Interview with Jacey Schnarr, Founder , Butterfly Ethical Gifting, Canada

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CONVERSATION HIGHLIGHTS:

Empowering Ethical Gifting and Social Impact with Jacey Shnarr

In this episode of YouMeWe Amplified Podcast, host Suzanne F. Stevens interviews Jacey Shnarr, the founder of Butterfly Ethical Gifting. They discuss the inception of the business during the pandemic, its mission to elevate workplace engagement through ethical gifts, and its focus on supporting small, diverse, and eco-friendly businesses. Jacey shares her journey from working in the corporate world to becoming a full-time entrepreneur and the social impact of her business, including donating 2% of revenue to charities and working towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The podcast explores the challenges and rewards of running a socially responsible business, with advice for entrepreneurs on making a social impact, the importance of ethical sourcing, and the role of technology in modern gifting. The conversation also delves into Jacey’s personal involvement with mentorship programs and how Butterfly Ethical Gifting advocates for environmental and social responsibilities through its operations.

00:00 Introduction to YouMeWe Amplified Podcast

00:27 The Birth of Butterfly Ethical Gifting

04:03 Journey from Corporate to Entrepreneurship

06:44 The Essence and Impact of Ethical Gifting

08:24 Empowering Small Businesses and Ethical Practices

11:38 Leveraging Technology for Ethical Gifting

14:39 The Ripple Effect of Social Contributions

21:20 Engaging with Small Businesses for a Greater Impact

31:01 Sustaining Social Impact and Future Initiatives

40:54 Final Thoughts and Advice on Social Contribution

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Learn more or buy the book Make Your Contribution Count for you • me • we

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Interview with Jacey Schnarr, Founder , Butterfly Ethical Gifting; Canada

Butterfly's mission is to elevate workplace engagement through ethical gifts, swag, and technology. The company creates a way for corporate clients to spend directly with small, diverse, and eco-friendly businesses. Butterfly is the solution. By taking on contracts, insurance, warehousing, shipping, and managing large projects, Butterfly helps small businesses reach new purchasing opportunities, and big clients source unique and meaningful gifts, rewards, and swag for their workplaces.

United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal(s) addressed:
#5. Gender Equality, #8. Decent Work and Economic Growth, #10. Reduced Inequalities, #11. Sustainable Cities and Communities, #12. Responsible Consumption and Production, #13. Climate Action, #17. Partnerships for the Goals

Social impact:
Butterfly creates items that brands are proud to give. The company also donates 2% of all revenue to charities it loves. The team votes each year and often chooses youth and environmental causes close to their hearts. Butterfly has also pledged to The Upside Foundation of Canada, committing to donate 1% to charity if the company were ever to sell or go public.

Website: https://butterflyethicalgifting.com

Jacey Schnarr, Butterfly Ethical Gifting, Canada

Note: This conversation is transcribed using AI software, which means the transcription is not perfect. Watch the video or listen to the podcast to hear our guest’s wisdom in her own words. If you want to see more interviews like this, please comment below!

To read about difference-makers internationally, check out Suzanne’s book Make Your Contribution Count for You, Me, and We.https://store.youmewe.ca/

[00:00:00] Suzanne F. Stevens: Welcome to YouMeWe. We Amplified Podcast. I’m Suzanne F. Stevens. The pandemic provided a lot of opportunities for many people, but often when you’re doing well, you kind of stick to it. But there was something that happened in the pandemic. A lot of people felt they weren’t getting enough, meaning from their life. And all though, our guests today never quite says it that way.

The Birth of Butterfly Ethical Gifting

[00:00:27] Suzanne F. Stevens: She does say taking this new initiative and launching Butterfly Ethical Gifting into the world has been one of the most rewarding things she’s ever done, because it has a social impact. I love listening to Jacey’s insight. She is a confident and directed person which is key

in changing how the gifting business’s done. As somebody who’s been in the gifting business uh, 35 years ago, it is definitely long overdue.

Enjoy the podcast and I’d love to hear your feedback. ​

Welcome to YouMeWe Amplified podcast where we have conversations with sheIMPACTpreneurs addressing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

[00:01:41] Suzanne F. Stevens: These entrepreneurs are transforming where we live and work with sustainable social development solutions. Each episode has actionable insights into what, why, where, and how to make a social impact so that you’re empowered for you, your organization, and of course, the community. Hello, I’m Suzanne F. Stevens, an international speaker, author, a sheIMPACTpreneur community builder, and a multi award winning IMPACTpreneur.

And yes, of course, your host for YouMeWe Amplified Podcast.

Today, we’re having a conversation with Jacey Shnarr, founder of Butterfly Ethical Gifting. Butterfly’s mission is to elevate workplace engagement through ethical gifts, swag, and technology. They create a way for corporate clients to spend directly with small, diverse, and echo businesses.

