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!
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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.
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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. Click To TweetI 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.
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.
So you’re not selling them on it, you’re just more coordinating their donations and stuff.
So when I think about making a contribution to an organization, I’m going to give first to those organizations that I’m most personally passionate about, that I want to see their mission succeed, that I want them to accomplish whatever goal it is they’re reaching out to me to accomplish in this moment, whether it’s feeding families around the holidays or supporting kids who need school supplies. Those are very specific calls to action that some organizations might take and people generally give in response to those very specific calls to action. When I become a loyal donor, when I get multiple times to various calls to action to that same organization over and over and over again and that, from the nonprofit side, should trigger a response or should initiate a response that they should then follow up with me and thank me and build that relationship, show me more about how my dollars are impacting the work that they do or tell me a story about an individual or a family or an animal or whoever it is that was supported and how my support really helped to make that difference.
I love the whole idea about storytelling because I think whenever anyone does choose to involve themselves with anything, whether it be donating money to a particular organization or even just choosing to take part in someone’s business, be a customer or something, they want to know what’s the impact of what they’re doing. I think it’s a natural human desire, whether you’re pitching a business, whether you’re deciding to try to get people to donate to your cause, whatever you’re trying to do, even if you’re just trying to get someone to show up to your events, which is oftentimes a tough thing. Those stories really help. Is there a good general practice about what someone should try to do when crafting that story, that message to the people that they want to share it with?
I think storytelling is most impactful when you understand the audience that you’re presenting to. So, if your audience is an individual who really loves data and loves knowing the details, then you’ll want your story to be crafted to highlight and reflect the data and the details that that individual is drawn to and inspired by. If your story is being told to that person but it’s more of a story with emotion and a story with not as many details but perhaps broader reaching, that data-oriented person isn’t going to be as drawn or as compelled to your story. So really think about the audience in which you are delivering that story to because I think that is what makes the powerful story is how you can adapt it to the individual in which you are telling that story.
So do you advise your clients to avoid, say, having a one-size-fits-all story that you send to every single person? And we’ve all seen those mailers. Well, we know that that’s like that’s the one story you’re sending every person you’re asking for donations from.
Yes and no. So the one story does work. There’s different approaches. So the one-story message could be a really great marketing tool to draw in different donors, to appeal to a larger audience, to inspire a very specific type of gift or contribution, or maybe just to say thank you to those folks. Whereas something that’s more detailed and tailored would be really beneficial for individual donors that you’re looking to elevate their giving or have more personally meaningful relationships. When I’m working with a client and when my colleagues are working with clients, we’re really looking at how can we tailor the story to best meet the needs and the objectives of the nonprofit client that we’re working and if that client really wants to, as an example, grow their major gift fundraising program, that giving really comes from individuals. That’s what national fundraising data shows us is that individuals are the largest contributors in our country so if we can really tailor our approach to individuals, that’s going to elevate their giving overall and ultimately impact the mission and accomplish the goals that the nonprofit is looking to accomplish and to achieve.
The most impactful donations, it sounds like comes from individuals. What do you think it is about our psyche as human beings that makes us inherently want to give back in some kind of a way versus one could easily spend their whole lives only looking out for themselves and never really actually even say, “Okay, the money I make, it’s my money. Screw everyone else. Deal with your own”?
Such a big question. I think it’s different for everyone, to be totally honest. And the philanthropy, at least how we see it, is uniquely American. Other countries don’t necessarily have the level of philanthropy that the United States does, the level of individuals giving to support nonprofits. That just doesn’t happen globally, largely because of the way that our country and government is structured. It’s very different in America than it is in other places where there’s much more human and social service support, if you will. So the type of philanthropy that we have tends to lend itself to support institutions that in other countries are funded by the government. Here, we get a lot of huge contributions to higher education institutions, to hospital systems, to religious institutions, they continue to receive the bulk of dollars in our country and we can look at the different nonprofit sectors and really connect the number of individuals, foundations, corporations, that are supporting those areas and it’s fascinating information to see and to digest and to understand. But I think getting back to your question of what draws us as individuals to make a difference, I think it’s also largely shaped by our values and our experiences. Different communities tend to give in different ways as well. And if you see people in your family giving, you’re more likely to give, not necessarily to the same causes but just to give in general. So if giving was a philanthropic practice that you witnessed your parents or grandparents doing or volunteerism was a practice. I think about philanthropy more broadly in that it can also mean supporting your families, supporting individuals that you care deeply about, supporting your community members in different ways other than just funding a nonprofit but maybe it’s actually purchasing a meal for someone or inviting someone to stay a night at your house because they don’t have another place to stay.
