About Ready. Set. Fund!

Funder Readiness for Rural Nonprofits and Local Governments

Ready. Set. Fund! is a funder readiness consultancy based in Cañon City, Colorado. We help rural nonprofits and small local governments across Southern Colorado and the Royal Gorge region get ready before they pursue funding. Grant readiness is part of that work, but grants are only one way communities get funded. We believe successful funding begins long before an application is written. While many organizations focus on finding the next grant, we help them build the strategy, planning, and systems they need to compete with confidence.

Too many small and rural organizations spend valuable time pursuing funding without the foundation funders expect. Plans are outdated or missing. Projects are not fully defined. Data is not organized. The result is rushed applications, tired staff, and missed chances. Ready. Set. Fund! was founded in 2026 to change that. Our mission is simple: help community-rooted organizations become as prepared as possible before they pursue funding.

We do write grants, and we coach teams to write their own. What we do not do is sell promises of awarded grants. We can't guarantee the money, but we can make sure your organization is as prepared, competitive, and fundable as possible when the right opportunity arrives.

Readiness Before Writing
We prepare your organization to compete before a single word of an application is written. Strong funding requests begin with strong planning, not rushed writing.
Honest Expectations
We do not promise grant awards or shortcuts. We help you become as prepared, competitive, and fundable as possible before you pursue funding.
Strategy Meets Project Management
We combine strategic planning with practical project management, helping you organize priorities, define projects, and build the structure funders expect.
Built for Small and Rural Organizations
Our work is designed for nonprofits, local governments, and special districts with limited staff and resources, not large groups with their own grants office.
Local Knowledge and Lasting Relationships
As a Southern Colorado consultancy, we understand the communities we serve. We build trusted, long-term partnerships instead of one-time projects.

Who We Serve

Local Partners Across Southern Colorado

Ready. Set. Fund! was built for organizations that need grant funding but often lack the time, capacity, or preparation to compete successfully. We focus on the groups that keep small communities strong:

Rural Nonprofits
Small Local and Tribal Governments
Special and Public Districts
Organizations Facing Funding Shifts

Lean Teams Without Grant Capacity
Groups Ready to Prepare Before They Apply
Mission-Driven Leaders and Boards
Agencies Across Southern Colorado

Wherever your organization stands today, our goal is the same: to help you build the readiness that turns preparation into real opportunity for the communities you serve.

Mandy Rossi

Owner and Founder

Amanda "Mandy" Rossi founded Ready. Set. Fund! in 2026 after watching too many good organizations pour staff time, energy, and hope into grants they were never positioned to win. Her conclusion is simple, and she says it often: the writing is not the hard part. The readiness is. What happens long before an application is submitted is what determines whether it has a real chance.

Mandy is a retired United States Army Lieutenant Colonel, and that background shapes the way she works. She plans before she moves. She builds the foundation before she builds anything on top of it. And she tells organizations the truth about where they stand, even when the news is not what they hoped to hear. She works across both nonprofits and local government, a combination most consultants do not offer, and she brings the same standard of preparation to a small rural nonprofit that she would bring to any other mission.

Rural communities have long been left behind in the funding equation, and Mandy believes that has far more to do with capacity than with merit.

She built Ready. Set. Fund! for the communities around her. From her home base in Cañon City, Mandy serves rural nonprofits, small local governments, special districts, and tribal governments throughout Southern Colorado and the Royal Gorge region. She also volunteers her time on a regional grants committee and works alongside local nonprofit and economic development partners, because she is invested in seeing this part of the state compete.

Readiness Is the Difference

Prepared Organizations Win More Funding

At Ready. Set. Fund!, we believe successful funding begins long before an application is written. The strongest organizations are not always the ones with the best writers. They are the ones that are truly prepared.

We help rural nonprofits and small local governments across Southern Colorado build that readiness. Together we strengthen your planning, organize your projects, and get your information in order, so you can compete with confidence when the right opportunity comes.

We can't promise the grant. But we can make sure your organization is as prepared, competitive, and fundable as possible. That is the readiness that turns hard work into real results for the communities you serve.

0 awarded in U.S. foundation grants every year

0 of philanthropic dollars reach rural communities

0 of nonprofits have 3 months' cash or less

0 rural counties have no local grant writer

About Us