While it’s not uncommon for consulting firms to start out with one or two anchor clients, few can claim the splashy debut that launched Ignite Philanthropy in 2013: the $83-million revitalization of Music Hall. And while the company was a new kid on the philanthropic block, founder Scott Provancher was anything but. He’d been president of the Arts & Science Council in Charlotte, North Carolina, after managing fundraising for the Fine Arts Fund (now ArtsWave) and running the Louisville Symphony.
Provancher’s brainchild began as Lewis & Clark Co., a fundraising and advisory firm for large-scale nonprofit initiatives. Its wheelhouse expanded into private foundation management after acquiring Ignite Philanthropy Advisors in 2016 and assuming the Ignite name.
On the fundraising side, Ignite Philanthropy caters to nonprofits embarking on “big idea” fundraising campaigns, such as those for Women Helping Women and Freestore Foodbank. On the private foundation side, the firm advises clients on big-picture donation strategies. “We pulled that full range of services under one roof,” says Provancher.
In 2018, Teresa Hoelle, Provancher’s wife, left her role as chief marketing officer at United Way of Greater Cincinnati to join Ignite Philanthropy as co-owner and lead the firm’s communication and talent management divisions. They acquired data analytics firm Blue Fox in 2022, adding the power of donor data to its arsenal. Using public records, Ignite Philanthropy can identify—and thus efficiently target—what Provancher calls “receptive audiences” who are most likely to support their client’s cause. For the firm’s foundation clients, data analytics help broaden the scope of donation recipients aligning with causes the foundation is passionate about.
“It’s about increasing the flywheel of philanthropic power,” says Provancher. “I think there’s a lot of money sitting on the sidelines that could be put into play if the right opportunities are communicated to the right audiences.”

Between 2020 and 2023, Ignite Philanthropy’s revenue more than doubled from $2.2 million to $4.7 million and its team grew from 12 full-time employees to 31 today. In 2023 alone, the firm raised $70 million for nonprofit clients and helped foundations distribute $16 million to strategically chosen initiatives.
The burgeoning firm year evolved even more this year. Tara Noland was promoted to president and co-owner, bringing years of experience as founding executive director of the GreenLight Fund and demarking Ignite as a majority woman-owned business. Ignite also launched its first satellite venture: a boots-on-the-ground team in Charlotte, seeking to replicate the model and success of the firm’s operations in Cincinnati in a growing city Provancher is familiar with.
That said, he says it will take time to understand the unique players, styles, and even personalities of Charlotte’s current philanthropic culture. It will be challenging to resist the temptation to expand too aggressively, he says, but the “go slow to go fast” strategy has already served the firm well and preludes a hopeful future.
[Illustration by Lou Kiss]