MIGHTY ALLY

Too many nonprofits are unseen, unheard, and underfunded.

So Mighty Ally guides nonprofit brands to maximize funding and advance social justice.

From consulting at growth stage to training at early stage to field building at every stage — we guide brands via our Fundable/Findable Framework.™ Including theory of change, strategic plan, positioning strategy, and marketing communications.

We’re a nonprofit hybrid. A catalyst between grantees and grantmakers. With unmatched international perspective for a purposefully small team.

Our 10-year target is to guide 5,000 bold brands — with 50% reaching financial fullness — that advance social justice for 500 million people.

Brand first, funding second.

Founding Partner & CEO

Greenwood Place 

A Big Bang Philanthropy member that provides grantmaking, strategic advice, and outsourced foundation management for philanthropists. Since inception, Greenwood Place families and foundations have given away £80 million — across all issue areas — to more than 100 charity partners.

Advisory Board

The Roddenberry Foundation

The Roddenberry Foundation makes catalytic, timely investments in original ideas and extraordinary people who can change the world. Named as one of the Most Innovative Nonprofits by Fast Company, I serve as an advisor with renowned thought-leaders, academics, activists, journalists, and changemakers who provide strategic guidance in support of TRF core programs.

Advisory Council

Acumen

Acumen is changing the way the world tackles poverty by investing in companies, leaders, and ideas. Acumen has invested more than $128 million in 128 companies across Africa, Latin America, and South Asia. I was selected to complete the year-long leadership development program – the only American among 150 global fellows.

East Africa Fellow

SHONA

SHONA is a startup accelerator and business advisor for entrepreneurs across Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, and Rwanda. SHONA grows high-impact companies that have immense potential to contribute to the growth of East Africa’s emerging market economies. I have coached dozens of entrepreneurs through in-person workshops and ongoing advisory.

Coach

Social Innovation Academy (SINA)

SINA is an education program in Uganda for former orphans, street children, and refugees – training disadvantaged youth from across East Africa to become job creators. SINA is the only worldwide educational program where marginalized youth are in charge of themselves. I’ve mentored young people ranging from Congolese entrepreneurs to Sudanese activists.

Mentor

Impact Hub Network

Impact Hub is an innovation lab, business incubator, and social enterprise community center. Impact Hub has evolved into a rapidly expanding, diverse global network of more than 16,000 members across five continents. I served on the inaugural advisory board as a group of young entrepreneurs worked to bring the international franchise to Nashville, Tennessee.

Board of Advisors

Industrial Strength Marketing

B2B marketing agency with a social purpose to make people, companies, and communities better. Co-producer of Manufacturing Day – the largest workforce development initiative since WWII and a national movement that resulted in Obama's 2014 presidential proclamation. Specializing in brand strategy, sales enablement, analytics, and innovative digital solutions, clients range from underserved SMEs in rural America to global industry icons like ExxonMobil. Two-time winner of Nashville's Best Places to Work and twice an Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Company. 

• Served as Managing Partner of the Leadership Team to oversee Operations – including people, process, and product – while contributing to strategic projects in Sales, Marketing, and Accounts.  
• Innovated around new and existing services and technology platforms to empower both internal teams and client needs alike.
• Built the agency's business and brand strategy consulting practice, working within proprietary methodologies and well-known frameworks such as EOS, the Business Model Canvas, and the venture design toolkit.
• Doubled revenue and tripled profits within two years of joining the decade-old company, while keeping headcount flat. Turned around the struggling firm out of debt into its first-ever three consecutive years of profit, then five straight.

Managing Partner

Rockhouse Partners – acquired by Etix

Brand activation and measurement firm with clients including RadioShack, Formula One, Nissan, Churchill Downs, Ryman Auditorium, Nashville Predators, and the launch of the Nashville Entrepreneur Center (EC). Scaled and acquired within 18 months by Etix – an international ticketing provider with 4,000 clients in 40 countries. Honored with the NEXT Award for Digital Media Startup of the Year.

• Built company from ground up with two co-founders: from strategic plan and Series A funding, to brand launch and subsequent acquisition.
• Created and launched a proprietary impact measurement platform – the Sponsorships Performance Index – to analyze numerous digital and traditional media channels and establish the ROI of global brand investments.
• Named the first CMO of parent company, Etix, while managing ongoing account service, client marketing, and HR/culture functions.

Co-founder & CMO

Ticketmaster

Technology platform and marketing services arm for Ticketmaster – the fourth largest ecommerce company in the world. Echo managed 250 brands, causes, and campaigns including Disney, Keith Urban, Sesame Street Live, Professional Bull Riders, Beyonce, Clorox, and BlackBerry. Portfolio of ecommerce accounts with more than 200,000 monthly subscriptions and four million total consumers.

