Michael Cunningham
Associate
Tel: 646.244.0568
Email: mgc@constellationadvancement.com
Specialist Expertise
- International fundraising programs
- Leadership gifts and capital campaign strategies
- Mentoring and coaching
Before establishing Cunningham Consulting, LLC, Michael served for twenty years as the Executive Director of the University of Oxford’s North American Office. His expertise focuses on advising international, regional, and local universities and nonprofits on the creation of enduring philanthropic partnerships that produce transformational gifts. He has also designed and deployed highly successful alumni relations and events strategies, institutional giving programs, staff training and coaching protocols, and ambitious capital campaigns.
His work on behalf of Oxford helped to secure over $1.5 billion in funding from sources in the United States, which included five gifts of over $100 million. Michael also designed and implemented the North American portions of two historic multibillion-dollar capital campaigns and worked with colleagues to create a vibrant alumni relations and events program that was interwoven into Oxford’s fundraising efforts in North America. In addition to his fundraising duties, he worked with the Board of Directors of the 501(c)(3) organization Americans for Oxford, Inc. to coordinate the legal and financial underpinnings of its gift acceptance and acknowledgment system, which administered over 4,000 transactions per year.
Prior to joining Oxford’s office in New York, Michael held fundraising roles at New York University (NYU) and Fordham University and worked in the marketing department of HBO. He received his BA from Fordham University, where he was a member of the speech team that placed sixth in the nation. In 2006, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of University Community Social Services and has volunteered at its soup kitchen since 1987. He and his wife have two adult children and live in Manhattan.
