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All of zwcoop's Comments + Replies

Non-Profit Insurance Agency
zwcoop5y1
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I agree with this completely.

The one distinction I would make is that I do not own an insurance 'company'. I run an independent insurance 'agency'. I feel you general point is about trust is valid regardless. The reason I bring it up is not to be argumentative but to highlight the fact that a customer of mine can choose whichever insurance company the want to have their policy with. I'm just the broker. The problem that clients have is knowing which company offers the best deal for their situation. My job is merely to be as object... (read more)

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Non-Profit Insurance Agency
zwcoop5y1
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Another question I had is that if by operating as a non-profit I could retain my profits in the early years and reinvest them in growing the company. Essentially building a trust that long term would be obligated to charity? The downside of donating my profits at this point is frankly I don't have very much profit and it would be much more difficult to grow if I was giving away revenue in the early stage.

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Gordon Seidoh Worley
5y
I don't know the answer to these specific questions, as I've not done it. A 501(c)(3) organization is tax advantaged on its "profits", but only in certain ways and not others, and in my engagement in helping run such orgs it's never come up (or if it has someone else handled it before I learned about it). It's probably best to recruit the advice of a CPA or other expert in this area. My main goal was just to warn you that operating as anything other than an LLC (whether passthrough or not) is more complicated, so it's seriously worth evaluating the options and seeing if you can't get most of what you want by operating your LLC for public benefit so long as all the partners (so probably just you!) are on board with it.
Non-Profit Insurance Agency
zwcoop5y1
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Thanks for the link! Car salesmen are very similar to insurance salesmen in perceived ethics by the public for sure!

I honestly am not sure if the benefits are worthwhile or not. I find it an appealing idea but, as of now, do not understand the logistics well enough to know. I can't tell from the article whether this salesman worked for a particular company or a used car lot or what? Hat's off for his efforts regardless!

What I envision (realistic or not) is the following comparison. If you had a choice of buying any brand of car you want through A... (read more)

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Non-Profit Insurance Agency
zwcoop5y1
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Thanks for the reply! I have read the article and it is super inspirational. What would be the additional benefits of a setup like Newman's Own?

Do you mind if I as your opinion of my thought above that there may be a marketing advantage to being labeled a non-profit considering the widespread distrust of the insurance and financial industries from the view of average consumers?

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Aaron Gertler
5y
I think that trust is contextual. People may distrust some insurance/financial companies, but they trust others. People trust some nonprofits, but distrust others. An insurance company that is set up as a nonprofit for some reason might be thought of as uniquely trustworthy, but might also be thought of as strange. Atypical nonprofits have a bad history of being used as vehicles for tax evasion and money laundering.
Non-Profit Insurance Agency
zwcoop5y2
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Thank you for your reply! I am, as you guessed, operating as an LLC. I wasn't sure if there would be any advantage in trying to obtain 501(c) status or not. I don't know very much about it. My thought was two-fold. 1) That I would reduce my tax and therefore would be able to donate more ... however from what you're saying I can deduct up to 50% of my revenue if it was donated to to charity? 2) That there is would be advantage to growing a business by marketing as a non-profit. The distinction being able to advertise my agency as primarily in... (read more)

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zwcoop
5y
Another question I had is that if by operating as a non-profit I could retain my profits in the early years and reinvest them in growing the company. Essentially building a trust that long term would be obligated to charity? The downside of donating my profits at this point is frankly I don't have very much profit and it would be much more difficult to grow if I was giving away revenue in the early stage.