• Hired to spearhead marketing efforts during Ticketmaster’s acquisition of Echo, impending $2.5 billion merger with Live Nation, and subsequent transition of operations to Los Angeles in Q3 2009.
• Synchronized three departments – Advertising & Promotions, Street Marketing, and Community Management – responsible for more than $2 million in annual ecommerce revenue (30% of company-wide target).
• Performed vital sales strategy function leading to $3.3 million in new account wins and sponsorships in only nine months.

Director of Marketing

𝗧𝗼𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗻𝗼𝗻𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘂𝗻𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗻, 𝘂𝗻𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗱, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗱.

Only one in 1,000 nonprofits will grow beyond a small business. Even in the United States — where philanthropic foundations have more than a trillion dollars in the bank — 88% of nonprofits struggle on less than $500,000 annually.

Many of you feel like you don’t have the time, team, or tools to succeed in fundraising. Making matters tougher, most Executive Directors were not trained in business and leadership.

So you’re not alone in feeling overwhelmed and uncertain.

To break this nonprofit starvation cycle, we must tackle the problem differently. If your income has stalled, stop chasing donations. Gather your leadership team and do this instead:

𝗧𝗼 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝗯𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲.™

Here's the secret. ⤵

Being fundable and findable™ is your brand. Your brand consists of your theory of change, strategic plan, positioning strategy, and marketing communications. And your brand — not just more fundraising — can fix your fundraising.

Brand first, funding second.

𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗺𝗲?

I’m a social entrepreneur too.

I’m an Acumen East Africa Fellow, alongside hundreds of nonprofit peers. I’ve started or turned around four businesses. One that scaled to international acquisition, one that failed, and two solid successes.

Our own organization Mighty Ally is a thriving nonprofit hybrid funded by grantmakers like Cartier Philanthropy. And we’ve implemented this same Fundable/Findable Framework™ with 400 partners in 54 countries so far.

I’m also on the advisory board of two institutional donors: Roddenberry Foundation in the U.S. and Greenwood Place in the UK. 

Finally, this work is my personal purpose. I’m the proud father of three girls from China and Uganda, born into the orphan crisis. I’ve prioritized living and working in three different economic contexts on three continents — growing up in the States (high-income), moving to Uganda (low-income) for four years, and spending the past five years in South Africa, Mauritius, and Malaysia (middle-income).

And I’m motivated by an urgent vision where nobody faces poverty and injustice like my daughters once did.

𝗕𝘂𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸
fundablefindable.org

𝗦𝘂𝗯𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗯𝗲 𝗯𝘆 𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹
kevinlbrown.substack.com

💪🏽💛

© 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙢 "𝙛𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚" 𝙞𝙨 𝙖 𝙧𝙚𝙜𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙘𝙤𝙥𝙮𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙗𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙐𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙎𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙨 𝘾𝙤𝙥𝙮𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙊𝙛𝙛𝙞𝙘𝙚.

The cruelest irony in nonprofits?

Saving money costs you funding.

This headline might be a parody, but it’s painfully accurate. Nonprofit boards routinely deny the very investment that would fund the mission.

I often see this backward logic:

→ Don’t hire the fundraiser until we raise more money.
→ Don’t improve donor comms until we can afford it.
→ Don’t invest in the brand until things are stable.

And then we wonder why the cycle of scarcity never ends.

“The moment a nonprofit says, ‘we don’t have the money for fundraising help,’ they’ve actually proven they need it most,” notes Aaron Stroman.

You can’t cut your way to growth.

And donors can’t fund what they can’t find.

💪🏽💛

Kevin L. Brown

To get nonprofit funding, be fundable & findable.™ 💪🏽💛

30 FREE sources to find donors. ⤵

Because leaders are struggling.

I’ve spoken with hundreds of nonprofits this year on webinars and after keynotes. Nearly everyone asks me about the same challenge: where to look for funders, after becoming fundable and findable?

Start with this list.
↳ Click full screen to download the PDF with links.

Then comment 𝙁𝙐𝙉𝘿𝙄𝙉𝙂 below and I’ll message you my own curated list of 450 top donors for your fundraising.

Be fundable.
And be findable.
Then go get funding.

💪🏽💛

Nonprofit funding opportunities

MacKenzie Scott gave $19B to 2,450 nonprofits.

Here’s how you get her millions:

1️⃣ 𝗕𝗲 𝘀𝗼 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗰𝗮𝗻’𝘁 𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂
“Stop searching for how to get funding from MacKenzie Scott,” says Joanne Sonenshine, who shared these four tips. “There’s no trick to getting noticed aside from doing really great work that’s making a difference and has the potential to scale.”