I am so excited Folks for this interview, and I’ll tell you why. I used to be in the swag business and to see that there’s ethics in that business is much needed. So welcome Jacey to the show.

[00:02:48] Jacey Schnarr: Hi, thank you so much. I’m so excited to be here and learn and share.

[00:02:53] Suzanne F. Stevens: So what was the catalyst for you to start Butterfly Ethical gifting?

[00:03:00] Jacey Schnarr: Yeah, this is a great question and story. So during COVID, one of my neighborhood friends who has a career in swag, and works for a large American company has a bunch of, enterprise level clients who came to her repeatedly saying we need to support community businesses. And with her role at her company, there was just no offerings in the catalogs that they could do that. So it was her idea, and myself, and another neighborhood friend, the three of us, with our, complementary skill sets, launched a business together. And, interestingly, because of the vacuum, in the environment during COVID and really, these large companies having budgets that weren’t being spent on in person meetings and events and really desperately needing to find ways to connect with employees, we had success, almost from day one. And then that created a lot of momentum, to create the business that we have today.

[00:03:53] Suzanne F. Stevens: Okay, I need to move because you have awesome neighbors. The fact that two neighbors got together, created this business, that’s fantastic.

Journey from Corporate to Entrepreneurship

[00:04:03] Suzanne F. Stevens: So you obviously weren’t working at the time or were you working at the time?

[00:04:08] Jacey Schnarr: I was, I had a long corporate sales career at the time I was with a big pharmaceutical company. and I continued to do that. I continued to do Butterfly off the side of my desk for about 2 years. And then it came time where my 2 co founders, they had opportunities in their careers that they couldn’t say no to, and we were all doing it part time, and I had to make the decision, are we going to close up shop, or am I going to be the one that stays on and continues this, because I knew I couldn’t do full time with my full time, job in pharmaceutical. And I made the decision that if I wanted to get back to pharma, I think that job will always be there. And this might be my one opportunity to take a leap and try to make a go of this on my own.

And it was really nice actually. It was sad to lose them in a lot of ways, but in a lot of ways going on full time and becoming a solopreneur all at once, it gave me a lot of freedom to see the company evolve the way I envisioned it.

[00:05:03] Suzanne F. Stevens: So do you still have those partners?

[00:05:05] Jacey Schnarr: No, they have left. I bought them out. Yeah.

[00:05:08] Suzanne F. Stevens: Okay. All right. That’s what I was hearing. And, I’m going to take the opportunity because I think this is really important as an entrepreneur myself, often when we start businesses, having that security of your pharma income to kind of help elevate. And I don’t know if you ever watched Dragon’s Den or any of those shows, but they say, what, if you’re not all in, then we don’t want to invest in you.

What would be your advice to another entrepreneur who has a dream to do something different to stay with an organization until you get it up and running or go all in and why?

[00:05:50] Jacey Schnarr: Yeah, I mean, my experience of, having the security of my full time job. And again, remember this was a COVID environment where work from home and work life balance and all those things were very different. I was able to do that. and I really needed that, I think for the first couple of years of running my own business. Like you said, for the financial security, all of those things. However. The second I let that go and dove in, like big changes started to happen. So I do agree with both sides of it. And the sooner you can go all in and make that decision, I think you’ll see things change pretty quickly.

[00:06:26] Suzanne F. Stevens: Yeah, that’s a very interesting perspective. They’re both beneficial that can’t grow when your foot is in another place. But you do need some financial security. So whether that’s from a partner, an investor, yourself or whoever that is to get it. So that’s great advice.

The Essence and Impact of Ethical Gifting

[00:06:44] Suzanne F. Stevens: Now, You decided to go with ethical gifting because there was a need and you said you all grew quickly because of that.

But what is ethical gifting?

[00:06:57] Jacey Schnarr: Great. To me, it’s kind of in our tagline. We source everything from small, diverse and eco businesses. So ideally, it’s all three. And we’ve got a bunch of those gold star products that tick all of those boxes that are our favourites. And that’s, a win, win, win. But sometimes it means just sourcing something from a small business instead of the traditional large scale business that you’re sourcing from. Sometimes it means sourcing something that, is sustainable and has better materials or is made locally. it’s less of a carbon footprint. It’s any and all of those things rolled into one and there’s always, a traditional option and a good and a better and a best option.

 It depends on the campaign the corporation is trying to launch, the budget, all of these things. So we just work within those parameters.

[00:07:45] Suzanne F. Stevens: Okay. And it’s interesting leaving the pharmaceutical to focus on small business. That irony is not lost on me because the last time I left my team, I was an entrepreneur, but I left my team behind was during sort of the 2009 financial crisis, 2008 to kind of 10 there. And my last client with multiple training in cross country was pharmaceutical.

