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 sharing what's happening at Branches. Ten-plus years in, a real budget, a real team — and yet the thing eating at you most is time. That's not a minor complaint; it's usually a signal that the organization has outgrown its current infrastructure. Let's talk about what's actually creating that pressure.
When more than half your revenue flows from a single source — and for Branches, that source is corporate sponsorships — you're not just carrying risk, you're carrying fragility. Corporate giving is among the most volatile funding streams that exists: it shifts with marketing budgets, leadership changes, and economic headwinds, often with very little warning. You already flagged diversifying revenue as a top priority, which tells me you feel this in your gut. The good news is that instinct is exactly right. The work now is building a roadmap that doesn't just chase grants or major donors reactively, but intentionally opens two or three new revenue channels over the next 12–18 months. Until that happens, one sponsor decision can reshape your entire year.
A donor retention rate of 11–20% means that for every 10 people who give to Branches, roughly 8 or 9 of them won't give again. That's an enormous amount of energy spent acquiring donors you're not keeping. At your budget and staff size, that cycle is exhausting — and it directly contributes to the 'not enough time in the day' feeling you named. Poor retention is almost never about donor quality; it's almost always about what happens (or doesn't happen) after the first gift. Acknowledgment timing, personalization, impact reporting, touchpoints between asks — these are the mechanics that convert one-time givers into loyal supporters. Fixing this won't just improve your revenue picture; it will reduce the constant pressure to find new donors every single cycle.
Here's the thing about Branches: the fundamentals are not broken. You've built something that has lasted over a decade, you have staff, you have a board with genuine goodwill, and you clearly have a founder — or leadership team — that cares deeply about getting this right. The challenge isn't survival; it's that you've hit a ceiling. Three to five staff departures, a brand that could be sharper, a board that struggles to engage consistently — these aren't catastrophes, they're the friction points of an organization that's ready for the next chapter but hasn't yet built the systems to get there. You're not starting over. You're leveling up.
These three issues are not separate problems — they're the same problem wearing different clothes. Your revenue concentration means you're always slightly on edge financially, which makes it hard to invest in the stewardship infrastructure that would fix your donor retention. Poor retention keeps you in perpetual acquisition mode, which consumes the time and staff bandwidth you'd need to build new revenue streams. And both of those dynamics keep Branches stuck at its current ceiling rather than scaling toward what it's clearly capable of. Break one link in that chain and the others get easier.
Here's where I'd focus your energy over the next 90 days, given everything you've shared:
Scott, GoodMaker Pro is built for organizations exactly at this inflection point. The revenue diversification tools, donor retention workflows, and board engagement frameworks inside Pro are designed for leaders who have already built something real and are ready to build something lasting. Given where Branches is right now, this isn't a nice-to-have — it's the infrastructure your next chapter needs.
Get your team and your board in on this conversation. Reports like this one work best when the whole organization can tackle issues together.
