Somewhere Out There, A Nonprofit With A Weaker Mission Than Yours Is Raising More Money.
Not Because They Deserve It More. Because They Know Exactly Who Is Supposed To Fund Them, And How To Raise Money From Them.
Most nonprofits don't struggle because of a bad mission.
They struggle because they have no clear fundraising strategy.
They don't know the type of people, businesses, and grantors meant to fund their mission. They don't know where to find them, how to attract them, or the right process to raise money from them.
So they do what feels logical; they reach out to anyone who might listen.
Wrong people. Wrong platforms. Wrong process. And after all that effort, nothing comes in.
The result? Wasted energy. Wasted resources. And a feeling that no matter how hard you push, you're just begging, over-explaining your mission to people who were never meant to fund it in the first place.
And as this continues, something worse starts to happen. You begin to doubt yourself. You begin to wonder if the vision is even viable.
And slowly, quietly, the thought of giving up starts to feel less unthinkable than it once did.
But it doesn't have to go that way.
Fundraising Gets Easier the Moment You Get Strategic About It.
When you know exactly who your ideal funding audience is; the specific type of individuals, businesses, and grantors meant to fund your mission, everything changes.
You stop reaching out to the wrong people and start building a list of prospects you can tap into anytime. You stop over-explaining and start inviting people into a partnership. You stop begging and start attracting.
Fundraising becomes targeted. Funding becomes predictable. And for the first time, you can see a clear path from where you are to where your mission needs to go.
There's more. When your fundraising strategy is built the right way, with your board, something powerful happens.
Your board stops being passive and starts becoming active partners in your fundraising drive. They know who to reach out to. They know how to support. And they show up, because they helped build the plan.
That is what a fundraising strategy actually does when it's done right.
I'm Rooney.
And I've watched the absence of strategy quietly destroy organizations that deserved to survive.
I've sat across from leaders doing genuinely important work who eventually had to close their doors. Not because the mission wasn't worthy.
Because they spent years approaching the wrong people with no clear process, and burned out before they ever found their real funding audience.
I've also watched leaders with no major donors, no big network, and no development budget get clear on their funding audience, build a strategy around them, and raise money consistently in ways that surprised even them.
The difference was never the mission. It was always the strategy.
I've contributed to raising over $5M in unrestricted funding and trained hundreds of founders and executive directors across the US.
And the starting point every single time is the same: get crystal clear on who is supposed to fund you and build a precise process to reach and raise money from them.
"Rooney really knows his stuff. He helped my board rethink how we fundraise and changed how we value ourselves and our services. He provides quick and well-thought-out fundraising plans that are easy to follow, giving us the tools and confidence to implement."
— Laura Anthony, Zero Waste San Diego
Tony was approaching anyone who would listen.
No strategy. No clarity on who was actually supposed to fund his mission. Just a mission he refused to give up on.
Once he got clear on his funding audience and built a strategy around reaching them, everything shifted.
Today, he has a board of professionals actively supporting his fundraising drive, a clear process his team executes consistently, and funding coming in predictably.
"I was running on fumes, trying to fundraise, manage a full-time job, and build a board all by myself. The volunteer fundraising fellowship system changed everything. Not only did we successfully recruit our new board, but we now have volunteers focused on specific areas — from social media to direct fundraising. I now spend less time weekly managing the structure, and the mission finally has momentum. I stopped drowning and started leading. This is the game-changer I always wanted."
— Tony Barnes, Founder, Another Blessed Ministry
This is for you if:
- You are tired of approaching the wrong people with no clear process
- You are ready to get specific about who is meant to fund your mission and how to reach them
- You want your board actively involved in your fundraising drive
- You understand that consistent funding starts with a clear strategy
If you saw yourself in this list, this was built for you.
What the Fundraising Strategy Toolkit Contains
Everything you need to build a complete fundraising strategy — and get your board actively committed to executing it with you.
1. The Fundraising Pre-Planning Form
This helps you collect ideas from your board members and other members of your organization, and get each board member to decide exactly how they want to support your fundraising drive. This one step alone activates your board to take up fundraising responsibility and changes the dynamic between you and your board completely.
2. The Fundraising Strategy Manual
A step-by-step guide to synchronize all collected ideas into one clear, actionable fundraising strategy. You'll know exactly who your ideal funders are, where to find them, how to attract them daily, and the step-by-step process to raise money from each one.
3. The Fundraising Strategy Adoption Facilitation Guide
How to bring your board together, walk them through the strategy, get them to adopt it as a working document, and commit to executing it together so the plan belongs to everyone, not just you.
4. AI Instructions
Detailed instructions that simplify the entire strategy creation process so you can produce a professional, comprehensive fundraising strategy without needing years of fundraising experience to do it.
5. Email Communication Templates
Every email you need to get your board participating throughout the entire process, from the first outreach to the follow-up after the adoption meeting.
6. The Relationship Mapping Form
A structured process to get your board members to identify and recommend people and businesses from their own networks that fit your ideal funding audience, so you walk away with a warm prospect list ready to reach out to immediately.
7. And unlimited access to me as you build your fundraising strategy.
By the end of this process you will have:
- A complete fundraising strategy that identifies your ideal funders, where to find them, how to attract them daily, and the step-by-step process to raise money from them.
- A board that helped build the plan, adopted it, and is ready and eager to execute it with you.
- And a list of warm prospects, people, and businesses recommended by your own board, that you can begin reaching out to immediately.
Two Ways to Build Your Fundraising Strategy
Build It With Rooney
Done-With-You Strategy Session — $1,497
For the leader who wants Rooney in the room. We build your complete fundraising strategy together, identifying your ideal funding audience, mapping your board's network for warm prospects, and getting your board aligned and committed to executing the plan.
You leave the session with a complete strategy, a board ready to act, and a warm prospect list to start working immediately. This includes:
- Funding audience identification, the exact type of individuals, businesses, and grantors meant to fund your mission
- Complete fundraising strategy built together with Rooney
- Board activation, getting your board to own and commit to the strategy
- Relationship mapping, warm prospects identified from your board's network
- Everything in the Toolkit below
I work with a limited number of organizations personally at any given time. If you are considering this, don't wait.
Fundraising Success Toolkit — $197 (Build It Yourself)
The exact tools and templates we use with paid clients, plus AI instructions to ease your execution; all yours to execute at your own pace.
Every step. Every material. Everything you need to create your fundraising strategy, activate your board, recruit and structure a volunteer fundraising team, write and update your fundraising outreach content and materials, and raise money consistently for your organization on your own.
And if you get stuck, direct email access to Rooney is included. You will not be left alone with the material.
"We were unsure about raising money in these modern times for our nonprofit focused on preventing veteran suicide through canine companionship. Rooney gave us valuable fundraising insight and created a simple, organized fundraising plan I and my team can follow to raise money for our mission."
— Linda Floyd, Battle Buddies of Central Oregon
Do not miss this opportunity
Every month without a strategy is another month of approaching the wrong people the wrong way and wondering why nothing is working.
The answer to who is supposed to fund your mission exists. It is specific. It is findable.
And the moment you find it, everything changes. Who you talk to. What you say. How you show up. How consistently the money comes in.
That clarity starts here.
The only thing this cannot do for you is decide that today is the day you stop guessing.
That part is yours.