It almost killed me and I went, this is not what I signed up for. So I’d rather work with small businesses. And I made that shift. And now you’re working with small businesses.

Empowering Small Businesses and Ethical Practices

[00:08:24] Suzanne F. Stevens: So what was the draw to help spotlight small businesses and what benefit are you providing them in doing that?

[00:08:33] squadcaster-d3ib_1_03-28-2024_154931: Great question. I was a professional salesperson in pharma, but off the side of my desk, I was involved with the DE& I committee, for several years. And the best part of my job was I got to be the Canadian lead for our LGBTQ plus ally program, employee resource group. I also volunteered to lead things like the United Way campaigns and the Days of Service. I was finding a lot of joy in the unpaid labour I was doing in pharma, and I think it finally occurred to me that, maybe there was like a pathway there to do that a little bit more full time and meaningfully. And I think these connections to these types of businesses from these types of groups was always, something that was really meant a lot to me. And, our mission is really to create a pathway for small businesses to sell to Corporate Canada. There’s not an easy way to do that, in gifting and swag, at least. I think we’re getting better at diverse procurement and diversification of supply chain in a lot of areas. But for small businesses that do items in gifting and swag, it’s very difficult to sell to corporate clients because of the, compliance obligations that large companies have around insurance policies and tech privacy and financial security and all of these things.

So because of that, they can’t normally buy directly. So really what we’ve been trying to do is create that connection and be the service provider that links up. We take on. Those compliance issues, we take on those security challenges. We sign the MSAs, which allows them to now reach a lot of small businesses.

I know it’s been meaningful and impactful to some of the businesses that we regularly buy from, because as I said, they are selling to retail normally, and they don’t have that pathway to corporate purchasers.

[00:10:23] Suzanne F. Stevens: Which is phenomenal that you are allowing that pathway. When you say MSAs, meaning

[00:10:30] Jacey Schnarr: Master service agreements. Yeah.

[00:10:32] Track 1: I just want to, for people that may not know what that means. That’s great. So how, in researching you taking all of these, the insurance, the contracts, all of this on, that must be a huge risk for your small business. How do you.

Structure that in a way that it’s not overwhelming and that you’re able to manage it?

[00:10:52] Jacey Schnarr: I mean, I don’t think of it in terms of risk because I’m like a person that believes if your heart’s in the right place, then hopefully that’s what shines through. But I do know from spending many hours completing MSAs, from spending a lot of dollars a year purchasing these insurance policies, from spending many hours researching our data, privacy policies, uploading them, it’s just a lot of time and hassle.

 I don’t really look at it as risk so much, but it’s more just the capacity to be able to take that on. And luckily I have a fabulous team member who loves attention to detail and can manage those things for me because I’m terrible.

[00:11:34] Suzanne F. Stevens: Great. it’s really about who you pick on your team, right?

Leveraging Technology for Ethical Gifting

[00:11:38] Suzanne F. Stevens: Can you tell us a little bit about how technology plays a key role in your business and how you also are ethical with that technology?

[00:11:50] Jacey Schnarr: So traditional swag and gifting companies, have been doing the same thing for a long time. there’s not a lot of technology involved. And when we launched, we were lucky enough to launch with, in a hybrid virtual environment. So we had to get creative with online events, with online selecting of gifts. So we utilize technology to provide the gift of choice, so people can choose a gift out of a bunch that are pre selected. That can be client campaigns at holiday that, are totally white labeled to the corporate brand, things like that. We often create landing pages for pre or post event, QR enabled that people can go to and select something ahead or for a post event activation. And my favorite one is a partnership that, Butterfly has with UnwrapIt. And they’re a fully digital, low waste gifting platform. So they. are B Corp certified and they provide corporations a way to completely white label a gifting experience that can be global because it’s completely digital tailored to their messaging and the recipient can choose a gift from a variety of things that are mostly waste free or low waste and experiential.

It can be tickets, travel, learning like Audible, Masterclass, Spotify, and so on. charitable, pay it forward type gifts as well. And, it’s an, it’s just a new way to experience gifting. And what we do see is often a lot of people, are selecting these pay it forward, especially, clients that are in that top tier who don’t need a lot, they really do like to select and pay gifts forward, trees, meals, and charitable donations.

[00:13:27] Suzanne F. Stevens: Those experiences could be huge, right? It’s like such a great opportunity. I’m a huge advocate being in the social impact space of if you can create those experiences with your colleagues that you are connecting and with diversity, equity, inclusion, it’s the best way to find that commonality with another human being is through contributing together.

