Scott, FAA is doing something that most early-stage organizations struggle to do — it's still standing and still moving forward. But what you shared about FAAAH tells me you already know the real story: the engine is running hot, and the people powering it are feeling it. This report takes an honest look at what's actually getting in the way of your growth, and gives you a clear picture of where to focus your energy first.
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.
You're running a volunteer-led organization under $250K with no full-time staff beyond yourself — and you told us directly that your team is working unsustainable hours and burnout is showing. That's not a sign of weak leadership; that's what happens when mission outpaces infrastructure, which is exactly where FAA is right now. The challenge isn't motivation — it's that everything depends on too few people giving too much. When you selected 'hire key staff positions' as a priority, that signals you already see the gap. The risk here is real: burnout doesn't just slow growth, it ends organizations. The good news is that this is a solvable structural problem, not a cultural one, and naming it clearly is the first step toward fixing it.
You flagged 'improve board engagement or conduct board training' as one of your top three priorities, and that choice says a lot. At the stage FAA is at — early years, lean budget, a solo operator at the center — your board should be one of your most active assets, opening doors, co-carrying the fundraising load, and helping shoulder the strategic weight. If they're not doing that, then the burnout on your team isn't just a staffing problem, it's also a governance problem. A board that isn't fundraising or showing up strategically leaves everything on your plate. That dynamic becomes especially costly when your fundraising efforts aren't producing enough to fund the vision, which you also named as a live pain point today.
With a 11–25% revenue concentration and individuals and families as your primary funding source, FAA actually has a reasonably healthy foundation to build from — you're not dangerously dependent on one source. But your fundraising isn't producing enough to match the vision, and you're actively prioritizing grant funding as a growth lever. That tells me FAA isn't broken — it's ready to move to the next level but needs the right systems and strategy to get there. The investment mindset is right: you find a way to fund what matters. What's missing is the infrastructure — staffing, board engagement, and a cleaner revenue strategy — to turn that mindset into consistent momentum.
Here's the chain reaction that's happening at FAA right now: your board isn't fully engaged, which means the fundraising and strategic weight falls almost entirely on you. That compounds the burnout your team is already feeling, because there's no distributed leadership to share the load. And because the team is stretched, there's no bandwidth to build the systems and donor relationships that would move FAA from surviving to scaling. Each of these three dynamics feeds the others. You can't sustainably scale with a burned-out core and an underutilized board. But fix the board engagement, take even one staffing pressure off the team, and the path to real growth opens up meaningfully.
Get your team and your board in on this conversation. Reports like this one work best when the whole organization can tackle issues together.
