#mission-lock-governance

A mission lock removes the incentive to overstate impact, not the ability. Self-reported figures — profit percentages, trees planted, emissions — can mislead without independent verification, and genuine purpose locks can actually make weak measurement harder to spot.

Steward-ownership locks where profit goes, not whether it exists. When revenue depends on a platform the organisation doesn't control — an ad network, a search index, a card scheme — mission funding is exposed to terms set by others.

An ownership lock only prevents sale and profit extraction — it cannot make remaining stewards competent or mission-faithful. A locked company can still stagnate, drift in purpose, entrench insiders, or make unverified impact claims. The lock is necessary but not sufficient.

Split voting from economic rights: put voting stock in an irrevocable purpose trust whose deed binds the company to its mission, and give non-voting economic stock to a mission nonprofit so profits fund the cause. The company stays for-profit but can never be sold away from its p

Ben & Jerry's is a counter-example to steward-ownership: a case where mission protection relied on a contract and an independent board rather than an ownership lock. Unilever acquired Ben & Jerry's for $326 million in A…

On 14 September 2022, the Chouinard family transferred 100% of Patagonia into two new entities, splitting control from economic rights:

Ecosia is a Berlin-based search engine founded in December 2009 that uses advertising profits to fund tree-planting and climate initiatives. In autumn 2018, founders Christian Kroll and Tim Schumacher—concerned about mi…

On 14 September 2022, the Chouinard family transferred 100% of Patagonia into two new entities, splitting control from economics. The Patagonia Purpose Trust received all voting stock (2% of total shares) via an irr…