Sumthing
Must knows
Impact enterprise – Netherlands- 2021 - Start-up - BCorp
Golden share model since 2023
Sumthing is a platform for nature restoration projects. Companies and consumers can support and keep track of projects through Sumthing..
"For every €6 that you donate, €5 goes to nature. The remaining €1 is invested to realise our mission. And that mission is pretty important to us. Since we find her more important than making profits, we decided to become her caretaker. So we adopted Steward Ownership. And that’s pretty cool."
To ensure they always prioritize purpose before profit, Sumthing is structured as a Steward-owned company, and split economic rights from voting rights. In short, this prevents them from having to make decisions that are only focused on profit maximisation, rather than focussing on mission.
The vast majority of the voting rights are held by the Stewards, who form the board of the Sumthing Foundation. The Golden Share Foundation has one share as well. The Golden Share Foundation accepted this share after a thorough review by an independent 3rd party lawyer. With this share, they hold the veto right to any decision that might harm the purpose and steward ownership structure.
The Sumthing Foundation board currently consists of 5 stewards. In the future, they intend to diversify this board, to get an even more diverse and balanced governance, including restoration experts, employees and perhaps even customers. They've set clear guidelines in articles of association about the composition of the board as a whole
The management team of Sumthing can take any decision that is not included in the Reserved Matters List.
The investors and founders are bought out step by step, making Sumthing entirely ‘its own’. Sumthing Foundation then remains as the sole shareholder.
Read more about the case of Sumthing,
| The information on this page is rooted in the knowledge of We Are Stewards|