Deciding Between Non-Profit and Standard Company with Hanna Yaritz

Ever struggled to decide between doing what you love and finding the right way to do it? Do you wonder about the differences between a standard company and a nonprofit journey? These questions lie at the heart of our discussion today as we talk about the nuanced decisions that shape career trajectory, and influence our creative endeavors, and aspirations. In this episode, I sit down with Hanna Yaritz, a passionate advocate for philanthropy and impact-driven work. Hanna shares insights into the unique aspects of choosing to work in nonprofit versus for-profit entities, emphasizing the role of mission alignment and personal connection to a cause. We touch base into the concept of conscious capitalism and conscious business, where organizations focus on both profitability and social impact. She emphasizes the importance of finding alignment between personal values, career goals, and the organization's mission. Listen in for insights that inspire change! --- Listen to the podcast here: Deciding Between Non-Profit and Standard Company with Hanna Yaritz Welcome to Action’s Antidotes, your antidote to the mindset that keeps you settling for less. So, perhaps you have your idea or you have your passion, you figured out what you want to bring into the world, and then you get asked a couple of other questions come in, what kind of venue you want to pursue your idea in, and one of the key questions a lot of people ask that has yet to be covered on this particular podcast is the whole standard company versus nonprofit path. A lot of people, whether it is what kind of job you want or what kind of business you want to build, there is a big question, do I want to build it in one format, a standard LLC to start out, or do I want to build a nonprofit? So, here to talk a little bit about the nonprofit space and what that could potentially mean for you, your career, your business, your ideas, your passions, we have Hannah Yaritz, a nonprofit fundraising consultant. --- Hannah, welcome to the program. Thanks, Stephen. I’m really happy to be here. Well, it’s wonderful to have you, it’s wonderful to finally cover this topic as we haven’t covered it quite yet on this particular podcast. Let’s start with your passions, what made you decide that the nonprofit route was the space that you wanted to be in this world? Yeah, thanks. This is one of my favorite questions to answer because, for me, it really is about one of my strongest values, which is being of service to others and I really was inspired, I had the privilege and honor of going to college. I think that that truly is a privilege in our country and I was the first person in my family to do so so there was a lot of weight on my shoulders to be able to --- yeah, to pursue something that was bigger, would provide more opportunities to me and my family. And while I was in college, I volunteered a lot. I got really connected with a number of volunteer groups, learning about social justice, being exposed to different communities, different ways of living, different ways that people are trying to make a difference in our community and uplift others, and so it was through my volunteerism and activism while I was at college that I really started to hone in on what I wanted to pursue as a career. During school, I actually studied television broadcasting and while I loved that, I wanted to do something that really aligned my skill set in broadcasting and media and communications and marketing with volunteerism, with nonprofits, with making a difference so I started to pursue communication opportunities at nonprofit organizations. I thought that would be a really great alignment with my skill set and with my passion. So that’s for me where it really started. So then what brought you to fundraising for nonprofits as opposed to, say, becoming the leader or CEO of a specific nonprofit? Yeah, so fundraising was something I always did on the periphery, whether it was having a bake sale so we could support a certain initiative or raise funds so we could drive down to New Orleans and build houses after Hurricane Katrina or whatever that was during my college experience. I knew that we needed to raise funds to impact a mission but I didn’t really know what that meant or what fundraising truly meant. I didn’t know it was a job. I didn’t know fundraising was a job until I was actually working at a nonprofit where I was doing communication work.Share on X I was actually in AmeriCorps. I was an AmeriCorps VISTA, which is a Volunteer in Service to America. It’s sort of like the Peace Corps but for the United States. And I was doing communications work for a small nonprofit in Milwaukee. And, at that time, my partner, my co-worker, was doing the fundraising side and so we worked really closely together where I would develop materials that she would then share with donors or talk with donors about to inspire their contribution so we could continue to further our impact and our mission at this nonprofit. And it was also during this time that it was the Great Recession and there weren’t a lot of job opportunities for younger, greener, people just started college in the communication space and also nonprofits just weren’t hiring communications professionals or marketing professionals. But I saw that fundraisers were still --- there were still positions available. So, for me, it was a point of job security, wanting to be able to have a job that I knew something about, but that I could also see myself in for the long term. I just made the shift because of that global environment we were in at the time of I just got out of college, now there’s a great recession, what am I going to do? I have all these loans. I need something that’s going to sustain me financially but also sustain my soul and do something that made me feel really good and that was helping nonprofits. Yeah. I mean, that’s the backdrop of the story of an entire generation that I’m all too familiar with as well. I personally get a little bit jealous about how well Gen Z is standing up to their employers really early on and I keep thinking, for us, we had this big, big load of fear that came from that financial collapse when we were in that position that kind of prevented us from really standing up and so you had to kind of, I guess, finesse your way into thinking, okay, here’s something. Now, fundraising, of course, is something that a lot of people don’t love doing, right? Everywhere I go, whenever people talk about things, fundraising is probably like the least popular options of lists of volunteer options, as you probably see, right? So you finessed that into something that you could really enjoy. Is there something about either who you are innately as a person or how you’re thinking about this mentally, how you’re approaching it, that’s making something that most people don’t enjoy doing something that you said is filling your cup? Fundraising is hard. It’s a hard job. And I think that’s why a lot of people are hesitant to jump into it. It’s a sensitive job, particularly in America, where we don’t talk about money, especially personal finances, in a public setting. I’m not sharing with you how much money I make or how much money I’m giving away. But I’m also not sharing that with my best friends necessarily either. It tends to be, and it’s not just me, I’m using myself as the example in this situation, it tends to be a taboo subject in our country. But when it comes to nonprofits, what we’re really asking for are contributions to support the mission. So it’s not about me as an individual, it’s about the organization that I am here to impact. It’s about their mission. The people, the places, the environment, the animals, the spirit or the spiritual environment that they’re creating that they want to impact and further. When it comes to fundraising, you take it outside of yourself and bring it back to that mission, back to that story, where those finances, where those dollars really are going to benefit. That’s why I think there’s sort of something special about fundraising is that it takes a very particular skill set and also a passion and a heart for the mission of the organization that you’re really working to support. So you probably work with a lot of different types of organizations. Are there any organizations that you’ve had to turn down? I don’t want you to name them specifically, where you say, “Okay, sorry, I don’t think I can sell this because I don’t have a passion for this particular mission,” or if you think that the particular organization is not being run well and it’s not a good use of the donors’ money? That’s a really interesting question that you ask. I’m actually in a unique position in my company wherein I am a project manager. I’m really implementing the work that our nonprofit partners have partnered with us on to accomplish so I’m not necessarily involved in direct sales or would not necessarily be the person to let an organization know that there might not be an opportunity for partnership here. What we tend to look at when an organization is seeking funds, they’re asking funds from those who they are most connected to, people who are already giving to their mission. Those are the most likely donors, they’re the most interested already in a certain passion, in a certain program within the organization so that tends to be the folks that are being asked to support and further organizational missions through philanthropy. It’s not necessarily cold outreach or mail solicitations or email solicitations that really draw in the greatest funds for contribution. So when we do meet with donors from a nonprofit perspective, they’re often those who we’ve already begun a relationship with. Those donors have already indicated some sense of involvement and connection back to the mission of the organization. ...