It gives you an opportunity to connect and really appreciate differences and learn about those differences and appreciate those differences and acceptance comes with that.

[00:14:00] Jacey Schnarr: I love that. Like we all know the feeling we have when we’ve done a good deed and as a gift giver, what you’re trying to do is make someone feel valued and appreciated and feel good. If you can give them that feeling that they’ve done good, like think about the, emotional connection that creates with you, the giver, or the brand, or the company, I don’t think there’s a better way, like, to create that feeling with the people that you’re trying to appreciate.

[00:14:29] Suzanne F. Stevens: And that’s what, attracting, retaining our colleagues, our members. If we don’t feel appreciated and valued, eventually we will leave.

Yeah.

The Ripple Effect of Social Contributions

[00:14:39] Suzanne F. Stevens: To find perhaps new opportunity or become a small business owner.When you started your small business or shortly after, I believe it was pretty much when you started, you made some bold decisions. And one of those bold decisions was to allocate 2 percent of your revenue, I believe, not your profits.

I believe your revenue goes to charities that you care about. Did you start that right from the beginning or did it come a little later?

[00:15:10] Jacey Schnarr: Yes, we started it from day one, well project one, and I have to say it’s been so grounding for our team and I think it helped us land some of the biggest jobs we’ve ever had. I think it is a differentiator. I think that 2 percent really did help us, It might have been one of the clenching details that helped us get large contracts.

Can you tell us more about that? Because, I speak with small businesses often. Oh, Suzanne, we got to focus on profitability. And I said, I, matter of fact, a few of them this week, I said, Listen to the woman I’m interviewing this week, which was you, by the way, but there are a few others that started their businesses and right out of the gate, they said, I am ensuring that revenue 1%, 2%, 3 percent is going to, charities.

What gave you the confidence to know that you could do that?

[00:16:07] Suzanne F. Stevens: I mean, I think it’s just doing it and figuring it out. But I think when we were planning it, it had to be significant and it had to be meaningful. We often see, 2 percent of proceeds or claims like this. And I mean, it’s great in intention, but what does that actually mean at the end of the year?

 I don’t think often that money makes it anywhere because if a company is unprofitable, then the nothing is going or a project is unprofitable. I’ve seen certain signs even in local businesses, that I love saying, Oh, 10 percent of proceeds from today, or even of sales today is going to a specific charity or something.

And that’s fabulous. But when you think about 2 percent of all revenue for the entire year, that’s like looking at a week almost, right? Isn’t it something like that? Like it’s really meaningful and impactful. And I just love the idea of knowing that no matter what happens, we’re going to do it.

And for our team, we book a meeting and we celebrate what that amount is. And we all come with a charity that we want to support and we either vote. And if we can’t decide, then we all pick one. We all get a say. And I think that’s been a really important thing for our team to know that what they care about is going to be rewarded this year as well.

Is there times where some of that 2 percent may go to, you have seven people on your team, correct? You may split that 2%.

[00:17:35] Jacey Schnarr: Oh yeah,

[00:17:35] Suzanne F. Stevens: okay.

[00:17:36] Jacey Schnarr: Last year, I think we, we donated to four different charities and it kind of worked out beautifully because one was, a nature conservancy. One was for, girls mentorship at socioeconomic disadvantages, but it went to career and, education mentoring. One went to a camp for LGBTQ plus youth and the last one,

 it was free mindfulness training for inner city kids and yoga. So it was like a diverse group of organizations that we loved. And what we found is they often revolve around youth and environmental.

[00:18:10] Suzanne F. Stevens: Okay. I love that you’ve done that. And when I had my team, I did the same thing so that they felt ownership. So they felt like they, they were contributing and to something that meant something to them. And it’s one of the best ways to do it. Now, I’m curious, have you in the past with your team gone out and actually contributed where you’ve been hands on with any of those groups or?

Will you do that in the future?

[00:18:38] Jacey Schnarr: We haven’t physically gone and done anything as a team, but, GEM, Girls eMentorship, I actually became a mentor this year after two years of donating because I just loved what they were doing so much. And it’s interesting, it was a marketing consultant that we had a few years ago that brought it forward as a recommendation for one of our charities. We donated a few years and then I’m on their email list and then they’re looking for mentors and now I’m very involved and I’m on their business and entrepreneurship committee and hosting events for the girls and it’s been so rewarding. So yes, we do get involved in that way, but in terms of like getting out there and volunteering on site as a team, not yet.

[00:19:18] Suzanne F Stevens: So let’s explore that a bit. So what have you learned from getting involved with GEM, Girls e Mentorship.