So, philanthropy extends itself in lots of different ways and capacities and I think that’s really influenced by community, culture, family. Click To TweetThere’s two aspects of it. We talked a little bit about the giving money. Obviously, the other aspect is people giving their time that we haven’t covered quite yet. Is that part of what you do for your organizations? Do you ask people for their time as well or are you strictly on the money side?
We work with volunteers all the time.
So when we work with a nonprofit organization, we often ask, “Who are your volunteer leaders? How do you engage them with philanthropy? Are they engaged with philanthropy? What does philanthropy mean to you? What does it mean to them? Are there ways that we can identify their unique skill sets or experiences and elevate them within the organization or within sort of the scope of work to really benefit the cause that we’re trying to raise funds for?” So I think it can be a really special way to bring in new volunteer leaders to elevate those volunteers who maybe haven’t gotten to a point where they are on a board, as an example, but the fundraising campaign could be a really unique way to engage them more fully in the mission of the organization.
And then they feel more of a shared mission. I think I remember reading about this a long time ago, you ask someone to do something, some will comply, some won’t, but then as you move up to people who actually feel like, okay, they’re contributing, and then you move further up, on the top of that ladder, I don’t remember all the steps but one of them was like shared mission and the idea that once you feel like you are part of it. It’s the same thing companies are trying to do with their employees to various levels of success or not success is like do you really feel personally committed, personally attached to the mission that this is or you just saying, “All right, you need me to buy Girl Scout cookies, I’ll buy two boxes,” or something like that.
That’s one of the unique aspect where you mentioned early on why might someone choose to work in a nonprofit versus a for-profit entity, and the mission, I think, is the reason, because you’re drawn to that value, that shared alignment, something that you are called to, tugs at your heartstrings, I’m using all of these analogies, but really it’s a hard emotion to describe. You feel so connected to that cause that you want to invest 40-plus hours of your week to working there and then probably donating and probably also volunteering beyond your salaried time to benefit that organization and that mission and there’s something really, really powerful about that.
Now, recently, there’s been a movement to try to kind of hybridize the two worlds, whether you call it conscious capitalism, conscious business, where people are saying, “Okay, you can still have a for-profit organization but you’re really focused on the mission as well as some of the other attributes,” such as taking good care of your employees, taking good care of your vendors, being good to, a positive influence on whatever nature, community around you. Do you think people who go into this area, form of business like that, are able to still kind of maintain that deep connection to their mission?
I hope so. I mean, isn’t that the goal? I’d like to think yes, and I don’t have a ton of experience in that capacity. I have had the honor and benefit of working with a nonprofit who would be considered a social enterprise. They do have a manufacturing arm to their mission that supports and benefits their mission. I know them so deeply that, yes, that really is, like they are called to do this and they have both the business mindset of, “We need to make a profit so that we can hire more people who goes through our program and are paid and to work on and learn the manufacturing skills so that we can continue to sell more profit,” and so this whole business cycle associated with it, but they also need philanthropy to kind of close the gap, where the manufacturing isn’t the main driver of revenue for that organization. It’s a small organization, it’s not a big one, like you’d think another company like a Toms or Warby Parker or an Athleta that are B Corp organizations, or entities, rather. So, it’s a little bit of a different mindset, I think, but I also feel like similar people are looking for employment opportunities drawn to both of those different types of causes.
And that’s what I’m wondering, for anyone out there listening who’s thinking about whether it be building your own business or employment opportunities, what do you think is the key attributes that determine the kind of person that should consider the nonprofit world as opposed to whether it be a standard job or building a standard company or trying to do this B Corp social enterprise conscious business, whatever you call that, that middle ground?
