What:
A perpetual purpose trust model is a US-origin ownership model, which exists to preserve an organisation’s purpose. The trust has ownership rights and appoints a board of trustees, who are responsible for ensuring the purpose is enacted and advanced. The trust may own land or a single or multiple businesses. Crucially, the trust acts as a mechanism to safeguard the purpose and make sure it is not altered or overridden. Purpose in this context refers to the organisation’s reason for existing – that goes beyond the generation of profit. Profitability is pursued with the aim to serve a wider societal and/or environmental mission, rather than as a purpose within itself.
Examples:
There are not necessarily examples of deep tech ventures operating under perpetual trust models, but there are some relevant examples of businesses operating in adjacent fields. Vernier Science Education is an American company that develops technology and instructional resources for science and STEM education. Since January 2024, they have operated via a Perpetual Purpose Trust model. They stated that this is to ensure their social and charitable ambitions remain core to their operations, their profits are reinvested to serve their employees and wider stakeholders and their social mission is preserved into the future.
Considerations for deep tech:
- PPT model businesses are geared towards long-term benefits rather than short-term growth or profits, which could align with deep tech ventures which typically demand lengthy time-frames. This model could help ease pressure to produce rapid project outputs.
- A potential challenge relates to investor returns. Deep-tech companies are often highly dependent on external investment, but traditional investors may expect to realise returns through an acquisition or IPO. Because a PPT is designed to preserve the company’s purpose and independence, there would need to be alternative routes for investors to receive financial returns, e.g. dividends or structured returns, without giving investors the ability to sell the company or fundamentally change its purpose.
More information:
De Simone, A., Abizadeh, A., Clegg, K. and MacArthur, P. (2025) ‘How Can a Perpetual Purpose Trust Build Community?’, Nonprofit Quarterly, 7 May. Available at: https://nonprofitquarterly.org/how-can-a-perpetual-purpose-trust-build-community/ (Accessed: 7 August 2026).
Everett, J., Hand, M. and Reitman-White, N. (2024) ‘Rethinking Ownership: Putting Purpose at the Center’, Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative Social Impact Review, 2 April. Available at: https://www.sir.advancedleadership.harvard.edu/articles/rethinking-ownership-putting-purpose-at-center (Accessed: 7 August 2026).