Ownership Investing: Financing the Future of Wealth

In September 2024, Gary Community Ventures, Aspen Institute Financial Security Program, and The Bridgespan Group hosted the second annual ASSEMBLE100. Each year, this convening brings together 100 diverse leaders—investors, entrepreneurs, fund managers, policymakers and thought leaders—united in a shared commitment to addressing specific socioeconomic challenges.

At a time when wealth disparities in the U.S. threaten household stability and dampen economic growth, the 2024 ASSEMBLE100 centered around ownership investing. In this report, we define ownership investing as a set of investment strategies and solutions designed to broaden and accelerate household access to appreciating assets, while simultaneously creating strong, long-term economic value for investors.

To date, ownership investing has tended to operate in silos—homeownership, autoenrollment in Individual Retirement Accounts, employee ownership conversions, fractional shares in community-owned real estate, etc. Our goal at ASSEMBLE100 and in this report is to deepen the collective understanding of investment opportunities and identify a path to grow a holistic ownership movement.

This report is a summary of conversations and learnings from ASSEMBLE100 and was developed in service of building on and building out the great work attendees are already undertaking to increase access to wealth-building opportunities for the millions of low-wealth households who need more and better chances to thrive.

For those who are curious about ownership investing, ready to take action, or already have an investment portfolio rooted in conviction around this topic, we hope this resource propels your individual work as well as the larger movement.

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Acknowledgements

This report was originally published on the Gary Community Ventures website. We’re grateful to the 100+ investors, entrepreneurs, practitioners and advocates who gave their time and knowledge to the ASSEMBLE100 platform in service of stoking this growing Ownership Investing movement.

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