Jesse Lane founder of goodmakerU, has a message to walk you through your report to let you know whats here, and how to use it.
Scott, thanks for taking the time to work through this. You said the biggest thing holding Test back is needing more donors — and I hear that. But after looking at your full picture, the donor shortage is actually a symptom, not the root cause. There are three deeper patterns at work, and once you see them clearly, the path forward gets a lot more actionable.
When asked whether people immediately understand what your organization does and why it matters, you said you honestly don't know. After 10+ years in operation, that answer is a signal worth taking seriously. If the people leading the organization aren't sure how the brand lands, prospective donors almost certainly don't get it either. You flagged a website relaunch and a brand refresh as top priorities — that instinct is right. But this isn't just about visuals. It's about whether a stranger can read your homepage in 30 seconds and feel something. Right now, there's a real risk that Test is functionally invisible to the donors you most need to reach. No amount of outreach fixes a message that doesn't land.
More than 50% of your revenue is coming from a single source or a very small pool — and your primary funding is corporate sponsorships. That's a fragile foundation. Corporate sponsors renew based on their own budgets, priorities, and leadership changes, none of which you control. If that top relationship shifts, Test doesn't just have a bad quarter — it has an existential problem. The fact that you're also losing donors at a high rate (only 20–40% retention) means you're not building a backup base fast enough to offset that concentration risk. These two dynamics together create a situation where growth feels impossible because the floor is always one phone call away from dropping.
You indicated that 'honestly everything would struggle' without the founder — and you've lost more than five staff members. That level of dependency doesn't just create operational risk, it actively repels growth. Major donors and institutional funders want to see organizational resilience. Board members disengage when they sense one person holds all the cards. And staff burn out when systems, decisions, and relationships all run through a single human being. After 10+ years, this pattern is deeply embedded, which makes it harder to unwind — but not impossible.
Here's the through-line: an invisible brand makes it nearly impossible to attract new donors, which keeps you dependent on the corporate sponsors you already have. That revenue concentration means you can't invest in the brand work or the staff infrastructure that would reduce founder dependency. And because everything runs through one person, there's no bandwidth to fix the brand or build the donor pipeline that would diversify revenue. It's a closed loop. The good news is that breaking any one of these open — starting with brand clarity — creates momentum that starts loosening the others.
1. Nail your core message before touching the website. Before you spend a dollar on a redesign, write one paragraph that explains what Test does, who it serves, and why it matters — in language a first-time visitor would immediately connect with. Test it on five people outside the organization. If they can't repeat it back, keep revising.
2. Map your revenue concentration risk. Get specific: what percentage of revenue comes from your top corporate sponsor? Then identify two or three alternative corporate or individual prospects you could begin cultivating in the next 90 days. You don't need to replace the relationship — you need to stop being alone in it.
3. Pick one founder relationship to transfer. Choose one major donor or key partner relationship currently held exclusively by the founder and deliberately bring a staff member or board member into that relationship over the next 60 days. One transfer builds the muscle.
4. Set up a basic donor retention sequence. With only 20–40% retention, you're losing donors faster than you're finding them. Before the CRM implementation, build a simple 3-touch follow-up for every new donor: a personal thank-you within 48 hours, an impact update at 30 days, and a check-in at 90 days. Low tech, high return.
5. Have one real conversation with your board. You said you can't reach them. Send a one-page summary of these three blockers and ask for a 45-minute call. Not to guilt them — to show them a specific problem and ask for one specific thing.
GoodMaker Pro is built for organizations exactly in this position — established enough to have real assets, stuck enough that those assets aren't producing results. The tools and coaching inside Pro are specifically designed to help you clarify your brand, reduce founder dependency, and build a donor base that doesn't evaporate every year. This is the natural next move for Test.
Get your team and your board in on this conversation. Reports like this one work best when the whole organization can tackle issues together.
