Meet Our 2021 Fundraising Conference Presenters

Join us for our virtual 2021 Fundraising Conference on Tuesday, September 14! Learn about our session presenters below.

NANCY BACON is a teacher, instructional designer, and learning strategist who has worked for over 25 years in the nonprofit sector. She works with nonprofits, associations, and networks to strengthen how nonprofits serve their communities. She has trained thousands of people in-person and online, speaks on learning and leadership, and writes books and blogs on topics at the intersection of learning and nonprofits, available at nancybacon.com. Bacon also co-hosts the Nonprofit Radio Show.

HANNAH BRINSON first joined the YWCA Knoxville in May 2014 and currently serves as the Chief Strategy Officer. A Tennessee native, Brinson has spent her entire career in social services. Since graduating from the University of Tennessee in 2008 with a Master of Science degree in child and family studies, she has worked in child welfare, violence prevention, and grants management. In prior roles, Brinson created and implemented a gender-based violence prevention program for young men, developed and managed grant funding, trained foster parents, and worked with youth in the foster care system. With an undergraduate degree in Women’s Studies from Berea College, she is passionate about the strengths and needs of vulnerable populations.

PAUL COTY III exemplifies modern transformational leadership and innovation in urban ministry. With relentless drive and commitment to helping young people find their higher purpose, Coty currently spearheads the most dramatic expansion of Young Life’s global youth ministry in the world’s largest and most challenging market—New York City. Coty is currently Vice President for Young Life’s Northeast Atlantic Division overseeing ministry from New Jersey to Maine.

For almost two decades, Coty’s professional career has centered on two things: serving Christ and ministering to the needs of kids. From 1996-1998, Coty was employed with the Baltimore City Board of Education as a middle school teacher and also as a local youth pastor. In the summer of 1998, he first experienced the ministry of Young Life, and he has never been the same. In 2000, he moved to the big city passionately committed to reaching more kids in at-risk communities. Working initially as an Area Director until 2006, Coty eventually assumed his current role as Young Life’s Regional Director of NYC. In this capacity, Coty grew the mission’s personnel from two to 35 full-time staff members and increased the organization’s operating budget to $3.2 million annually over a 10-year period. A dynamic team-builder, Coty’s emphasis on personal accountability and transparency continues to foster organizational cohesion and consistency in performance. Coty continues to build a coalition of partners to further expand the ministry’s local impact into all 59 community districts across NYC, increasing both mentorship and support to more than 9,000 New York City kids.

Today, Coty is an ordained pastor and expert advisor in the field of multicultural and urban youth ministry and visioning/strategic planning. He also sits on the board as a Founding Member for the Thrive Collective, is an active committee member for City Serve, and is an inspirational speaker around the nation. Coty presently lives in Long Island, NY with his wife, Shauniqua, and three children, Paul, Jeremiah, and Savannah.

CASEY FOX joined Big Ears as Director of Development in May 2021. Described as “one of the most quietly earth-shattering, subtly luminous festivals the world over” by the Oxford American and “one of the world’s greatest music bashes” by The New York Times, the Big Ears Festival has established itself as one of the most exciting and imaginative cultural gatherings anywhere. Fox is responsible for planning, organizing, and directing the organization’s fundraising activities and VIP festival experiences.

Prior to coming to Big Ears, Fox served as Director of Advancement for the University of Tennessee Libraries and Library Fund Development Manager at the Knox County Public Library system, where she utilized her skills in organizational collaboration, stakeholder outreach, event planning, and community engagement to secure external funding for these institutions. In 2016, she served as managing director for the Knoxville Stomp Festival of Lost Music.

Fox chairs the board of the Knoxville History Project and in 2019 was appointed to the Knoxville Historic Zoning Commission by Mayor Madeline Rogero. She serves as a grant review panelist for the Tennessee Arts Commission and United Way of Greater Knoxville. Before becoming a fundraiser, Casey worked in library public service at the Knox County and New Orleans Public Libraries. She has a master’s degree in library science from the University of Tennessee and a BA in history from Tennessee Technological University.

KATE TRUDELL is a nonprofit executive with over 15 years of experience in fund development, donor cultivation, nonprofit communications strategy, relational coalition-building, and innovative strategic planning. She was the first paid employee of the Community Coalition Against Human Trafficking and under her leadership grew the organization’s revenue by over 6,000%, established East Tennessee’s first direct services programming dedicated to victims of human trafficking, and built a strong network of collaborative partnerships across the region and state. Trudell has a BA in fine art from Furman University and is a graduate of the Consortium for Social Enterprise Effectiveness at the University of Tennessee Haslam College of Business. When Trudell isn’t working to end violence against women and girls or human trafficking, she is drinking too much coffee, listening to Bruce Springsteen, and climbing trees with her husband and children.

NATHAN ZIPPER serves as the Director of Business Development for Williamson, Inc., Williamson County’s Chamber of Commerce and Office of Economic Development. Prior to joining the Williamson, Inc. team, Zipper held leadership roles on the development staff at Vanderbilt University, the United Way of Metropolitan Nashville, and at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. In addition to his experiences in university and nonprofit fundraising, Zipper also served as the sales/consulting lead for nonprofits and universities at Emma Email Marketing. Zipper resides in Franklin, TN with his wife, Katie, and their sons, Knox and Miles.

EQUITY IN PHILANTHROPY PANELISTS – read about them HERE.