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Cooperative back office, built for trust

The back office for shared-ownership businesses.

OwnFold brings formation, governance, member ledgers, patronage, operations, and capital readiness into one auditable workspace for cooperatives and worker-owned companies.

Start a Co-opForm the entity, invite members, and set up democratic governance.Convert a BusinessPlan a transition to employee, worker, or community ownership.
  • Audit trail built in
  • Role-based permissions
  • 14-day free trial, no card required

  • Legal-ready workflows

    Formation, documents, votes, and board records stay connected.

  • Financial traceability

    Member capital and patronage tie back to recorded activity.

  • Capital guardrails

    Readiness and referrals stay separate from investment advice.

Illustrative preview with sample data.
“A venture capital firm shouldn’t own the operating system for cooperatives. The cooperatives should.”
Our founding principle

From formation to patronage

One auditable path for shared ownership.

Most co-ops stitch together documents, spreadsheets, votes, accounting tools, and project software. OwnFold keeps the core operating record connected from day one.

  1. Form

    Choose a cooperative structure and draft your first formation documents.

  2. Invite

    Add members, define classes, assign permissions, and record buy-ins.

  3. Govern

    Run proposals, ballots, proxy delegation, board packets, and minutes.

  4. Operate

    Track work, customers, invoices, expenses, inventory, and labor.

  5. Distribute

    Calculate patronage, update capital accounts, and prepare reports for review.

Why it matters: every decision has context. Votes, member rights, project work, invoices, labor, and patronage point back to the same operating record instead of scattered files.

Shared Ownership Core

Formation, governance, and financial records.

Who owns the company, who can vote, how surplus is allocated, and which documents govern the business, all in one connected system.

  • Ownership Designer

    Define member classes, voting rights, buy-in amounts, and lockup and redemption terms.

  • Governance Engine

    Proposals, open or anonymous ballots, proxy delegation, board packets, and meeting minutes.

  • Patronage Engine

    Surplus allocations with a review and board-approval workflow, posted to member capital accounts.

  • Financial Core

    Double-entry ledger, chart of accounts, financial statements, and bank transactions imported through Plaid.

  • Document Vault

    Keep bylaws, agreements, and resolutions together, and seal final versions with SHA-256 content hashes.

  • Formation Studio

    AI-drafted articles and bylaws, a readiness checklist, and a ratification vote, ready for attorney review.

Business Operating System

Run your business, not just your bylaws.

CRM, projects, invoicing, inventory, timesheets, and expenses live next to the records used for patronage, capital accounts, and board reporting.

  • CRM & Estimates

    Track leads, build estimates, and turn accepted work into projects.

  • Projects & Jobs

    Track project budgets against logged labor and job costs.

  • Timesheets & Shifts

    Schedule shifts and approve hours; approved hours can feed patronage inputs.

  • Invoicing

    Send customer invoices and accept online card payments through Stripe.

  • Inventory

    Track stock and low-stock alerts, raise purchase orders, and coordinate co-op purchasing.

  • Work Orders

    Create service tickets, schedule crews on a dispatch calendar, and cost completed jobs.

  • Expenses

    Submit expense claims, route them for approval, and post them to the ledger.

  • AI Advisor

    Ask questions grounded in your co-op's records. General guidance, not legal or tax advice.

One connected record

Stop stitching together tools.

Co-ops often run on a patchwork of disconnected software. OwnFold gives the core records one connected place to live.

The usual patchwork

  • Capital-account spreadsheets
  • A separate accounting package
  • A standalone voting tool
  • Bylaws in a shared drive
  • A CRM built for corporations
  • Timesheets in another app

Result: ownership drifts away from operations, and questions like “who contributed what?” get hard to answer.

With OwnFold

  • Capital spreadsheetsMember Ledger
  • Ledger and statementsFinancial Core
  • Votes and minutesGovernance Engine
  • Founding documentsFormation Studio & Vault
  • Customers and jobsCRM & Projects
  • Hours and shiftsTimesheets

Result: votes, member capital, and distributions trace back to recorded business activity and approved governance rules.

Built for every co-op type

One operating record, adapted by co-op type.

Worker, producer, consumer, housing, platform, and purchasing co-ops need different workflows. Your workspace shows the modules that fit the type you choose at sign-up.

  • Worker Co-op

    Trades, cleaning, tech, design

  • Producer Co-op

    Farms, artisans, food brands

  • Consumer Co-op

    Grocery, bookstores, buying clubs

  • Housing Co-op

    Resident-owned buildings

  • Platform Co-op

    Rideshare, freelance, delivery

  • Purchasing Co-op

    Group buying, independent retailers

Compare co-op types

OwnFold Convert

Retiring? Consider selling
to the people who built it.

You built a business, and your employees helped make it valuable. OwnFold Convert helps owners plan a structured transition to employee or worker ownership, so the team, the legacy, and the local roots stay intact.

  • Readiness scoring and a step-by-step conversion checklist
  • Seller-financing model with annual debt-service calculations
  • AI-drafted conversion documents for attorney review
  • The operating system is already in place after the transition
Plan a conversion

Example conversion timeline

Every business is different; your advisors set the real schedule.

  1. DiscoveryMonths 1–2

    Readiness assessment, valuation with your advisors, employee interest

  2. StructureMonths 3–4

    Entity design, member classes, governance rules, financing terms

  3. LegalMonths 5–6

    Operating and member agreements reviewed by counsel, board formation

  4. TransitionMonths 7–8

    Ownership transfer, member onboarding, workspace launch

  5. OperationsOngoing

    Daily business runs on OwnFold, with patronage tied to approved records

Choose your path

Built for the stage you are in.

  • Starting a co-op

    Turn a business idea into an entity, member ledger, bylaws draft, and first governance records.

    Start formation

  • Converting a business

    Model an ownership transition, member classes, seller financing, and readiness milestones.

    Plan a conversion

  • Operating a co-op

    Run votes, track work, invoice customers, manage patronage, and prepare board reports.

    Run operations

Simple, fair pricing

Priced for cooperatives, not corporations.

Start with a 14-day free trial. Unlimited members on Growth Core and above, because co-ops grow by adding owners.

  • Starter Core

    For newly forming co-ops needing legal and equity foundations.

    $119/mo billed annually

    or $149 month to month

    Start free trial: Starter Core

  • Growth Core

    For active operating cooperatives distributing patronage.

    $399/mo billed annually

    or $499 month to month

    Start free trial: Growth Core

  • Pro Core

    For co-ops preparing for or currently raising capital.

    $999/mo billed annually

    or $1,250 month to month

    Contact sales: Pro Core

Running field crews or a larger network?

Operate Core adds work orders, dispatch, inventory, and procurement from $1,199/mo billed annually. Enterprise is priced with our team.

Compare all plans

Keep your life’s work in the hands that built it.
Bring ownership into the fold.

Start building a business that stays owned by its people. Try OwnFold free for 14 days.

Start your free trial Talk to us