I think before anyone starts a career search, you really need to think about what are the goals and objectives that you have. Click To Tweet
Certainly, financial aspects are a big part of that when looking for a career, location, all of those sorts of health and benefits and are there different education opportunities, is there an ability to grow within the organization or to learn a new skill, or all of those other things that come with finding a new job or exploring a different career path are really important to identify. Once you’ve honed that in, that’s where I think differentiating between nonprofit and for-profit and sort of that hybrid B Corp really can come into play. Nonprofits, in my experience, tend to draw in people who are very dedicated to the mission, who are really personally passionate, are personally impacted by the work that is being done of the organization overall. Nonprofits, just by their name alone, tend to pay less than other industries, which I think that’s a bigger issue at play, have different opinions about that because it’s really important work, meaningful work that needs to be done in our communities because there is a clear gap, a nonprofit wouldn’t exist if that issue was resolved. So nonprofits are really here to kind of close a gap in for-profit and government services and government offerings. So pay can come into consideration, I think, when it comes to nonprofits, but that passion and that dedication is so important that, often, at least for me and my professional experience, that hasn’t mattered as much because I’ve enjoyed the work. And I did get to a point in my career where, while I enjoyed the work so much, I could no longer afford to live in the community that I was working in. If the economy changes and the rents go up and the nonprofit can’t keep up with their pay or their salaries enough, they can lose employees. And that did happen and that’s unfortunate and that’s an experience that lots of people go through. Granted, for me, this was a number of years ago so it’s okay for me to talk about this now but that did make me pivot back to working in consulting. What I love about consulting is that I can still work with nonprofits every single day. While I am working for a for-profit institution, we only work exclusively with nonprofit organizations. So I have a little bit of both perspective, I have the mission-driven nonprofit side that I get to work with, I don’t get to pick the nonprofits that I’m working with. I have colleagues that select those nonprofits for me and I have the honor and privilege to work with them but I don’t get to choose who my partner is and that’s okay. And then, on the flip side, if I were to work exclusively for a for-profit, a piece of my heart would be missing. I would have to find other ways to give back. I would want to volunteer more than I already do or donate in different ways than I do today. I think my lifestyle would look very different. I don’t know whether that’s good or bad, it just would. It would just look different because I’m so mission oriented and mission driven that if I were to work exclusively for a for-profit company that had no connection to a nonprofit mission, I need to find something else that could bring me back to reality and help others in our community because that’s such a goal of mine.
And I’ve seen this conversation labeled in so many different ways, when people talk about your job versus your vocation, whether you can say, “Okay, this job’s a means to an end but what I was really meant to do was, say, be there with my community, be there with my children,” blah, blah, blah, or on the other side, someone that takes a really relatively lower paying job and then does something on the side to earn money, whether it be through some sort of a side hustle. When it comes to thinking about all these different ways to piece together, “I wanna feel purpose but I also want to make the money I want to make,” does that question of lifestyle, does that question of what does your lifestyle end up being and can you vision yourself enjoying that lifestyle really become an integral part in kind of making that choice?
I think it should. I don’t know that it does for everyone and there’s certainly a privilege in having an opportunity to ask that question too, and I recognize I had that privilege in asking that question when I was kind of making the shift and realizing, “Oh, I’m working at an organization that I can’t afford to work at anymore because I can’t pay my rent,” that was a reality and very much out of my control.
I think lifestyle is really important. Click To TweetWe’re all trying to balance a whole bunch of like, quote-unquote, “human needs,” right? If you have a human need for feeling connected to a mission, and I think this is actually pretty broad, human need, whether it be through family, church, or whether it be through some sort of organization that you volunteer time or donate money to, as well as the human need for community, which I think is also forgotten about in the social media age especially, and then the human need for the basic resources, the bottom of Maslow’s pyramid, which is what money funds, shelter, food, water, clothing, etc., that as you balance all those needs together, you figure out, okay, what lifestyle does this mean as I balance all these needs based on like who you are. If you look at any personality test, I can say as an ENFP, I need interaction with other human beings but I also need variety and to feel I’m pushing against misguided narratives. That’s a big — so kind of understanding that, you know what I mean? Can that really make the difference between, say, okay, I’m going to choose to get meaning out of my job and try to bustle a side hustle to get more money, or am I going to get all my money out of my job, even though it’s soulless or whatever and then find some other endeavor elsewhere in life where I’m going to meet my need to be impactful.
