The Beacon

In this episode of The Beacon Podcast, Lighthouse Counsel President Jeff Jowdy talks with Jennifer Turner, president and chief executive officer at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center, about keeping donors engaged and giving during a crisis – when your mission isn’t crisis-related. Jennifer shared her experience in leading an arts organization during the pandemic and answers questions including:...

In this episode of The Beacon Podcast, Lighthouse Counsel Senior Consultant Karen Baldwin speaks with Lisa Chmiola, founder and chief fablanthropist at Fablanthropy, about legacy giving. Lisa shares successful strategies and discusses: • What legacy giving is and why it’s important to both the organization and to the donor. • The biggest obstacles an organization faces when it comes to starting or...

In this episode of The Beacon Podcast, host Margaret Gardner speaks with fundraising strategist and mentor Tammy Zonker about transforming fundraising. Tammy explains how sometimes just changing isn’t enough and discusses: • What fundraising that needs transforming look like • How an organization would know when it’s time to make a change • The biggest change nonprofits need to make right now in t...

In this episode of The Beacon Podcast, Lighthouse Counsel President Jeff Jowdy speaks with Glenn Cranfield, president and CEO at the Nashville Rescue Mission, about how nonprofit leaders can get out of their comfort zone and embrace risk – and why they should. Glenn covers topics such as: • Why comfort zones are detrimental to nonprofit leaders and their organizations • The myths that keep nonprof...

In this episode of The Beacon Podcast, Lighthouse Counsel President Jeff Jowdy speaks with Jennifer Filla, president and founder of Aspire Research Group, about the magic that makes for successful major gift fundraising. Jeff and Jenn discuss what Jennifer calls the magic of major gift fundraising and talk about issues including: • What major gift fairy dust is and why it’s something any organizat...

In this episode of The Beacon, Margaret Gardner talks with charity and nonprofit lawyer Jess Birken about the poverty mindset and how it and the Overhead Myth are hurting nonprofits. Jess discusses: • What the poverty mindset is and some of the common symptoms • What the Overhead Myth is • How together they hinder the important work of a nonprofit and, importantly, how nonprofits can get beyond th...

In this episode of The Beacon Podcast, Lighthouse Counsel Senior Consultant Harry Chapman talks with Dr. Bob Fisher, president emeritus of Belmont University in Nashville. Bob shares about his visionary leadership at Belmont, where he earned the affectionate nickname “Bob the Builder” by driving more than $1 billion in new construction, renovations and property acquisitions and a fundraising campa...

In this episode of The Beacon, Margaret Gardner speaks with Celeste Flores, US Communities Lead for Giving Tuesday, about making the most of the annual day of giving, which this year falls on November 29. Celeste explains exactly what Giving Tuesday is and addresses topics including: • How Giving Tuesday originated • A timeline for an effective campaign - from initial planning to the day of and be...

In this episode of The Beacon Podcast, Lighthouse Counsel President Jeff Jowdy speaks with Glenn Cranfied, president and CEO at the Nashville Rescue Mission. Their discussion is about why and how nonprofits must stop competing with one another and work together to increase the impact for the people they serve. Glenn discusses topics including: • The scarcity mindset and how it hurts the ultimate g...

In this episode of The Beacon Podcast, Margaret Gardner talks with Bernard Ross, director of The Management Center, a global management consultancy working in the social impact sector, about behavioral science and its role in fundraising and change making. Bernard shares insight from his book, “Change for Better,” which brings behavioral science out of the academic halls and makes it relevant to p...

In this episode of The Beacon Podcast, Lighthouse Counsel podcast coordinator Margaret Gardner speaks with Pamela Barden, president of PJ Barden Inc., about year-end direct-response fundraising. Pamela warns that the time to think about year-end is, well, now and discusses: • How year-end direct-response fundraising messages differ or should differ from other campaigns. • What a year-end direct-re...

In this episode of The Beacon Podcast, Lighthouse Counsel Communications Manager Yolanda Darville talks with Lighthouse Counsel Senior Consultant Joan Bahner about the journey of African Americans and philanthropy. In their discussion, Yolanda and Joan address issues including: • The impact of African American philanthropy • Advice for nonprofits that want to diversify their donor base • Giving ci...

