Ownership is not the end: Stewardship, governance, and the long-term protection of community assets

Acquisition creates a governance problem. Whether an asset still serves its purpose in thirty years depends on the institution built around it — its authority, its reserves, its succession, and its capacity to adapt without drifting.

This is the tenth and final paper in the core Community Wealth Infrastructure series. It closes the series with what happens after acquisition: the institutions that must hold an asset across generations.

Part of the Community Wealth Infrastructure Series (Working Paper No. 10), published by IIBD.

Suggested citation: Williams, R., & Dillon, D. (2026). Ownership is not the end: Stewardship, governance, and the long-term protection of community assets (Community Wealth Infrastructure Series, Working Paper No. 10). IIBD.