Clients & Testimonials

Amy has been consulting Nine Lives for 6 months now – she came highly recommended from Humane Society Silicon Valley, and certainly did not disappoint! Amy has helped us set up our development infrastructure, and in addition to helping us directly to raise funds, does a great job of teaching us so we are set up for future success. Her expertise is just invaluable – she’s extremely efficient & organized and draws on a huge wealth of experience and knowledge. I’m learning so much from Amy! She is professional, committed, very passionate … and, importantly, super fun to work with! 

Jo McDermott, Board Co-President, Nine Lives Foundation 

Our relationship with Amy has been very positive. We hope to continue working with her as much as possible. In updating our website, she gave us the ability to accept donations online for the first time. She wrote a grant that secured us $400K to support public health efforts in Modesto, and she has collaborated well with our team. We have great confidence in her abilities.

Perfecto Muñoz, MPH, PhD,
Executive Director, West Modesto Community Collaborative

Amy navigates the relationship between our municipal organization and its supportive foundation with ease. The incredible driver of our capital campaign passed away suddenly shortly after we completed one of two campaign phases. We engaged Amy to provide strategic leadership and direction to our foundation board through this difficult circumstance and are already experiencing the benefits of her expertise in both fundraising and animal welfare. Especially in light of my own transition to a new organization, we’re grateful we’ll have Amy’s support throughout the remainder of this campaign which will result in a new building and critically expanded community programs.

Melanie Sobel,
Director of the Denver Animal Shelter, Former General Manager, Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter

I first met Amy at HSSV and was always impressed with her dedication, personality, and connection and interactions that I saw with donors and people at events. When I heard Amy had started her own consulting company I immediately emailed her about how Wink Consulting could help Community Cycles, the nonprofit I co-founded in 2017. I asked if she had time and space to build a mutually beneficial program that we could afford and see immediate benefits from. Definitely one of the best decisions Community Cycles has made since we started back in 2017! Amy has been integral in setting up marketing plans and strategies, assisting with Board development, and setting up our fundraising and donor strategies and infrastructures. Without her help, guidance, and hard work to build out best practices and infrastructure, I would be worried about our future given the rough early years of the pandemic. When we get to the position of needing more help in her specialty area – large donors – she will be front and center again in helping us make the next series of changes that we will need to go from good to great!

Collin Bruce
Co-Founder and CEO, Community Cycles of California

I’ve worked with Amy Winkleblack for many years when we were both in leadership roles with Humane Society Silicon Valley and have found her to be the consummate Development and Fundraising Professional.  She is currently providing coaching and consulting to our feline rescue- focused non-profit board and is implementing the infrastructure for fundraising and donor relations as well as assisting with next-level strategic planning.   We’ve made significant progress in the time that she’s been helping us!

Jeanne Wu, Board of Directors, Nine Lives Foundation,
Former VP of HR and Volunteer Programs, Humane Society Silicon Valley

Amy is an expert fundraising professional. My team and I have had the pleasure of working with Amy over many years and we were always impressed by her laser focus, her attention to detail, her creativity and her dedication to accomplishing her fundraising strategy. If you’re looking to raise your development game, I’d highly recommend Amy.

Doug Scott, Founder of Tectonic Video

As the head of a development team responsible for fundraising to support an organization with a $12 million annual budget, I depended on Amy for her major gifts fundraising savvy, her leadership skills and her strong collaborative spirit. Deeply respected and valued by her colleagues and our board of directors, Amy reliably maximized results across all of development, including major gifts, fundraising events and through special fundraising initiatives and projects. Amy is a thought-leader, and is an effective team-builder. As a senior director, Amy and her team launched and stewarded innovative new programs, driving new streams of revenue for our organization, and carefully managed complex changes that led to organization-wide impacts. Anyone – individual or organization – that works with Amy can expect a deep commitment, an outstanding attention to detail, transparency, proactive and clear communication, and warmth and approachability. Amy’s super-power is that she influences through gentle persistence, and proactively creates an environment where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Most importantly, Amy will help you or your organization drive sustainable and significant results, and you’ll feel supported and enthusiastic while you’re doing it!

Stephanie Little Ladeira, Chief of Philanthropy Marine Mammal Center (formerly of Humane Society Silicon Valley)

Working with Amy was truly one of the greatest experiences of my consulting career. As an event planning consultant with a background in fund development, I was hired to produce fundraising events, many of which were under Amy’s strategic directive. Her thoughtful approach to donor relations and total focus on organizational mission is, with out a doubt, the reason why these events repeatedly exceeded both guest experience and fundraising expectations.

Bouree Nordin, Retired Founder & Principal, Bouree Nordin Events

From high level strategy to tactical message and channel development, Amy quickly pinpoints optimal paths that ignite an audience’s passion for an organization and turns it into action. Her partnership with me and my team made both groups more effective at engaging both existing and new constituents.

Sandra Mallalieu, VP of Marketing, East Bay SPCA (formerly of Humane Society Silicon Valley)

I have worked with Amy for almost a decade. She brings passion, enthusiasm and professionalism to the nonprofit sector. Every project we have collaborated on has exceeded the goals we set forth in the beginning. Any organization would be lucky to partner with her.

Todd Lehr, Co-Founder, Jump Cutters Video