Alternative Technologies

We all know about the heroic work of nonprofits that are pushing forward on the critical social issues of our time: everything from urban reforesting to serving people newly entering the workforce. Community care and deeply held values of equity for all people have been guiding principles for Alternative Technologies for over 30 years. And those same values underpin the decision by Jerry Skomer to convert his company, Alternative Technologies, into a worker-owned cooperative.

Skomer, who was executive director of a nonprofit before he started his business, had special insights into the challenges of running a mission-driven organization. He knew firsthand that executive directors had to make strategic decisions about operations, including how to select, set up, and maintain telephones and computer networks. He saw that nonprofit leaders needed a vendor they could trust. That is what he set out to create when he started Alternative Technologies in 1989.

“My idea was to provide a service that would help a large number of nonprofits. The idea was to free them up so they could focus more on their mission,” said Skomer. “A lot of nonprofits have smart people, truly good people, facing really big, intractable social issues. We figured a great way to help them is to take on the headaches that come with telephones, internet service providers, and maintaining a computer network. We’ll take care of the office technology if they would save the world – that was the plan.”

Early on Skomer was selected by organizations like the Sierra Club and Greenpeace to set up phones, voicemail systems and cabling for local area networks. When a contract came through, Skomer worked onsite alongside the crew. Today, Alternative has almost 40 employees (including many from those early days), providing IT planning, helpdesk support, telephone service and cabling.

Skomer is proud of how Alternative Technologies has grown over the years. He is quick to recognize how that growth couldn’t have happened without the dedication and talents of his employees, many of whom come from nonprofit backgrounds and understand the needs of organizations trying to do as much good as they can, often with limited resources. When he determined it was time to create a succession plan for his business, he wanted to take care of the employees who had helped his mission be such a success.

Project Equity is proud to have helped Alternative Technologies transition to employee ownership by becoming a worker cooperative.

How would I want to be treated?

“When I was preparing for retirement, I was trying to determine what I was going to do with the business,” shared Skomer. “We had grown to a staff of almost 40 people. How would I want to be treated if I were them? Why shouldn’t they become owners of what they helped to build? They were responsible for the growth of the organization. It doesn’t feel right to have them report to a new owner who may not have the same values. They should have the opportunity to benefit through ownership.”

When a business owner retires, the company is often sold to an outside buyer, someone who will bring in their own culture and way of doing things. They might want to relocate the business or strip it for parts. Protecting jobs is rarely a priority.

When a business owner sells their company to their employees, however, they entrust their legacy to the people who understand what makes the business tick, who have lasting relationships with its clients, and who have a deep appreciation for all the things that make their culture special. Employee ownership not only gives workers a financial stake in the success they’ve helped to create, but it also protects jobs, keeps businesses intact, and keeps them local.

As Skomer put it, “If you are at all invested in the company you helped to build, it just makes all the sense in the world to turn to an employee-ownership model. It’s a strategy that works for us and can work for millions of others.”