sets aside part of profits for shared funds and moves workers between cooperatives to protect jobs. Its 2023 annual report describes a minimum 13% profit contribution to a divisional fund. Mondragon
State law provides for worker cooperative corporations and defines worker-members and membership candidates. It requires that at least 51% of workers be worker-members or candidates.
The U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives promotes worker control, profit shared by labor contributed, and one member, one vote. Learn more
We are looking for people who want a stable livelihood and a real say in how their workplace runs. Nobody is employed yet. Early interest helps us size the first business.
We are looking for organizations that want reliable, local service from businesses owned by the people doing the work. When a business converts, its customers keep the same people and the same service.
When we buy our first business, we plan to invite community investors at $1,000 each. You help fund the buyout and earn a modest, capped return. The workers keep control. We are not accepting money yet. Register interest so we know who to contact when the offer is ready.
We need lenders, cooperative lawyers and accountants, people who know a trade well, and owners who are ready to retire and would sell to their team. We are not accepting investments yet. We are opening conversations.
Each step opens only when its financial test is passed. These are planning horizons, not promises of dates.
A healthy business with steady customers and an owner who is ready to retire. We move on when the numbers check out, the workers want in, and the owner agrees to sell to them.
A bank loan, payments to the seller over time, community investors at $1,000 each, and small buy-ins from the workers taken from pay. Nobody is asked to risk their savings.
Workers become owners with one vote each, the business builds savings for slow months, and the loan is paid down from its own revenue.
Each business pays into a shared fund. That fund helps the next team of workers buy their business, and the businesses back each other up. That is the federation.
Example: an established plumbing company with four plumbers. The owner is retiring and selling for $250,000. Real deals will differ.
Illustration only, not an offer. California's worker cooperative law allows community investors with limited control. Investor terms, returns, and disclosures will be set by cooperative counsel before anyone is asked for money.
Say the company clears $90,000 a year after paying everyone's wages, including a manager to replace the owner.
| Profit after wages and bills | $90,000 |
| Bank loan payments | −$19,800 |
| Payments to the retired owner | −$17,400 |
| Community investors (5% capped return) | −$2,000 |
| Left to share | $50,800 |
| To the four plumber-owners | $17,800, about $4,400 each on top of pay |
| Savings for slow months | $15,200 |
| Growth (a new van, a fifth plumber) | $10,200 |
| Shared fund for the next buyout | $7,600 |
Assumes a 10-year bank loan at 10%, the owner paid over 5 years at 6%, and a 5% return to community investors. Every number is an illustration, not a forecast or an offer.
We buy businesses that already have customers and revenue, and nobody is asked to quit a secure job or risk their savings.
Every eligible worker gets a transparent, nondiscriminatory route to membership.
Contributions are modest, payable over time, and never a barrier to joining.
Our continuity commitment works within wage law and insolvency duties. It is a strong commitment, not a lifetime guarantee.
We help workers buy the businesses they already work in and own them together, so steady work turns into a steady living and the rewards go to the people doing the work.
No. Livelyhood Federation is in development and is not employing anyone yet. Registering interest helps us plan the first business and contact you when roles exist.
Not yet. When we buy our first business, we plan to invite community investors at $1,000 each, with a modest, capped return and no control over the business. Counsel will set the terms first. Register interest and we will contact you when there is a real offer.
No. We plan to buy healthy businesses whose owners are ready to retire, and help the people who already work there become the owners. The customers and the work are already there.
We are still looking. We want a service business with steady customers, an owner ready to retire, and workers who want to own it. If you own a business like that, we would like to talk.
Members hold ownership and one vote each. They earn regular pay for their work, may receive a share of surplus, and build a capital account with clear redemption rules.
We are starting by evaluating a California worker cooperative corporation, with cooperative counsel reviewing membership, ownership, and employment arrangements before anything is formed.
A few quick answers help us decide what to build first.
We have sent you a link to confirm your address, and we will reply personally once you do. Nothing is committed on either side yet, and you can ask us to delete your details at any time.