In this episode of The Beacon Podcast, Margaret Gardner talks with Bernard Ross, director of The Management Center, a global management consultancy working in the social impact sector, about an essential part of fundraising – making the ask. Bernard shares insight from his book, “Making the Ask: The artful science of high-value fundraising, and answers questions including: • What is decision scien...

This edition of The Beacon Podcast is a little different. We interviewed copywriting guru Tom Ahern, but we didn’t talk about Tom’s decades of experience. Instead, we asked Tom to talk about the inimitable Simone Joyaux, his wife of 37 years who passed away in 2021. Simone’s birthday was in July, so we thought we would honor her memory with a discussion about some of her sage advice and, of course...

In this edition of The Beacon Podcast, we talk with Jim Kubacki, author of the book “Choose to Lead: A practical guide for educational leadership.” In his discussion with Lighthouse Counsel Senior Consultant Kathy Gaston, Jim talks about how great leaders become great leaders and their impact on the organizations they lead. He answers questions such as: What are the four parts of leadership and ho...

In this edition of The Beacon Podcast, Lighthouse Counsel Senior Consultant Gail Glasser talks with Steve Ives, president and CEO of the YMCA of Greater Houston, about things nonprofit leaders were able to glean from the chaos that was and, to some degree, still is the coronavirus pandemic. In this discussion, Steve answers questions including: • What are the greatest lessons the pandemic has taug...

In this edition of The Beacon Podcast, Lighthouse Counsel Senior Consultant Kathy Gaston talks with Dick Horton, past president of the Tennessee Golf Foundation, about relationship building and its importance in fundraising. Dick shared his insights on how organizations can harness the power of relationships to keep their fundraising going strong. Among the topics discussed: • Making friends and n...

In this episode of The Beacon Podcast, Lighthouse Counsel President Jeff Jowdy speaks with Jim Eskin, author of the book “10 Simple Fundraising Lessons,” about how to take the guesswork out of fundraising. In this episode, Jim discusses: • Why so many fundraisers seem afraid to ask for money • How they can overcome that fear • 10 simple fundraising lessons that can make fundraisers more successful...

In this episode of The Beacon Podcast, writer and podcast coordinator Margaret Gardner speaks with Chris Lyons, president of Brand United, NonProfit PRO and Book Business about NonProft PRO’s 2021 Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Study. Chris shares insights on the study findings, as well as on peer-to-peer fundraising in general and why it’s an important tool in any organization’s fundraising toolkit. Ch...

In this edition of The Beacon Podcast, Lighthouse Counsel President Jeff Jowdy talks with Gabe Cooper about responsive fundraising and why organizations should treat all of their donors like major donors. And, importantly, how they can. Gabe offers insights on responsive fundraising and answers questions including: • What is responsive fundraising and why is it necessary for nonprofits to engage w...

In this episode of The Beacon Podcast, Lighthouse Counsel Senior Consultant David Snow speaks with Rebecca Moffett, president of Vanguard Charitable, a national donor-advised fund provider and one of the nation's top grant makers. Rebecca shares her insights on an important topic for nonprofits — how to encourage donors to budget for charitable giving, which results in higher amounts of giving, ac...

In this episode of The Beacon Podcast, Lighthouse President Jeff Jowdy talks with Bo Ryles, senior director with the National 4-H Council and an adjunct professor at the University of Georgia. Bo has committed his career to helping young people deveop leadership skills they will use throughout their lives. In this conversation, he answers questions including: • As a leader, what is the importance...

In this episode of The Beacon Podcast, Margaret Gardner speaks with Musicians On Call President and CEO Pete Griffin. Pete talks about the coronavirus pandemic and how the organization connected with staff and donors. Pete answers questions including: • How did Musicians On Call change the way it communicated with donors at the beginning of the pandemic? • How did the organization stay connected w...

In this edition of The Beacon Podcast, Karen Baldwin speaks to David Snow, a senior consultant with Lighthouse Counsel, about endowment development. David discusses the importance of having an endowment for nonprofit organizations and outlines how to establish and manage endowments to ensure financial stability well into the future. David answers questions about endowment development including: •...

In this edition of The Beacon Podcast, Margaret Gardner speaks with Patrice Tanaka, co-founder of Joyful Planet, a consultancy that helps people discover and live their life’s purpose and unleash their greatest success, fulfillment and joy. Patrice discusses life and organizational purpose and how they can work together to create successful nonprofits and nonprofit leaders. Patrice answers questio...