A friend asked us, gently, whether we were sure about the non-profit thing. He runs a successful café. He worried we were making it harder than it had to be.
A for-profit café has to monetize the room. The hours, the seats, the WiFi, the second refill — every square foot is supposed to be earning. That math is fine, but it shapes the room. It rushes you. It puts a soft-but-real timer on every table.
A non-profit café can let the room be the point. We can stay open the hour after most people have left, because the table being available matters more than turning it. We can pay our staff fairly without depending on tips. We can decide that the books on the shelf are worth the shelf space.
Our funding comes from three places — sales, donations through Anabaptist Border Ministries, and the work of volunteers who give us a season of their time. The cup pays for the cup. Generosity pays for the room. That's most of the difference.