The ESOP Association wants to hear from you: Would you mind taking a few minutes to tell us about your website experience today? Your feedback is confidential, and will take less than 5 minutes to complete.

Take the Survey
Professionals Forum

Professionals' Forum 2025

Professionals Forum 2025 Logo

Registration Open!

The Professionals' Forum is the only event of its kind: a meeting designed exclusively for high-level professionals who provide technical, financial, and legal assistance to ESOP companies.

Department of Labor Building

The ESOP Association's Model Regulation on Adequate Consideration

The ESOP Association today released a model framework for the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) current rulemaking regarding what is known as the “adequate consideration exemption” for ESOP transactions. 

Wisconsin Chapter 2023

Why Join The ESOP Association?

TEA offers benefits you can’t find anywhere else—like a unique nationwide network of 19 chapters, advocacy tools and support for any ESOP company regardless of size or corporate structure, world-class conferences, and the largest membership with the best networking available.

What is an ESOP?

What is

In the simplest terms, an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) is a retirement plan where the ownership of the company is held in trust for the benefit of the employees of the company.  The Trust buys the company on behalf of the employees and uses the profits of the company to pay off the loan used in the purchase. This means the employees don’t pay out of their wages or income, but gain ownership as a result of their work. Because of this, an ESOP is much more than a retirement plan.

We are the largest employee ownership advocacy organization in the world

We are the largest Employee Ownership advocacy organization in the world

For over 43 years, The ESOP Association has successfully represented the interests of millions of Employee Owners and their companies in Washington, DC and state capitols across the nation.  The ability to form and operate an Employee Stock Ownership Plan is fundamentally rooted in the laws that were passed to allow their existence.  The ESOP Association’s Advocacy on public policy remains one of the most important services provided by the Association to our members.

During the last four decades, The ESOP Association has been called upon to promote new ideas that would make Employee Ownership more accessible and to protect the tax laws that make employee ownership financially and structurally feasible.  You can learn more about this important history of success, and become part of that movement yourself, in our Advocacy section.

Find Your Chapter of The ESOP Association

image/svg+xml Blank US states map California and Nevada Chapter California and Nevada Chapter Florida Chapter Hawaii Chapter Hawaii Chapter Hawaii Chapter Hawaii Chapter Hawaii Chapter Hawaii Chapter Hawaii Chapter Hawaii Chapter Illinois Chapter Indiana Chapter Iowa and Nebraska Chapter Iowa and Nebraska Chapter Kansas and Missouri Chapter Kansas and Missouri Chapter Michigan Chapter Michigan Chapter Mid Atlantic and Carolinas Chapter Mid Atlantic and Carolinas Chapter Mid Atlantic and Carolinas Chapter Mid Atlantic and Carolinas Chapter Mid Atlantic and Carolinas Chapter Mid Atlantic and Carolinas Chapter Mid Atlantic and Carolinas Chapter Mid Atlantic and Carolinas Chapter Mid Atlantic and Carolinas Chapter Mid Atlantic and Carolinas Chapter Mid Atlantic and Carolinas Chapter Mid Atlantic and Carolinas Chapter Mid Atlantic and Carolinas Chapter Mid Atlantic and Carolinas Chapter Mid Atlantic and Carolinas Chapter Minnesota and Dakotas Chapter Minnesota and Dakotas Chapter Minnesota and Dakotas Chapter New England Chapter New England Chapter New England Chapter New England Chapter New England Chapter New England Chapter New England Chapter New England Chapter New England Chapter New England Chapter New England Chapter New England Chapter New England Chapter New England Chapter New York New Jersey Chapter New York New Jersey Chapter New York New Jersey Chapter New York New Jersey Chapter New York New Jersey Chapter New York New Jersey Chapter Northwest Chapter Northwest Chapter Northwest Chapter Northwest Chapter Northwest Chapter Northwest Chapter Northwest Chapter Northwest Chapter Northwest Chapter Northwest Chapter Northwest Chapter Northwest Chapter Northwest Chapter Northwest Chapter Northwest Chapter Northwest Chapter Northwest Chapter Northwest Chapter Northwest Chapter Northwest Chapter Northwest Chapter Northwest Chapter Northwest Chapter Northwest Chapter Northwest Chapter Northwest Chapter Northwest Chapter Northwest Chapter Northwest Chapter Northwest Chapter Northwest Chapter Northwest Chapter Northwest Chapter Northwest Chapter Northwest Chapter Northwest Chapter Northwest Chapter Northwest Chapter Northwest Chapter Northwest Chapter Northwest Chapter Northwest Chapter Ohio and Kentucky Chapter Ohio and Kentucky Chapter Ohio and Kentucky Chapter Ohio and Kentucky Chapter Pennsylvania Delaware Chapter Pennsylvania Delaware Chapter Rocky Mountain Chapter Rocky Mountain Chapter Rocky Mountain Chapter Rocky Mountain Chapter Rocky Mountain Chapter Southeast Chapter Southeast Chapter Southeast Chapter Southeast Chapter Southeast Chapter Southeast Chapter Southeast Chapter Southeast Chapter Southeast Chapter Southeast Chapter Texas Oklahoma Chapter Texas Oklahoma Chapter Wisconsin Chapter Wisconsin Chapter

Click a chapter on the map to the left to load details!

Insights for every employee owner

ESOP Business Succession

ESOP Association Launches New Video Series

The ESOP Association and Employee Ownership Foundation have launched a new video series aimed at shedding light on why companies decide to become employee owned, how they initiate their search for information, and the impacts employee ownership has on a business. 

Pro-ESOP Retirement Legislation In Final Stages

The ESOP Association has been working with Congress during this congressional session on bipartisan retirement security legislation.  That important legislation – which includes provisions that affect every ESOP and employee ownership in general – is being considered in the final days of the current Congress.  If this bill, which was painstaking

SOMETHING FOR EVERY EMPLOYEE OWNER

ESOP Association Offers over 150 local events and 6 national events a year

National Meetings

Gather with fellow employee owners, ESOP company executives, and professional service providers from across the country at one of our national meetings.

The ESOP Association Members have access to all of our membership benefits

Chapter Membership

Join TEA and you are automatically enrolled in your state or regional chapter. Network with your peers and get great educational content at local chapter meetings.

The ESOP Association Digital Workgroups will launch in early 2020!

Digital Networking

Our online communities are your one-stop-shop for connecting with your peers and quickly getting answers to your most pressing questions.

The ESOP Association is the only organization that advocates on behalf of all employee owners.

ESOP Advocacy

Receive materials, training, and tools to help you connect with your legislators and make a powerful impression.

The ESOP Association has many free and members-only resources available to assist current and prospective employee owners.

Resources

Read our newsletter, the ESOP Report, or check out the ESOP Blog. See or latest survey data or get invaluable introductions to key ESOP concepts in our ESOP Briefs.

The ESOP Association has many award categories for outstanding employee owners and employee owned companies.

Awards

Learn from the outstanding companies, owners, and industry professionals through TEA’s array of awards programs.  

Business Solutions for ESOPs

TEAs Workers Comp Plan Saves You Money

As an ESOP Association member, you get exclusive access to a suite of insurance programs designed to provide high quality service while putting money back in your pockets! Why pay too much to an insurer when you can keep that money for your employee owners' ESOP accounts?

We can offer group captive health insurance, workers' comp insurance, and a host of business insurance products—including cyber liability, fiduciary liability, D&O, crime, and employment practices liability.

To see all of the options available to you as a TEA member, just click the button below.