Advancing Worker Wealth & Well-Being
Building Economic Alternatives With and for Workers
Obran Institute is a non-profit organization focused on a single and measurable expectation – all workers and their communities thriving – no exceptions. We do this by forging partnerships with philanthropy, anchor institutions, corporations and other changemakers to grow the field of worker ownership and by launching innovative worker well-being programs.
Our Work
Facing the Challenge
Various trends are shaping the ability of workers across the country to thrive:
The decline of our social safety net especially for gig workers
Persistent and rising racial and economic inequality
Business owners retiring leading to acquisitions by private equity or closure
Our Initiatives
Obran Institute contends with these trends by building a new market for employee ownership while also designing innovative worker well-being programs.
Building the Field of Employee Ownership
Employee-owned companies report faster growth, less turnover and greater recession-resilience while building wealth for workers. It's for these reasons that large institutions like Kaiser Permanente and CommonSpirit Health trust us to help them build economic and racial equity into their supply-chain by educating and converting their suppliers into employee owned businesses.
Learn more about our program here.
Economic Mobility and Financial Inclusion
We prototype ways to help workers improve their financial well-being such as financial coaching, debt reduction, lending products, investment advisory, emergency cash, guaranteed income and more.
Worker Well-Being
We prototype ways to advance the well-being of workers across themes such as lifelong learning, caregiving support, housing, leadership development belonging and more. We co-design programs with workers and share learnings with the broader field of changemakers.
Our Team
Obran Institute is led by our team of seasoned health, employee ownership and non-profit professionals.