2️⃣ 𝗟𝗼𝗰𝗸 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁
Track your metrics and communicate your successes, Sonenshine advises. “Make sure this is buttoned up and simple. SUPER simple.”

These first two tips mirror my advice:

𝘉𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦.

Then, you can 𝘣𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦. ⤵

3️⃣ 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗲𝘅𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗿𝘀
Scott gets recommendations from other donors. So “tell your existing donors that large, unrestricted funding would be catalytic,” says Sonenshine.

4️⃣ 𝗥𝗮𝗺𝗽 𝘂𝗽 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀
Use storytelling, duh. “If you have your website up to date with real impact metrics and results, and have a clearly articulated position and strategy, Scott will find you if she wants to,” Sonenshine concludes.

So here lies the not-so-secret secret:

After seeing many of our clients — like Muso, Food4Education, Justice Defenders, and Lwala Community Alliance — collectively win $30 million from her Yield Giving, I can confidently say:

To get MacKenzie money,
be fundable and be findable.

Stop the search. Start the signal.

💪🏽💛

MacKenzie finds the fundable — Kevin L. Brown

Yes, USAID is dead. 

But other governments still give $288 billion.

So “here’s a curated list of alternative funders across key sectors — from global health to democracy, climate resilience, humanitarian aid, and beyond,” says Eliana Summer-Galai.

Go full screen to download the PDF with clickable application links for your #fundraising. Then repost ♻️ to help a leader in need.

When one door closes, open 10 more.

USAID isn’t the only game in town.

💪🏽💛

Big aid fundraising list

Fundraising in the Global South isn’t fair.

Just look at this donor desert. ⤵

95% of philanthropic institutions are based in Europe and North America, and these foundations control 97% of the $1.5 trillion sitting in the bank.

We might know this injustice instinctively.
↳ But the data is shocking.

Like 86,000 foundations in the USA alone vs. 47 in Africa.

It’s “a hierarchy, within which the Global North does the giving, and the Global South mainly does the receiving,” says Ayo Adene. “We are stuck in a premise loop, like a bad dream, in which the only solution is to wake up.”

What do you suggest?
↳ I shared four ideas below.

Because real localization =
local leaders 𝙖𝙣𝙙 local funding.

Repost ♻️ if you agree.

💪🏽💛

Where are the funders?

You are half of your fundraising plan.

The invisible half.

Because nonprofit leaders often hide behind the organizational message — afraid to stand out, speak up, or share lessons learned. Worried that it looks vain to be a thought leader.

But donors fund people they trust, not faceless logos. 

So when your “personal brand” reinforces your organization’s brand, visibility multiplies and funding compounds.

I learned from experience.

We first made MIGHTY ALLY fundable and findable, then we skyrocketed after adding my own thought leadership through writing and speaking.

So here are five quick wins to get started on your personal brand:

1️⃣ Audit your visibility — where are you known and why?

2️⃣ Define one point of view (bold idea) to be remembered for.

3️⃣ Align your personal narrative with your organization’s purpose.

4️⃣ Find out where your funders listen: panels, podcasts, newsletters.

5️⃣ Share your own advice and lessons, not just organizational updates.

My point here:

Anonymous organizations don’t get funded.

Leaders with voices do.

💪🏽💛

Your mission needs a messenger — Kevin L. Brown

The term 𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘭𝘦𝘥 is being exploited.

Stolen from true community-led nonprofits.

And every time others co-opt this buzzword, we hijack the #fundraising spotlight from grassroots leaders who deserve it most.

Consider this. ⤵

“We have international organisations from the Global North, register in-country and then call themselves local,” says Lulu Ng'wanakilala.

“We compete for the same resources meant for local/national organizations, however, they mostly win the funds because they have huge teams and resources from their headquarters who do their fundraising.”

It gets worse.

One funder of African leaders told me they must investigate all those who apply as locally led, but hide expat CEOs on their websites.

Global names, local games.

95% of foundations are based in North America and Europe. And local NGOs directly receive just 0.4% of all international humanitarian assistance.

So #messaging matters.

After working with 400 clients in 54 countries, we at MIGHTY ALLY see four types of international organizations. Check out the comments below, along with suggestions for improvement.

When in doubt:

Just look at your governance.
At the top of your org chart.
At who makes decisions.
Then stop the charade.

Because global branches don’t equal local roots.

💪🏽💛

Local led or locally misled? stop using the wrong language, nonprofit fundraising advice infographic — Kevin L. Brown

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