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, after 20+ years and a budget north of $5M, ahhh has earned its place as an established force. But right now, you're describing something that holds back a lot of mature organizations: the infrastructure hasn't kept pace with the ambition. You put it plainly — the board can't be found, revenue is dangerously concentrated, and you're personally questioning whether you're enough. That last part? We'll come back to it. For now, let's look at what's actually getting in the way of ahhh's next chapter.
When you wrote 'I can't find them' to describe your board, that's not a minor complaint — that's a structural crisis. A board that isn't fundraising, isn't opening doors, and isn't driving strategy isn't a board; it's a liability. For an organization of ahhh's size and tenure, this is especially costly. You have 50+ staff, programs worth growing, and a revenue concentration problem that desperately needs relationship capital to solve — and the people who should be helping you build that capital are absent. The good news is that board dysfunction is fixable. But it requires honest conversations about expectations, accountability structures, and whether current members are the right people for where ahhh needs to go next.
You selected 'mixed/fairly diversified' as your primary funding source, which is a healthy sign — but then you told us that one source still accounts for 51% or more of your total revenue. That's a genuine concentration risk, and at ahhh's scale, the exposure is significant. If that relationship shifts, you're not absorbing a budget cut; you're managing a crisis. Your Q14 answer confirmed it directly: you know the over-reliance is a problem. The path forward here isn't panic — it's deliberate diversification built around the programs and credibility you've already established over two decades. Increasing grant funding is already on your priority list, which is exactly the right instinct.
With 20+ years of history, a seven-figure budget, and a full staff behind you, ahhh isn't broken — it's ready for a bigger stage. You're prioritizing new programs, new hires, and more grant funding, which signals growth thinking. But scaling without fixing the board and the revenue concentration first is like adding floors to a building with a shaky foundation. The opportunity here is real: ahhh has the credibility, the tenure, and the mission clarity to grow significantly. What it needs is the organizational infrastructure — governance, diversified funding, and possibly a refreshed external presence — to support that growth without snapping under the pressure.
Here's the chain reaction worth understanding, Scott. Your board isn't showing up, which means the relationship capital and donor introductions you need to reduce revenue concentration simply aren't materializing. That forces ahhh to lean even harder on the one major funder you already over-rely on — reinforcing the very concentration problem you're trying to escape. Meanwhile, with no board engagement and a single revenue pillar, the organization's ability to scale new programs or hire key staff gets perpetually deferred. Each of these three blockers feeds the others. Fixing the board isn't just a governance move — it's the unlock that makes diversification possible, which is what makes scaling sustainable.
Get your team and your board in on this conversation. Reports like this one work best when the whole organization can tackle issues together.