Yeah. I think it’s all of it. I know a few people that are in the career exploration path right now and they’re trying to decide do I stay in the nonprofit space? Do I continue to pursue the higher level position that I am perfectly qualified for but is really hard to get just because of the market that we’re in right now? Or do I pivot to the for-profit because I know I could get a job there, it’s not going to be what I want but it’s going to give me some money and some stability and the health insurance that I need for a period of time, while also maybe looking for the opportunity that they’re really called to do. It just varies and I think it can be a little bit of both and it can also change in your life cycle too, depending on where you’re at with your family or your loved ones or if you want to move or have a new adventure. I think my insights changed as we as humans change and sort of our passion. I know, for me, service is a core value. That will not change. Giving back will not change for me, but how I do that has changed over time, and I imagine will change going forward as well.
I love how you point that out and I think that’s a great thing for anyone taking on any endeavor to realize that nothing is permanent, nothing has to permanent, tell people all the time this is not your grandfather’s work culture where you would join an organization and be there for 50 years or, I don’t think they even worked 50 years back then, you know what I mean, but be there for 40 years, whatever it is, and be in that spot, like you can pivot, you can change, you can decide you need something different, if only we could make finding a new job a little bit easier but that’s a whole separate part of the equation. So when it comes to your work with nonprofits, your inherent human desire to be of service, is there any particular set of causes, at least right now where you are in the snapshot with all the changes, that you’re feeling really passionate about, that you really want to see more people think about and get involved in?
Yeah. Oh, there’s so many good causes right now. This is a very difficult question for me to answer.
Glad I asked a hard one.
I think if I think about myself as an individual, I had the privilege of purchasing a home four years go and through this process, I’ve learned a lot more about home ownership and what really means in America. Women couldn’t get a home, I think it was until 1973. Within the time period that people are alive today. 1973, what? Forty years ago?
Yeah.
Women couldn’t buy a house. That’s bananas to me and so causes that really help people understand wealth and equities in our country are really important because it’s not just women, historically, communities of color or indigenous populations have had land taken from them as America, using that term kind of broadly, but as America was colonized. For me, that sort of land ownership is something I’m really starting to understand a little bit more and I’m trying to figure out who are the organizations that are doing really interesting work in this space, in trying to help people build their own personal wealth, and the reason that I tie this back to land is because wealth in our country, in America, is largely driven by home ownership. Most Americans have their wealth in non-cash assets. It’s not the dollars that I have in my bank, it’s the equity that I have in my house that has my wealth, and while right now the bank does own my house, I didn’t say that outright, it’s still considered an asset of mine. I kind of consider it as my asset.
I assumed you had a three-year balloon mortgage and now you just paid it all off.
I wish, right? Wouldn’t that be a dream. That’s not my experience, but I’m going to be making those mortgage payments consistently for a number of years. So sort of understanding wealth generation and equity is really important because that ultimately does impact philanthropy. If more people in our country were able to build wealth through home ownership or land ownership, there’d be more money to go around for everyone, versus a small number of people that have the wealth as they do today. So that’s one area that I think is particularly interesting and we’re starting to see a really big divide between the uber, uber wealthy in our country and then everyone else. And that can be problematic.
Yeah, I was going to say, not even the top 1 percent, it’s like a percent of a percent.
It is. It’s one-tenth of 1 percent owns 83 percent of the wealth in our country. It’s pretty wild. So, I would like to see more people have more wealth in our country. That’s a personal interest of mine. But I also, thinking hyper locally too, as part of my home ownership process, I’ve been transforming my landscape to be Azoric, more native, wildflower and grass landscape, largely because I live in Colorado and Kentucky bluegrass isn’t meant for Colorado. It’s meant for Kentucky. It was an idea that was caught on in the, I think it was the 1950s when all of the suburbs across America were being built, couple real estate developers said, “This is how American house should look,” and everyone did it and now I’m trying to see that doesn’t actually grow well here. What does grow well here? What is going to benefit my soil, the wildlife that live around me, the bugs, the plants? I’ve got pets, I love being outside, I want to be in a beautiful space and so I want flowers and I want something that’s going to give back to the planet that we live in, or on.
