I saw the true power of endurance events in the fall of 2023 as I completed my first 70.3 IronMan. Never having run a 5K, much less swimming or biking beyond my childhood years, I was way out of my league! I’d done some training but as I looked around, it was clear my definition of training differed from those of my fellow competitors. Whoops! Regardless, I’d wanted a massive challenge that pushed my limits, and this checked all the boxes! 

 

To me, the experience on race day represented the best of humanity. Strangers lining the streets, cheering and holding up signs of encouragement. Running side-by-side with participants from across the country, all of us rooting each other on, digging so deep to conquer the mission. Powerful. 

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Then, the feeling when you cross the finish line. The pride and emotion of pushing yourself past the point of what you thought possible. Now you know you are capable of more, and you can never go back. Consider your baseline… raised!

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Flashback to the previous year, severely burnt out at the music event startup I’d been building since college, I’d decided to walk away and bet on myself to explore something that hadn’t left my mind since childhood - giving. Since I was a kid, all I wanted to do was ‘help people’. Growing up in mission based churches, surrounded by a kind community and incredibly generous parents, I actually thought ‘going to work’ was essentially volunteering, that was until I started sharing my life plan with adults who sympathetically told me "kid...you can’t make money helping people". I’ll never forget those words, interesting. Isn’t that the whole point of life, yet I can’t do it for a living?  

As I started exploring the options out there, meeting with various nonprofit leaders and learning more about the sector, I couldn’t believe this was the model. A lot of it appeared backwards and most everyone I was meeting with agreed. It seemed that giving had become stagnant, something people felt was transactional or a thing they’d do ‘later on in life, when they had enough’. This was so different then how I remembered it as a kid - fun, exciting, inspiring. 

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I kept asking the question that I’m sure most of us have asked many times over, “What can I do to help?” Not just what can I do, but what can I do differently than the current efforts I saw, was there another model to test? There always is.

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Crossing the finish line that day gave me an idea. What if this experience could be bigger than me? What is this was the feeling - joy, capability, pride, excitement - that people got when they gave… when they helped end needless suffering for others? What if when I ran through the finish line arch that day, someone else benefited in a major way? Now that would be the ultimate win/win.

 

What would the world look like if we could reimagine giving - showing how inspiring, exciting and fun it is to truly help end needless suffering for others? 

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With that, Chasing Impact was born. A business that exists to reimagine Giving through the power of endurance. We’d host events that inspire collective generosity - bringing people together to do something powerful for themselves but at the forefront, give them the opportunity to make it about someone else, in a real, meaningful way. 

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We’re all looking for ways to help. We’re all looking for ways to better ourselves - become healthier, meet new people, be inspired, do good in the world. Can we create a business that prioritizes these things and gives people the opportunity to believe in better? A philanthropic - capitalistic model if you will. 

It's going to be a journey, so it’s a good thing we love the chase 😜

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Jess Lana Hartman
Founder, Chasing Impact