One Year Strong as an Employee-Owned Trust

1 Year Anniversary as an Employee Ownership Trust: Celebrating a New Chapter

For more than 24 years, LiveOak Living Community has remained committed to building bigger, better lives through an intentional community that supports adults with cognitive disabilities. Through compassionate care, meaningful engagement, and a focus on dignity and independence, LiveOak Living Community has created a place where residents, families, and staff grow together.

In April 2025, we started our journey with an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT). This was a big step for our organization because it marked a shift in how we operate. The idea of ownership by the people who contribute to our mission is huge. Now, one year later, we are proud to celebrate our first anniversary as an employee-owned organization, reflecting on our accomplishments to date and the bright future ahead.

The future of LiveOak Living Community can only be built together. By empowering employees with ownership and responsibility, we strengthen our commitment to residents and families while ensuring the organization’s mission continues for generations.

What an Employee Ownership Trust Means for LiveOak Living Community

An Employee Ownership Trust allows a company to be owned collectively by all employees rather than by external investors or shareholders. This ensures that decisions are made in line with the company's mission and values, not for profit.

For a company like LiveOak Living Community, aligning employees with the organization's success is crucial. Instead of outside ownership setting priorities, the employees who serve residents every day help guide the community's future.

An EOT structure offers several important benefits. It protects the organization’s culture and mission, ensures long-term stability, and allows employees to share in the organization’s success. It also encourages thoughtful decision-making focused on sustainability, stewardship, and service.

For LiveOak Living Community, this approach helps safeguard the intentional community that has supported adults and children with cognitive disabilities for more than two decades. By embracing employee ownership, the organization ensures that the focus remains on people—residents, families, and staff—rather than external financial interests.

Most importantly, the transition to an employee-owned model reinforces our mission of creating a supportive environment where individuals have something to do, somewhere to go, and someone to do it with.

Our First Year as an Employee-Owned Community

The first year as an employee-owned company has been filled with growth, collaboration, and learning. While the structure of employee ownership is important, its real value comes from the culture it creates—one built on responsibility, stewardship, and shared success.

Throughout the year, LiveOak Living Community has worked to develop a system that allows employees to actively participate in shaping the future. This has greatly enhanced engagement across departments within the organization. Employees have also been encouraged to contribute new ideas that benefit both the residents and the staff.

The most significant event that occurred in the first year was the formation of employee committees. The main goal of the employee committees is to encourage cooperation and leadership among the employees. The employee committees have enabled the employees to participate actively in the decision-making process.

Furthermore, LiveOak Living community has continued to enhance opportunities for employee input and participation. This has enabled the organization to encourage the employees to think like owners. By providing team members with opportunities to participate in the organization, LiveOak Living Community continues to foster the alignment between the organization's mission and the people who bring it to life each day.

Yet another fascinating landmark in the first year was the implementation of profit-sharing, which enables employees to benefit from the organization’s success. This achievement exemplifies the sustainability of the employee ownership model and underscores the importance of teamwork within the community.

Employee Committees Strengthening Collaboration and Leadership

Employee ownership works best when employees have a voice. To support this philosophy, LiveOak Living Community launched three internal committees that encourage collaboration, innovation, and leadership development across the organization.

Culture & Engagement Committee

The Culture & Engagement Committee works on improving the workplace culture that makes LiveOak Living Community a meaningful place to work and live. This committee helps the people operations team ensure the company's values are always present in everything they do.

Some of the key initiatives this employee engagement committee undertakes include celebrating employee milestones, fostering ownership engagement, and improving communication. This committee also works to ensure that the intentional community value is always present in everything done at LiveOak Living Community.

The Culture & Engagement Committee helps maintain the kind of environment that defines LiveOak Living Community by creating opportunities for connection.

Growth & Development Committee

The Growth & Development Committee focuses on the long-term sustainability and expansion of the mission at LiveOak Living Community. This group evaluates strategic opportunities that allow the organization to continue serving residents while adapting to future needs.

Areas of focus include strategic growth initiatives, organizational sustainability, and opportunities to expand services for residents. Through thoughtful planning and collaboration, this committee helps ensure that LiveOak Living Community continues to evolve while staying true to its mission.

As an employee-owned organization, planning for the future is a shared responsibility, and this committee plays an important role in guiding that vision.

Training Committee

High-quality care begins with strong training and professional development. The Training Committee was established to ensure staff members receive the resources and support they need to grow professionally while delivering exceptional care.

The committee works to strengthen staff training programs, expand skill development opportunities, and encourage continuing education for team members. By investing in employees, LiveOak Living Community ensures that residents receive consistent, compassionate support from knowledgeable caregivers and staff.

Together, these committees demonstrate how employee ownership encourages participation, leadership, and shared responsibility throughout the organization.

Celebrating Our First Profit-Sharing Milestone

One of the most exciting achievements during LiveOak Living Community’s first year as an employee-owned company was the completion of its first profit-sharing distribution.

Many organizations transitioning to employee ownership wait several years before profit sharing becomes possible. However, this milestone was reached within the first year of the Employee Ownership Trust's formation.

This achievement is a testament to the team’s strength, the sustainability of the organization’s model, and the dedication of its employees every day.

Profit sharing is a simple yet powerful concept: the people who make the organization’s success possible benefit from it.

This approach reinforces the connection among employee engagement, organizational performance, and the community's overall success.

For LiveOak Living Community, profit sharing also highlights the importance of teamwork. Every role—from caregivers and support staff to leadership and administration—contributes to the mission of supporting adults with cognitive disabilities. By sharing in the organization’s success, employees are recognized as true partners in the community’s future.

Building the Future of LiveOak Living Community Together

As LiveOak Living Community celebrates one year as an Employee Ownership Trust, the organization looks forward to a future built on collaboration, compassion, and shared responsibility.

Employee ownership has strengthened the connection between the mission and the people who carry it forward each day. By giving employees a meaningful stake in the organization, LiveOak Living Community ensures that decisions prioritize residents, families, and long-term sustainability.

While much has been accomplished in the first year, this milestone is only the beginning. LiveOak Living Community will continue to expand opportunities for employee engagement, invest in staff development, and strengthen the intentional community that has supported adults with cognitive disabilities for more than two decades.

The mission remains the same as it has been for the past 24 years: something to do, somewhere to go, and someone to do it with. Through employee ownership and a shared commitment to service, LiveOak Living Community is building a stronger, more sustainable future for residents, families, and staff.

Together, LiveOak Living Community will continue creating bigger, better lives for many years to come.