[00:19:25] Jacey Schnarr: Yeah, I mean, I’ve learned so much. My particular mentee this year is phenomenal. And, she is a newcomer to Canada. she wasn’t even born here. She was born, elsewhere. Is amazing in STEM, which I love, being that I have a science degree and had a career in pharma. She said to me at the beginning of the year, my goal is to get into University of Waterloo in Computer Sciences.

And that’s what we worked towards all year. And guess what happened last month? She got into U of W in Computer Sciences. And it’s like, as a young woman, I couldn’t Imagine a brighter future for her and I couldn’t be more proud. Academically, I have very little to offer her. She’s, amazing and very motivated and organized. What she said to me though, being that I do have, a business adjacent to tech and getting more and more tech all the time is she wants to, network and she would love to have access to my connections. And she would love to attend some of the conferences and events that I go to. She would love to hear about job postings or internship opportunities that I hear coming through in my tech network.

And so that’s where I can help her. And I think my job kind of really ends or begins when she finishes high school in the spring and can actually start doing all those things.

 (START)

[00:20:42] Suzanne F. Stevens: I love your transparency. I don’t think it can really help her in this area, but I felt that way before where it’s like, what, you kind of got it all going on. So hopefully I can introduce you to someone. So that’s wonderful.

[00:20:55] Jacey Schnarr: Exactly. Exactly. yeah, but they’ve taught us so much just about, capabilities and the changing mindset. Since I was in high school, things have changed a lot and I’ve learned so much about just the mindset and opinions of young girls today. This group of girls is exactly where we want them to be and they have that can do attitude.

I wish it would spread. I’m hoping they can spread it through their peers.

[00:21:19] Suzanne F. Stevens: Yeah, wonderful.

Engaging with Small Businesses for a Greater Impact

[00:21:20] Suzanne F. Stevens: Now, in regards to assisting small businesses, through butterfly ethical gifting, you’ve obviously given a lot of small businesses, or I would suspect opportunities that they would not have been given. How has that impacted you and impacts your team that you’re lifting those small businesses up?

[00:21:42] Jacey Schnarr: I think the team, just loves the feeling of knowing, that we get to send a PO to one of these businesses, like a large PO that they’re not used to seeing on a daily basis. We did a large holiday campaign with TikTok, and they allowed me to use their name openly in public, but they allowed us to research their platform while they gave us an Excel spreadsheet of small and medium businesses that were using TikTok to grow their business in Canada, and we chose 5 social impact businesses and the PO’s we were able to place with those, businesses were huge, by standards of wholesale standards, because TikTok was gifting, across Canada and the United States. So I think just getting to be part of that and realizing, the difference a big PO can make to these small businesses at holiday, it helps them understand why we’re doing what we’re doing.

[00:22:32] Suzanne F. Stevens: Your suppliers being ethical, and you said earlier on that you work within what your clients are asking for. What are some of the things that you ask your suppliers in order to decide how ethical they actually are. Like, or do you measure certain things or do they report to you on certain things that you can say, this is an ethical business?

[00:22:59] Jacey Schnarr: I love this question because this is getting into the details of what we do and there’s so much greenwashing. More and more, corporates are getting very strict on being certified. Butterfly Ethical Gifting is a certified WeBeBusiness Women Business Enterprise of Canada. Now, Operations like the City of Toronto, if I’m in their diverse supplier portal or a procurement system, I need to have certification before it might have been enough to be self certified. Where my vendors come in is that I’m now multi tier diverse spending because I’m a woman owned business, but all my vendors are also going to be diverse businesses. I don’t require certification of my vendors, but some of my clients might ask for that. I was just at the big WeBank conference, which is the American Sister Organization last week, and many of the large companies there require even certification of tier two vendors. So again, it really depends on the client. I think being certified is amazing for a business of my size, but not realistic for a lot of these small companies. They don’t have a thousand dollars a year to spend on a certification document to prove they are, what they are. And then in terms of greenwashing, that’s a whole other question.

Things can be green, they can be made of upcycled materials, but if they’re made in China under unfair working conditions and then shipped around the world, are they green? I don’t know. We need to ask ourselves these questions. So it’s about The questions I might ask are they made locally? If they’re not, are they, are, is it fair trade? Are the workers paid fairly? B Corp certified is a huge one, but again, that is a pile of work and, not for the faint of heart. Many small businesses can’t do that. So it’s just, I think, understanding that even if something is eco, we still have to ask those same questions about where it’s made, how it’s made, and That would be my best advice there.

[00:24:59] Suzanne F. Stevens: And it’s interesting too, in our sort of tech meeting prior to getting together, we had a robust conversation about organizations thatsay they want to support, be it green organizations, women led, black small businesses, indigenous, and yet may not actually buy from those organizations or publicly do anything and you gave me a great piece of advice and being somebody who is action oriented, I already did it.

