Covenant Leadership and Staff

Principal and Managing Partner

Claudia Looney is the Founder and current Principal and Managing Director of Covenant Philanthropic Solutions, a firm she launched in 2008 with her fundraiser husband James Looney. Today, Covenant is a leading fundraising consulting and management firm with partnerships that covers all sectors of the nonprofit industry and major parts of the globe.

Claudia’s passion for the world of nonprofit development and management has inspired her to dedicate the past 50 years to helping organizations fulfill their missions. Prior to starting Covenant, Claudia served for more than a dozen years as the Senior Vice President at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles where she led and managed all aspects of the fundraising activities and was responsible for overseeing the capital campaign that raised more than $1.3 billion.  This was the largest campaign at the time for a freestanding Children’s Hospital. 

Prior to her tenure at Children’s LA, Claudia served as President of Northwestern Memorial Foundation in Chicago and successfully led the organization’s $125 million campaign. As Vice President of Planning and Advancement for the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), Claudia initiated and completed two campaigns: a $60 million building and endowment campaign and a $20 million emergency earthquake renewal campaign. As President of Saddleback Medical Center Foundation, Claudia began and completed two campaigns, including raising funds to build the Women’s Hospital. 

Claudia has been recognized for her dedication and service to the fundraising profession in multiple ways. In 2019, the Southern California Association of Healthcare Development awarded Claudia with the Inaugural Legacy Leader Award. In 2012, Claudia was recognized with the Award for Outstanding Fundraising Professional presented by AFP Global. In 2004, Claudia was awarded YWCA’s Woman of Distinction for Orange County. Claudia was named 1996 Fundraiser of the Year in Los Angeles and 1994 Fundraiser of the Year in Orange County.  

Claudia is past Chair of The Woodmark Group’s Board, which oversees the Children’s Circle of Care program for the top 25 children’s hospitals in North America. She is also past chair of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) Foundation and was a member of its Global Ethics Committee. Claudia is currently an AFP Orange County board member.  She is a Fellow, a past board member, and served as Chair-Elect of the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy (AHP). Claudia is a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE) and has published several articles for both AFP and AHP Magazines, including Partnering with the CEO, Maximizing Physician Fundraising, Donor Relations Redefined, Engaging Volunteers, and more. Most recently, Claudia collaborated with her fundraiser son on a book entitled, The Five Tool Fundraiser.

Claudia received her BA from California State University in Fullerton and is an alumna of the Charter Class of Pitzer College.  Her husband, Jim, is a Principal of Covenant.  Together, Chris and daughter-in-law, Anisha, also a fundraiser, have blessed Claudia with three grandchildren, and spending time with them is a particular passion. 

Chief Executive Officer

Building stronger communities and advancing the opportunities of individuals to achieve their fullest potential has been a guidepost for Kyle his entire life. Contributing to the transformation of local communities for good is both a professional and personal commitment for Kyle. 

For the last fifteen years, Kyle has accumulated a diverse set of nonprofit and fundraising leadership experiences, ranging from pioneering a 501c3 startup to serving as the principal fundraiser for a large nonprofit human services organization. Leading and being a part of “small shop” fundraising teams evolved into leading a large development team of more than 20 staff and a dozen contracted agencies and consultants. 

His passion in the fundraising and nonprofit leadership space are broad, with particular interest and commitment to advancing the human service, religious, healthcare, education, and arts/civic sectors. Kyle is a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE) and was elected to serve as the 2023 president of the Association of Fundraising Professional’s Orange County chapter – one of the most prominent of the global association’s chapters. He serves as the Senior Pastor of a church he planted in 2016 in Downtown Santa Ana, is a foster/adoptive parent with his wife, Kelsey, and maintains personal involvement with several nonprofit organizations within his local community. 

The decision to move into fundraising consulting as Covenant’s first President and CEO was strategic. In this role, Kyle aspires to elevate and magnify the positive impact he can make throughout southern California and welcomes the opportunity to partner with organizations large and small to inspire greater philanthropy. With any spare time, Kyle is an avid reader, marathoner, baseball fan, and recreational woodworker. He lives in Santa Ana with his wife and four children.

President

Tony Jennison has been in philanthropy and nonprofit work for more than 20 years with leadership positions in several sectors including arts and culture, religious, healthcare, and higher education.

Tony has led development efforts for nonprofits to support and advance their mission and visions. Tony is skilled at strategically guiding and executing fundraising efforts, achieving ambitious results, and leading development teams. He particularly excels at developing talent and orchestrating operations. Tony has worked in  interim executive roles  at several arts and culture clients since 2021. Recently, Tony also worked with Chapman University, as Vice President of Development and Campaign Director. Tony oversaw the university’s $500 million comprehensive campaign and launched a new team of seven gift officers to work with deans to fund key initiatives under the university’s strategic plan. 

In his career, Tony served as Assistant Vice President of Individual Giving at Children’s Hospital Orange County (CHOC) where he led CHOC’s largest revenue team consisting of annual, mid-level, and major giving departments. Tony carried a portfolio of major, principal, and transformational giving prospects. Leading a department of twelve associates as part of a 60+ person foundation staff, his team had the most successful fundraising year in the history of the foundation with $61M raised to support the mission of CHOC. Tony helped launch the CHOC Foundation’s $500M comprehensive campaign as part of the $1.4B CHOC enterprise master plan.

Prior to CHOC, Tony served as the Vice President of Philanthropy at the Orange Catholic

Foundation (OCF), the fundraising arm for the Catholic Diocese of Orange. Tony held a leadership role in the first ever Diocesan wide campaign, For Christ Forever, in which $127M was raised to support parishes and schools and the renovation of Christ Cathedral (formerly Crystal Cathedral).

Tony gained an exceptional foundation in advancement, including major gifts, alumni relations, and gift planning, while in progressive positions at University of Southern California and Loyola Marymount University in the first half of his philanthropy career.

Tony earned his BA and MBA from Loyola Marymount University as well as an Executive Master in Leadership from the University of Southern California. Tony and his wife Liz have three children and reside in Newport Beach where he is a volunteer at several local organizations.

Chief Operations Officer

 Diana brings an impressive skillset of systems management, data analysis and management, procedural acumen, and an acute attention to detail. Having worked with hundreds of nonprofits, her thirteen years of experience in the Fundraising Consulting sector have established her as a known and recognized leader in delivering the utmost standard of quality to nonprofit clients.

Senior Consultant

 Lizzi adds her  considerable background in higher education, human services and social enterprise, as well as a Masters in Nonprofit Management, to the Covenant team’s repertoire. She’s known by her friends and colleagues as one of the most joyful and personable people anyone will ever come across.