Workshops That Build Capacity, Confidence, and Connection

Pinnacle Philanthropic Advisory Services offers dynamic, tailored workshops for nonprofit leaders, boards, and fundraising teams. Drawing from decades of hands-on experience, Nancy Arnot Taussig equips organizations with the skills, strategies, and mindset needed to maximize philanthropic impact — from the boardroom to the frontline.

Each workshop is customized to your organization's goals, team composition, and stage of development.

Unlocking Board Potential

CEO and Board engagement is one of the most critical factors in a non-profit’s fundraising success. Fully educating, engaging, and training your board to be the most effective is of utmost importance. This workshop is tailored to the unique composition and needs of your board and organization. Your board will learn what it means to be an outstanding and effective board member – discussing roles and responsibilities and illustrating examples of other successful non-profit board members; how to be an ambassador for your organization – using their voice at events, on social media platforms, and at speaking engagements; board engagement tool kits – key talking points and “to dos” how to engage potential donors on your issues.

  • CEO and Senior Management Teams along with their board members understand how to be an effective board member, how to engage their networks, how to use their voices and platforms, and be ambassadors for change.

Creating a Culture of Philanthropy

The Chief Development Officer is often solely tasked with raising the private funding revenue of an organization, but not always with the full engagement of the CEO and Senior Management Team (SMT.) However, for an organization to truly have an internal culture of philanthropy, the entire SMT needs to be involved in fundraising. This workshop will address how to create the internal ambassadors needed for fundraising from your CEO, SMT, Program Champions and Board members.

  • CEO, Senior Management Team, Program Champions, Major Donor teams and CEO/Boards are strategically aligned around the organization’s fundraising needs and understand their roles and responsibilities in helping to raise revenue.

Grit and Resilience

Frontline fundraisers are among some of the hardest working people in an organization. Daily, they are interacting with, and soliciting gifts from, some of the organization’s highest-level donors. They are often confronted with donor resistance and are frequently told “no” which can lead to burnout and low morale. Learning how to cultivate one’s own grit and resilience helps fundraisers to motivate themselves to “go back out there” and are necessary skills for any successful major donor fundraiser.

  • This workshop will teach frontline fundraisers how to develop internal grit and resilience so that they can be successful in their roles and avoid burnout.

Brilliant Basics

Major donor fundraising employs a variety of skills that are fundamental to the job. These include pipeline and portfolio management, donor cycles and moves management; growth strategies, KPIs/metrics; face to face meetings – how to secure meetings and how to get to yes. Brilliant basics need to be employed daily, and all fundraisers can use a “refresh” on these “to dos “of major donor fundraising.

  • Major donor fundraisers will learn (or relearn) the brilliant basics of major donor fundraising – donor cycles and moves management, securing meetings, cultivation, solicitations, stewardship, and reporting.

People, Process, Products – Is Your Organization Ready?

This workshop involves a review of your organization both internally and externally, to assess its readiness for an effective and engaged board and to assess its ability to successfully implement major donor fundraising initiatives or campaigns. Reviewing the various elements that are needed for successful donor fundraising allows the organization to understand best practices and where it needs to “lean in” and make changes or investments to move this work forward.

  • Organizations will understand if they are ready to undertake fundraising initiatives with their board and to fully support major donor fundraising strategies and campaigns.

Emerging Philanthropists

With trillions in wealth transferring to the next generation, and new philanthropists are reshaping the future of giving. This workshop helps them create impact portfolios, define mission statements, and understand the broader funding landscape — from issues to implementers.

  • Philanthropists will understand how to create giving priorities/mission statements and where their philanthropic dollars can have the greatest impact.

Let’s Work Together

Every coaching engagement begins with a conversation. Whether you're seeking one-on-one guidance or team-wide leadership support, we're here to help you lead with purpose and clarity.