[00:25:36] Jacey Schnarr: The advice was,have you asked your following to empower them to ask in the events industry, for example, cause that’s what you and I were talking about, to see if speakers are paid and to see if the gifting is paid for, or was it represented from a woman or underrepresented community? So I took your advice and I thought, that’s a great idea. And I posted it today. Oh, good.

[00:26:07] Suzanne F. Stevens: Why I’m mentioning this at this time is people should be asking these questions, right? When receiving gifts asking, are they ethically sourced?

It brings awareness to larger organizations to select ethically sourced solutions, or are they from small businesses? Are we empowering those small businesses? Because let’s face it, nobody got hurt more than small businesses during the pandemic. And so many of them are so challenged to recover from it.

And, the fact that you’re supporting them is phenomenal. So I love that you’re doing that. And that’s where you decided to place your flag, if you will.

[00:26:51] Jacey Schnarr: Yeah, and I think where we do differentiate ourselves, a lot of the traditional swag promo companies, the things you’re speaking about, these little gifts that corporations give out at trade shows, all these things, they come from these, large promo companies and a lot of them are having these green lines now or sustainable lines, but again Not much of those lines if any is made locally. So we still have to ask ourselves those questions about where they’re made?

What’s the carbon footprint? What type of working conditions are they made under? And source things that are made locally and from those small businesses and if you’re at an event I often now won’t take the swag you don’t need to take it because what happens most of the time anyway, it’s going right in the garbage anyhow. We need to make a statement that we don’t need more cheap pens and cheap plastic tote bags and things like that. And maybe companies will stop buying them.

[00:27:47] Suzanne F. Stevens: Yeah, absolutely. Now, have you engaged your suppliers in any way in regards to a social contribution? For example, inviting them to contribute something, a percentage, or get involved in some of your social initiatives?

[00:28:07] Jacey Schnarr: Not really. It’s a good idea, but I don’t think so. I mean, and some of them were super friendly. I think there would be a great opportunity to collaborate more on something like that.

[00:28:18] Suzanne F. Stevens: Yeah, I do too, because particularly because of the way you’re approaching it. You’re, not only just one thing you’re contributing to, because you want your team to be involved, that they may find something in that they can connect to and want to contribute to as well.

[00:28:35] Jacey Schnarr: That’s a good idea. And that’s a good idea. and it, makes me realize I didn’t mention something that, we do ethical swag and gifting from hundreds of vendors. So we’re not a company that has a warehouse full of things or produce our own line. we do every project custom and curated to the corporate campaign and that way it allows us to go and find and source the right vendor. and so we have lots of things and that’s kind of another way that it sets us apart from traditional swag and promo companies. That like I said, tend to have their own line, their own shelves full of things. They’re just kind of trying to get rid of. Where we can curate it to the small business. And because of that, we do work closely with them.

And I think we have the type of relationship you’re speaking about. Yeah.

[00:29:21] Suzanne F. Stevens: Yeah, I do too, and it even make it that much more sticky. That relationship,

[00:29:26] Jacey Schnarr: Yeah. And a lot of them have their own initiatives. Like just thinking about the Indigenous businesses we work with regularly, most of them have amazing, causes and charities that they’re supporting all the time. We have a bunch of social impact brands that are funding, for example, the Good Tea we love to work with, the greenest T-shirt ever made, it’s manufactured in India under fair working conditions.

It’s organic cotton, biodegradable dyes. All the proceeds go towards a senior’s home and an orphanage. It’s like they have so many amazing causes, many of our brands.

[00:30:01] Suzanne F. Stevens: And that there’s a marketing opportunity, right? Is letting, and I say this not just for you, but for anybody listening is if your suppliers are doing initiatives that are having a social impact, that’s You making that social impact indirectly. You may not be able to, you don’t want to, you’ve got to be careful with that, but saying we do business with people that also do this.

This is how we contribute 2 percent but we also do business with organizations that contribute here and here. I mean, that’s a pretty compelling story and more importantly, at the end of the day because the story’s from a marketing standpoint, but that impact is such a ripple effect because you continue doing business with them.

So I love that.

[00:30:48] Jacey Schnarr: I agree. I agree. I, and I just urge anyone who’s buying corporate T-shirts to spend a few extra dollars and be super proud of the T-shirts you buy and that you put your logo on. Tell that story.

Sustaining Social Impact and Future Initiatives

[00:31:01] Suzanne F. Stevens: What do you see as the sort of three most important initiatives to make sure your social impact is sustainable?

[00:31:11] Jacey Schnarr: You mean for Butterfly ourselves?

[00:31:13] Suzanne F. Stevens: Yes, for yourselves.

[00:31:15] Jacey Schnarr: Oh, I think just, keeping business up and, so that we have the revenue to keep supporting these businesses and our charitable donation. And I think, to your point, the story, making sure we’re doing a good job of telling the story because that is what sets us apart.

