Thanks for considering this! I believe you are considering what I would call “earning to give” as an insurance agent. 80 K has more info on earning to give, if you have not already seen that: https://80000hours.org/articles/earning-to-give/
Building on Gordon’s answer: LLCs are pass-through entities, which means that you can deduct donations up to half your revenue/income. You could consider something more elaborate (e.g. a corporation owned by a nonprofit foundation, like Newman’s Own), but that’s probably unnecessarily complex.
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?
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.
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 objective as I can about their choices.
It’s just a different type of trust. If you shop through Amazon, for instance, you are basically trying to figure out which company to trust and which has the best deal. You don’t have trust in Amazon to provide the best product—they don’t make products (at least for sake of this simplifies example) - you just need to trust that they are showing you all the available options in an objective fashion. This is aided by reviews etc.
So, how I see my role is simply providing a marketplace for people to shop plans. Not to provide the plans per se.
Thanks for considering this! I believe you are considering what I would call “earning to give” as an insurance agent. 80 K has more info on earning to give, if you have not already seen that: https://80000hours.org/articles/earning-to-give/
Building on Gordon’s answer: LLCs are pass-through entities, which means that you can deduct donations up to half your revenue/income. You could consider something more elaborate (e.g. a corporation owned by a nonprofit foundation, like Newman’s Own), but that’s probably unnecessarily complex.
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?
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.
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 objective as I can about their choices.
It’s just a different type of trust. If you shop through Amazon, for instance, you are basically trying to figure out which company to trust and which has the best deal. You don’t have trust in Amazon to provide the best product—they don’t make products (at least for sake of this simplifies example) - you just need to trust that they are showing you all the available options in an objective fashion. This is aided by reviews etc.
So, how I see my role is simply providing a marketplace for people to shop plans. Not to provide the plans per se.