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, thank you for taking the time to walk through this — and for being honest about where things stand. You named it plainly: you can't raise enough money to continue the mission. That's not a fundraising problem in isolation. What I see in your answers is a specific, interconnected set of blockers that are quietly draining your momentum before it can build. Let's get into it.
Your donor retention rate sits at 0–20%, which means for every 10 donors you bring in, you're keeping fewer than 2. That's not a donor quality problem — that's a stewardship and systems problem. For an organization under $250K with just you running it, every donor you lose is a relationship you had to work hard to build and now have to rebuild from scratch. The energy cost alone is staggering. Without a consistent follow-up sequence, a meaningful thank-you process, and a reason for donors to feel like insiders in your mission, most people give once and drift. The fix isn't a bigger donor list — it's building a simple retention engine that makes the donors you already have feel seen and valued enough to come back.
You reported more than 5 staff departures, and you're running this organization essentially alone. That combination tells a hard story. Whether those were volunteers, part-timers, or early hires, that level of turnover in a young organization — less than two years old — is a signal worth taking seriously. When the entire operational weight falls on one person, the ceiling on what you can build is set by how much you personally can carry. You mentioned that day-to-day operations are founder-dependent, which means every program, every donor interaction, every administrative task routes back to you. That's not sustainable, and it's likely part of why retention — both staff and donor — is struggling. You can't steward relationships well when you're also keeping the lights on alone.
Here's what's worth recognizing: despite these real challenges, your instincts are growth-oriented. You're prioritizing new programs, grant funding, and revenue diversification — all the right moves for an organization that wants to grow beyond its current ceiling. Your investment mindset is healthy; you find a way to make things work. That resilience is an asset. But scaling requires infrastructure, and right now the infrastructure isn't there yet to support the ambition. Ready to Scale isn't a criticism — it's a destination that's genuinely within reach once the funnel and the team stability are addressed.
Here's the throughline: you're losing donors almost as fast as you bring them in, you're carrying the operational load alone after significant team turnover, and yet you're trying to launch new programs and diversify revenue at the same time. Each of these blockers feeds the others. The donor churn keeps your revenue unstable, which limits your ability to hire or retain help, which keeps you overextended, which means donor stewardship stays inconsistent, which keeps the churn going. It's a loop — not a character flaw, not bad luck. But breaking it requires addressing retention and capacity before adding new growth initiatives, not after.
1. Build a dead-simple donor retention sequence. Within the next two weeks, create a 3-touch follow-up for every new donor: a same-day thank-you (personal, not automated), a 30-day impact update, and a 90-day check-in. This alone can move your retention rate significantly with zero budget.
2. Audit what's actually taking your time. Spend one week tracking where your hours go. Identify the top 3 operational tasks that could be systematized, templated, or handed to a trained volunteer — and then do that handoff. Even one hour per week freed up compounds over a quarter.
3. Submit two targeted grant applications. Since grant funding is a stated priority, get specific: identify two funders aligned with your mission whose deadlines fall within 90 days. Don't apply broadly — apply precisely to funders whose language already sounds like yours.
4. Stabilize before you launch. Hold off on new programs until you have at least one reliable recurring revenue stream or a second person consistently helping with operations. Launching new programs right now adds scope without adding stability.
5. Have one direct conversation with a board member this month. You described your board as detached and hard to reach. Pick one member, ask for 30 minutes, and come with one specific ask — an introduction, a donor conversation, a referral. Start small and build from there.
GoodMaker Pro is built for exactly where you are, Scott — a founder-led organization with real mission traction that needs better retention systems, operational structure, and a path to sustainable revenue. The tools, templates, and coaching inside Pro are designed to help you stop starting over with every donor and every hire, and start building something that compounds.
Get your team and your board in on this conversation. Reports like this one work best when the whole organization can tackle issues together.