All of our amazing small businesses that we work with.

[00:31:35] Suzanne F. Stevens: What would be, do you think, the two most challenging hurdles to sustain that social impact?

[00:31:41] Jacey Schnarr: Our biggest challenge is the large contracts that large businesses have. So we often work with, large enterprise level clients, but on small projects and they want to work with us, but they’ve got big contracts in place whereby they can’t buy certain things from us, pens, notebooks. We have options that are made in Canada and are sustainable and source from small businesses, but they have a contract where they need to source them. So that is the biggest challenge, alongside getting the word out that there are other options. Like I said, this industry, it seems to me, I’m pretty new to it, but it’s been doing the same thing for a long time. There’s a lot of amazing smaller companies out there, creating eco swag, eco promo items and so many small businesses to source gifts from.

We don’t need to go to the traditional vendors we’ve always used.

[00:32:33] Suzanne F. Stevens: Absolutely. As far as the engagement of the team, have you ever received any feedback from your team in regards to impact that you’re collectively making and has that affected why they stay with your company?

[00:32:51] Jacey Schnarr: I think it’s a huge piece of it. Most of our team is part-time, so they do a few things. We’re a lot of mothers who are balancing family life and work life, and we work some crazy hours sometimes. But I think what keeps them wanting to be part of this team is the shared goals and mission we have and seeing that it is actually making an impact and that we’re fun to work with. And that, because we keep it, pretty flexible and, yeah, and knowing that we do, we make a great charitable contribution every year and that we are, we’re engaging with fun vendors that love to work with us. So that’s pretty great part of the job. Learning like the best thing is probably going to some of these, gifting shows and farmer’s markets and talking to people and finding new cool gift items that we can share with our clients.

So we all have a shared passion for that, for sure.

[00:33:48] Suzanne F. Stevens: So what, with a lot of that, what would you say would be the three leadership practices that create this culture that you’ve managed to create?

[00:33:59] Jacey Schnarr: I really think for me, it’s especially, I’m sure, influenced by my previous sales career, but I really like to empower autonomy. And if that means working whenever you want to work, I’m fine with it. obviously, as long as we can communicate in some meaningful way as a team, and it works, I’m all about autonomy and just getting your work done when you want to get your work done.

So I think that’s been really important leadership quality. And I think I’m hoping, my involvement, with GEM and, some of the courses I’ve taken, the continual learning, I’m hoping that, showing them that I’m learning everything new and I’m still trying to learn and volunteer has been impactful as well. And again, I think I only have two.

[00:34:44] Suzanne F. Stevens: What is next for you in regards to your social initiative?

[00:34:48] Jacey Schnarr: That’s a good question.we’ve got a few things that we’re working on. a few new evolutions for Butterfly. A few new, service offerings. one in technology and one in consulting. Keep your eyes and ears open.

[00:35:02] Suzanne F. Stevens: I will. We are going to dive into the 10 in 10. Are you ready? Brace yourself, Jacey. What is one thing you wish you knew prior to engaging down this contribution path?

[00:35:22] Jacey Schnarr: People say they’re all about it, but they act differently sometimes.

[00:35:28] Suzanne F. Stevens: Well said. What’s the worst piece of advice you ever received?

[00:35:35] Jacey Schnarr: I think waiting to do anything is a bad idea. Just start.

[00:35:40] Suzanne F. Stevens: What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

[00:35:45] Jacey Schnarr: You’re way more capable than you think.

[00:35:48] Suzanne F. Stevens: What is one piece of advice you would give to an entrepreneur who wants to have a social impact?

[00:35:56] Jacey Schnarr: It will be the most rewarding piece of entrepreneurship, so absolutely do it.

[00:36:02] Suzanne F. Stevens: What is one recommendation you would suggest to promote a culture of contributing amongst your team?

[00:36:10] Jacey Schnarr: Making sure everyone always has the opportunity to contribute and creating a safe space for everybody to feel heard and be able to put up their hand.

[00:36:20] Suzanne F. Stevens: Now, Jessie, I don’t know if you have any children,

but let’s say you had a daughter. Who is,

have two.

do you have two? Okay. and how old are they?

[00:36:28] Jacey Schnarr: 13 and 15.

[00:36:30] Suzanne F. Stevens: Okay. This will be easy for you. Let’s say they were 10 today. What piece of advice would you give to her?

[00:36:39] Jacey Schnarr: Become a good learner. Who cares about the mark you get on a test? As long as how to learn things, you’ll be just fine.

[00:36:49] Suzanne F. Stevens: Love that. What advice do you wish you received at 10 years old?

