The Situation
When you’re facing a pressing policy issue, the last thing you need is more problems.
The Beacon Center of Tennessee, a nonprofit that empowers Tennesseans to reclaim and protect their freedoms, needed to move quickly on a legislative priority at the state level. Taylor Dawson Justice, Vice President of External Affairs at Beacon, explained the challenge:
“I knew this past session would bring the biggest legislative push of my life so far, so I was looking for another software – one I’d be content using year after year. With everything getting more expensive but our budget staying the same, I knew I’d need a few tricks up my sleeve to make it stretch.”
However, past advocacy vendors didn’t cut it when it came to rapid-response campaigns. With a small team and limited resources, Beacon needed speed and efficiency.
“The nature of working during a legislative session is that things can change extremely fast, and our campaigns need to be adjusted very quickly. When I have a problem, I need action right away – I can’t wait 48 hours.”
The Partnership
Like some of the best relationships, Beacon heard about Speak4 through friends.
After a referral and a conversation over lunch, the fit was evident – and it wasn’t about big, flash-in-the-pan gestures. It was about the little things.
“The first thing that sold me was finding out Speak4 was a mid-size company, and I was actually going to get customer support. They are small enough that I’d be paid attention to, but large enough to have the resources I need.”
That level of support was critical, but it wasn’t the only reason Beacon made the switch. Speak4’s features gave them the ability to do more with less – maximizing their reach without burning through time or budget.
“We knew we’d have a short window for our advocacy push, so tools like Send+ would be great to double an advocate’s impact in just a couple of days.”
For nonprofits, every dollar counts. Speak4 helped Beacon stay lean while still delivering results.
“I’ve worked in nonprofit think tanks my whole career, so I’m careful with money and donor dollars. I saw how tools like Speak4’s Meta Lead Form integration could help us spend our money more efficiently.”
The Results
By focusing on attention to detail and conscientious customer service, Speak4 has built trust with Beacon – laying the foundation for a long-term partnership.
“Onboarding with Speak4 was so much easier than any other has ever been. It was so thorough. I learned how to set everything up, then started running a campaign that afternoon – it was not hard.”
Campaign management became less of a headache:
“What I like most is that the platform dashboard and back end are so intuitive. Nothing is complicated. A lot of what we do with our data is downloading everything and putting it into MailChimp, and your integrations made that easier than any other software I’ve worked with.”
Real-time analytics helped Beacon test campaigns with speed confidence:
“An underrated feature you have — one that a lot of other platforms don’t — is that the moment someone fills out the form, it shows up in the analytics dashboard. When I test something, I’m not waiting two hours for it to appear; it’s there right away. That means I can test and deploy faster, which is so important to me.”
In the end, what Beacon needed most was reliability – and Speak4 delivered.
“It just…works. You have no idea how nice that is.”
Curious if Speak4 can help your organization feel supported in your next advocacy campaign? Let’s talk.