About Principal Gift Solutions
Boutique by design.Invested in your mission.
A boutique fundraising partner built on decades of leadership and a deeply invested approach to your mission.
Supporting Mission-Driven Organizations
Principal Gift Solutions was built on a simple belief: the strongest counsel comes from knowing an organization deeply. We intentionally partner with a select number of mission-driven clients so our senior team can become fully immersed in each organization's mission, culture, aspirations, and challenges.
We understand the realities of nonprofit leadership because we have lived them—from pursuing ambitious goals with limited resources to managing the daily pressure of wearing many hats. That experience shapes a practical, responsive approach grounded in authentic relationships and designed around each client.
Every PGS engagement is senior-led and hands-on. The people you meet are the people doing the work, serving as trusted thought partners and fundraising counsel. Together, we partner with nonprofit leaders to strengthen their advancement programs, deepen donor relationships, and pursue funding opportunities that expand their mission and impact.
Our Mission
To help organizations achieve meaningful fundraising results today while building the strategy, systems, and capacity needed for lasting success.
Built on Decades of Fundraising Leadership
Principal Gift Solutions grew out of founder and CEO Al Frisone’s decades of experience in fundraising leadership.
Throughout his career, Al has helped secure more than $750 million in philanthropic support for organizations pursuing ambitious visions. He has led advancement programs, worked closely with executives and boards, cultivated transformational gifts, and built the strategies and relationships that move organizations forward.
Like many fundraising leaders, Al occasionally sought outside counsel to strengthen his organization’s work. Too often, however, he received assessments, recommendations, and reports that were not tailored to the organization’s specific needs, along with little support for implementation.
Al believed consulting could be better. In 2024, he founded Principal Gift Solutions to provide organizations with the kind of partnership he had often sought: personalized, practical, and grounded in experience, with consultants who work alongside teams to move the work forward.
Experienced Fundraisers Working Alongside You
Our team is made up of practitioners who understand fundraising because we have done the work ourselves. We know that progress rarely follows a perfectly prepared plan. It requires sound strategy, thoughtful communication, strong relationships, disciplined follow-through, and the ability to adapt when circumstances change.
From major and principal gifts to campaign strategy, fundraising communications, leadership transitions, and organizational development, we meet each client where they are and help them reach what comes next.
Across every engagement, our goal is to help clients build momentum today while strengthening their ability to sustain it long after our work together ends.
Because the best consultants do not simply offer advice. They help you succeed.
Our Approach
Every PGS engagement is built around a single principle: the strongest counsel comes from working alongside an organization, not standing apart from it. We embed senior practitioners into each client team, so the people leading the strategy are the same people doing the work, sitting in the meetings, and adapting the plan as priorities shift.
That approach is shaped by The PGS Way™ — a belief that long-term success and short-term results are not mutually exclusive for mission-focused organizations. Our advancement experts blend strategic vision and long-range planning with an immediate emphasis on Principal Gift execution and outcomes. While we help clients build sustainable systems and capacity, we are equally focused on driving measurable progress today.
This dual-track method means we meet each client where they are, address needs at every level, and provide a tailored path to maximize fundraising success. Whether the priority is a major campaign, a leadership transition, or a refreshed advancement strategy, we help organizations move forward now while strengthening the people, systems, and relationships that will fuel their success long after our work together ends.
Let’s discuss how PGS can help.
Every engagement is senior-led and tailored to your organization’s mission, goals, and stage of growth.