[00:36:55] Jacey Schnarr: Oh, a 10? I think I got it. I think I was told you can do whatever you want in life.

[00:37:04] Suzanne F. Stevens: Fabulous. What is one thing you had to do that makes you uncomfortable, but if you didn’t do it, you would not have had the desired impact on your social initiative.

[00:37:15] Jacey Schnarr: Yeah, well, I think just being in the situation where I had to make the decision between my full time career and diving into this, and I chose to dive in and that’s definitely led me to where I am today. Very tough decision.

[00:37:29] Track 1: I bet. Pharma reps make good money.

[00:37:34] Jacey Schnarr: It was a very comfortable work life balance.

Who is the greatest female influence in your life and why?

Oh man, my friends, all of them. I’ve got the most incredible group of friends, all so different and all so wonderful. Many of them I’ve had since I was five years old and they are the best. I’ll treat them as one collective.

[00:38:01] Suzanne F. Stevens: Just in case you listen to the podcast.

[00:38:04] Jacey Schnarr: I could never choose one, honestly. Yeah.

[00:38:08] Suzanne F. Stevens: What three values do you live by?

[00:38:12] Jacey Schnarr: Oh, that’s a tough one. I mean, work hard, be true to your word, reliable, and, be present. Enjoy the moment,

[00:38:25] Suzanne F. Stevens: Besides yours, which beneficiary do you think needs the most investment of time, research, and money? And I would suggest your, beneficiary are diverse small businesses.

[00:38:38] Jacey Schnarr: The environment, big time. I think we talk so much about it. There’s all these initiatives. So much of the onus is put on the individuals. We need to make corporations change some things, and healthcare and hospitals and big business, we need to do a lot better. In terms of environmental causes.

[00:39:01] Suzanne F. Stevens: Is there a book that you would recommend for others to read? What is it and why that book?

[00:39:09] Jacey Schnarr: my gosh, I think my favorite is a thousand Splendid Suns. by Khalid Hussaini. It’s older, but that book has just stayed with me. I loved it because it followed a woman who grew up about the same age as myself in the Middle East. So there was always this parallel of what was I doing when I was that old in her story. And, Thinking about it now in the context of this interview, it probably has had a profound effect on my life.

[00:39:40] Suzanne F. Stevens: Great book.

[00:39:41] Jacey Schnarr: I love that book.

[00:39:42] Suzanne F. Stevens: Great. So where, Jacey, can people get in contact with you.

[00:39:49] Jacey Schnarr: Yeah. Find me on LinkedIn, Jacey Schnarr or Butterfly Ethical Gifting. That’s the best place to find me. And one last thing I want to say that didn’t come up, but I realize it probably should. Butterfly had pledged to the Upside Foundation of Canada, early on in our days as well, about one year in.

 Any company can pledge to the upside. And if you ever sell your company or your company goes public, you donate 1 percent of proceeds or of the sale I should say to charity. And you can pledge the charity at the time of signing and pledging or like we did set, say we were going to wait till that moment and see what charities aligned with our values at that time.

But it’s an amazing organization. If you’re a business owner and you want to connect with like-minded social impact founders, it’s a great community. And I think so many businesses can benefit from a social pledge like that as well.

[00:40:41] Suzanne F. Stevens: Yeah. And interesting enough, I have a screenshot of Upside Foundation right beside your interview. So I’m glad you mentioned it because I was going to ask you about it. Excellent. Thank you for that.

Final Thoughts and Advice on Social Contribution

[00:40:54] Suzanne F. Stevens: Now, do you have any final words of wisdom for our audience regarding making a conscious contribution to society?

[00:41:01] Jacey Schnarr: Yes, I do. We all make a lot of decisions every day, very intentionally, it can be what we’re going to wear, what we’re going to eat, what we’re going to buy. And then sometimes we make decisions off the cuff and irresponsibly, and I do it too. Once in a while, Amazon is delivering at my house also, just like everyone else. But if we try, to make decisions around purchasing, even just a little bit more responsibly, and supporting small local businesses, it really does impact the community.

[00:41:32] Suzanne F. Stevens: Yeah, absolutely. And creates a massive ripple effect and empowers the

[00:41:37] Jacey Schnarr: Butterfly effect!

[00:41:38] Suzanne F. Stevens: absolutely. Thank you, Jacey, so much for sharing your insight, inspiration, and your social impact with us today. And to discover more, Go to sheIMPACTpreneurs Transforming Where We Live and Work with Sustainable Social Solutions.

Visit podcast.youmewe.ca and Jacey will have a page there with her bio, her website, her video, her transcript and audio as well. And we would appreciate if you like, share and subscribe. Until next time, I’m Suzanne F. Stevens and I encourage you to make your contribution count for you, me, we.