Michelle Davis has over 15 years experience in major gifts and building fundraising programs for small organizations. She spent 5 years at the National Wildlife Federation as the southeastern major gifts officer where she was the lead fundraiser and successfully implemented regional advisory councils that were later duplicated in other regions. She was later promoted to Manager of Major Gifts supervising a team of 5 officers and implementing a prospect management system to assist with fundraising efforts. Upon relocating to Maine, Michelle worked for the Center for Maine Contemporary Art where she doubled board giving in the first year and increased overall giving by 40%. Currently, she is Director of Major Gifts at Defenders of Wildlife working out of her home office in Maine and focusing on gifts of $10,000 and above for both C3 and C4 activities. Michelle serves on the board of the Maine Planned Giving Council.

Nancy has been a front-line major gifts fund raiser for more than 20 years. She is a highly skilled solicitation strategist who establishes connections between individuals and institutions that lead to significant philanthropic support. A graduate of Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, Nancy began her advancement career by returning to her alma mater and directing the Campaign for Smith. After eight years at Northfield Mount Hermon School, where she was director of external relations, Nancy returned to Smith to undertake the leadership gifts effort for a $350 million campaign.

David Munshine has spent the majority of his career working with nonprofit boards and volunteers, conducting feasibility and planning studies, managing capital campaigns and designing and directing annual funds. As a consultant, director of development and executive director, David has personally solicited gifts of $25,000 to over $1 million. He has also prepared solicitation teams for hundreds of face-to-face major gift requests of individuals, corporations and foundations. David’s experience ranges from the initial, pace-setting gifts of campaigns to end-of-campaign challenge gifts. David is currently a Vice President at Graham-Pelton Consulting. He is a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, the American Society of Association Executives and the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. David is a trustee of the Theta Delta Chi Educational Foundation. He studied at Northeastern University and Harvard University before receiving a bachelor’s degree in public administration from John Jay College of

Ave Vinick is the Director of Development at Good Will-Hinckley, a 118 year old therapeutic residential care facility in Central Maine. In his first year there he has restructured the development office to prepare for a comprehensive $15 million campaign, which is currently in the quiet phase. For the previous ten years, Ave was at Colby College where he was the Senior Major Gift Officer and Director of Major Gifts. While at Colby, Ave was a key part of a successful $150 million campaign. His other fundraising experience includes the United World Colleges in London and volunteer solicitation on behalf of a local community revitalization organization. He came to professional fundraising after a 16 year business career during which he owned and operated a national sales company. Ave’s professional affiliations include CASE and AFP and he holds degrees in Spanish and Music.