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, you came in with a clear frustration: you can't get more donors. After looking at everything you shared about Super Duper Test, I want to gently reframe that. The challenge isn't that donors aren't out there — it's that the way your organization is currently structured makes it almost impossible to build and keep them. Let's get into exactly why.
You told me that more than 50% of your revenue comes from a single source, and that your primary funding engine is foundations and grants. That's not a fundraising strategy — that's a tightrope walk. When one funder shifts priorities, your whole organization feels it. And here's the compounding problem: foundations don't build community. They don't become advocates, they don't bring their friends, and they don't give unrestricted dollars that let you move fast. At your budget level — $500K to $1M — you have enough operational credibility to start building individual donor relationships, but right now you're not structured to do that. This concentration isn't just a financial risk; it's actually the root cause of why you can't grow your donor base. You've been optimizing for grants instead of relationships.
When I asked about donor retention, you said you weren't sure. That answer tells me more than any percentage would. If retention were strong, you'd know it — you'd feel it in the repeat gifts, the warm replies, the donors who show up year after year. Uncertainty here almost always means the systems aren't in place to track, steward, or re-engage donors after their first gift. You mentioned that getting more donors is your biggest obstacle, but if you're not retaining the ones you already have, adding new donors at the top of the funnel is like filling a bucket with a hole in it. Before you spend energy on donor acquisition, you need to understand what's happening to the donors you've already earned.
You described your board in three words: 'I can't reach them.' That's one of the most honest things an executive director can say, and it matters more than most people realize. At Super Duper Test's stage — 2 to 5 years in, with a staff of 6 to 15 — your board should be opening doors, making introductions, and co-owning your fundraising targets. Instead, they're absent. You also flagged board engagement as one of your top three priorities and selected hiring key staff as another — but without a board that's activated and accountable, neither of those things gets easier. An unreachable board isn't just a governance problem; it's a revenue problem.
Here's the through-line: your organization is grant-dependent because you haven't built the individual donor infrastructure or relationships to diversify — and you haven't been able to do that partly because you don't know what's happening to existing donors, and partly because the board who should be helping you make those connections isn't engaged. Each blocker feeds the next. The grant concentration keeps you in reactive mode, which means donor development never becomes a priority, which means retention stays murky, which means the board has nothing to champion or rally around. Breaking this cycle requires attacking all three — but in the right order.
1. Do a donor audit before anything else. Pull every donation record from the past two years — even if it's messy — and figure out who gave once and disappeared. You need a real number on retention, even a rough one, before you can fix it. This takes a week, not a month.
2. Define one individual donor goal for the next 90 days. Not a campaign, not a gala — just a number. Something like: 'We will convert 15 grant contacts or program participants into first-time individual donors by end of Q3.' Make it specific enough that you'll know if you hit it.
3. Have a direct conversation with each board member — not an email, a call. Ask them one question: 'What would make you feel more connected to what we're doing?' You'll either re-engage them or get the clarity you need to restructure the board. Either outcome is progress.
4. Build a simple 3-touch stewardship sequence for new donors. A thank-you within 48 hours, an impact update at 30 days, and a personal check-in at 90 days. That's it. You don't need a CRM overhaul to start — a spreadsheet and a calendar reminder will do for now.
5. Identify two grants you're currently chasing that could be replaced by a mid-level individual donor relationship. Not to drop the grants, but to start rebalancing where you put your relationship-building energy.
GoodMaker Pro is built for exactly where you are, Scott. The combination of grant dependency, unclear retention data, and a disconnected board requires tools and frameworks that work together — not three separate consultants and a prayer. Pro gives you the donor development systems, board engagement templates, and revenue diversification roadmap to move Super Duper Test from fragile to fundable.
Get your team and your board in on this conversation. Reports like this one work best when the whole organization can tackle issues together.
