For funding, you can come to our forum. We have our central bank, we recently signed an agreement with Hubotz so he will be setting up his own bank there. My advise is, initially put efforts to grow your alliance members after which you can start recruitment with around 20-30% income/resource tax. If you need further clarity, PM me in game.
You should contact Jacob Hanson (link: https://politicsandwar.com/nation/id=10799),he is the one dealing with mercenary protection contracts.
With regards to protection, we will protect your alliance with all our efforts, but we are not exactly strong enough right now. We, ourselves are under the protection of The Syndicate and Arrgh!. So, its always better to approach another alliance for additional protection. I would recommend Arrgh protection based on your score range.