I also want to ask you, this might also be a little tough one here, if someone listening feeling they want to give back, which is to say they have a few hundred dollars, what should someone be looking for in a type of organization to donate to or even if someone wants to give back some time and they want to volunteer because that can actually be a little bit more meaningful, as we discussed before, what should someone be looking for in an organization to know that that organization is going to be responsible with their money and is going to actually be fulfilling or working toward that mission that they really want to actually make an impact on?
Yeah, I think there’s a number of different areas that people can identify reputable charities. That’s how they think most charities in our country are reputable. A couple things. One, people should always look at the organizations that they’re personally passionate about. What are the missions that they’re drawn to, I think, first and foremost? Or explore organizations that you don’t know about, that you’re curious to learn about. I think volunteerism is a great way to start that exploration process. Certainly people can look on websites, that’s the easiest, that’s the first place I would look an organization to really learn how are they talking about themselves. How are they honoring or celebrating the contributions that they received impact their mission? Are they saying thank you to their donors? Are they telling that story of impact in various ways? Are they showing us data in addition to stories? Touch on a number of different audiences who are receiving that information. Are they an organization that’s accessible? Say, accessible in a number of ways but quite literally, do they have accessibility features on their website for people that may have different types of eyesight, things like that. Do they have an audio version of their storytelling so that people can hear their story if they can’t see it? So I think about those things generally. There’s also a couple of functions that I’ll look at on the website, do they make giving easy? If they’re making giving easy, probably a good organization to give to, because they’re receptive to those contributions. There’s an organization called Charity Navigator that will assess the transparency of nonprofit organizations and provide nonprofits with various levels of — they give them a seal, if you will, to show that that organization is fiscally responsible, that they’re transparent with their dollars, that they’re making it easy for people to give to that organization, so that’s another sort of vetting institution, if someone is concerned. I think Charity Navigator is the leading entity for that type of research.
And then, finally, what impact are you hoping to have right now through your specific job at this moment?
At this moment, I am hoping that the skills that I have taught others around fundraising are being utilized to schedule donor visit, to share stories with individuals, and to inspire contributions to further impact the missions of the organizations that I partner with.
That’s amazing and that probably will also help people be more connected to the organizations, because one thing you get a mail and be like, “Alright, I’ll donate $40 plus the $7.48 you suggested to like mail more stamps to more people or whatever,” and it’s another to actually feel a connection, to actually say something like, “I donated $100 to this organization and although that’s not a lot, it helped this child who was in a car wreck receive a replacement limb,” right?
Exactly. Yes. Yeah, we love hearing those stories, and even donating blood, they’ll often tell you who that is going to support. Is that going to support a child in NICU or someone that might have been in a car crash? That’s another way to give back is through your physical body, a blood donation, but a time donation is so important, philanthropic contribution donation is also just as valuable as all of the other ways that people can give.
Well, Hannah, I wish you the best of luck continuing in your mission, and I’d like to thank you so much for joining us today on Action’s Antidotes. Hope you had a good time with the conversation. And I’d also like to thank everyone out there who is listening for tuning in, for hopefully getting inspired by some of the stories and hopefully being inspired to build a better life for yourself.
Thank you so much, Stephen. This was so lovely. You really challenged me to think differently today so I liked that.
I’m glad I asked the hard questions.
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About Hanna Yaritz
Hannah Yaritz is a Senior Vice President with CCS Fundraising. Her professional fundraising experience spans from working with individual donors to extensive capital campaigns across all nonprofit sectors. Hannah has directed campaigns, with goals upwards of $100 million, through strategic planning and execution with an emphasis on board development, major and planned gifts, and building sustainable cultures of philanthropy. When she’s not supporting nonprofit fund development, Hannah can be found transforming her Colorado yard to a xeric wildflower and native grass landscape.
Have a question for Hannah, connect with her on LinkedIn.