A project funded by the EOX State Center Grant Program

Using events to stitch together a fragmented ecosystem

Texas is big—and so is its employee ownership ecosystem. TXCEO used its EOX project grant to run a set of strategic events that brought together ESOP, co-op, and EOT stakeholders who don’t always end up in the same room. 

The project centered on three initiatives:

• A Dallas ESOP event that connected existing ESOP companies and advisors.
  
  
• An Austin co-op convening that brought together co-op practitioners, worker-owners, and local allies.
  
  
• The launch of the Purpose Trust Ownership Conference, a national-scale gathering focused on purpose trusts and EOT-style structures.

Across these efforts, TXCEO engaged more than 70 participants in Austin and 25+ in Dallas, built new relationships with ESOP companies, and opened up new fundraising pathways tied to this coalition-building work. Make sure to follow the TXCEO on LinkedIn as they report back from the PTON Conference happening as this post is published.

WHY THIS MATTERS

Capacity funding helped TXCEO build internal systems and go full-time on leadership; the project grant let them turn that capacity into visible, relationship-based work that strengthens the EO ecosystem in a large, complex state. 

The Texas experience is a reminder that events are not just “programming”—they can be strategic entry points for long-term partnerships. Other State Centers can look to this project as a model for using convenings to knit together ESOP, co-op, and EOT efforts instead of keeping them in separate lanes.