The Founder's Trap
The Founder's Trap
The Founder's Trap Market Archetype Mechanical Natural
Tier
Priority Review
Trajectory Thumbprint

The Founder's Trap

What does this mean?

10-year flat revenue, below-market executive comp, and a small board. The organization survives purely on the sweat equity of a founder, making it utterly un-transferable.

The Path Forward

The Dispersal

Forces succession planning and structural maturity. It requires raising capacity-building funds to decouple the organization's survival from the founder's personal sacrifice.

The Dispersal
The Dispersal
Institutional Health Scores
5-yr trend: The Founder's Trap
Overall
42
Score
Governance
58
Score
Financial
45
Score
Program
15
Score

Institutional Epochs

2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
Financial Era
Governance Era
Trajectory Era
Founders Trap

Historical Performance

Year Revenue Top Comp Comp % Rev Score Phase Label Outlook Details
2025 Hidden Hidden Unknown
2024 Hidden Hidden 2.8% 42 Fragile Recovery
2023 37 Fragile Recovery
2022 2,350.3% 38 Governance-Stressed Gov Risk
2021 44 Fragile Recovery
2020 43 Fragile Recovery
2019 33 Critical Intervention Needed Decline Risk
2018 43 Fragile Recovery
2017 39 Fragile Recovery
2016 33 Critical Intervention Needed Stable Watch
2015 33 Critical Intervention Needed Stable Watch
2014 33 Critical Intervention Needed Decline Risk
2013 37 Fragile Decline Risk
2012 43 Fragile Stable Watch

Officer compensation history

Tax year 2025

Name Title Phone Email Compensation
John Cather Board President 1.3% of Rev
Nancy Carr Board Member 0.8% of Rev
Joanne Lazzaro Board Member 0.8% of Rev
Erika Robinson Board President
Brad Cohen Board President
Peter Landecker 1st ViceChair
Robert Torres Secretary
Alfred Cain Treasurer
Ari Polidari Board Member
Diane Cohen Board Member
Amber Purohit Board Member

Tax year 2023

Name Title Phone Email Compensation
Dr Geoffrey Pope Board Member 637.9% of Rev
Dr Geoffrey Pope Board Member 6.4% of Rev
Dr Geoffrey Pope Board Member 6.4% of Rev
Rebecca Rutkowski Board Member 1.8% of Rev
Rebecca Rutkowski Board Member 1.8% of Rev
Rebecca Rutkowski Board Member 1.8% of Rev
John Cather Board President 0.4% of Rev
John Cather Board President 0.4% of Rev
John Cather Board President 0.4% of Rev
Nancy Carr Board Member 0.2% of Rev
Nancy Carr Board Member 0.2% of Rev
Nancy Carr Board Member 0.2% of Rev
Nancy Carr Board Member 0.2% of Rev
Nancy Carr Board Member 0.2% of Rev
Nancy Carr Board Member 0.2% of Rev
Erika Robinson Board President
Brad Cohen Predsident
Robert Torres Secretary
Alfred Cain Treasurer
Peter Coffee Board Member
Peter Landecker Board Member
Peter Coffee Board Member
Diane Cohen Board Member
Joanne Lazzaro Board Member
Erika Robinson Board President
Brad Cohen Predsident
Robert Torres Secretary
Alfred Cain Treasurer
Peter Coffee Board Member
Peter Landecker Board Member
Peter Coffee Board Member
Diane Cohen Board Member
Joanne Lazzaro Board Member
Erika Robinson Board President
Brad Cohen Predsident
Robert Torres Secretary
Alfred Cain Treasurer
Peter Coffee Board Member
Peter Landecker Board Member
Peter Coffee Board Member
Diane Cohen Board Member
Joanne Lazzaro Board Member

Tax year 2022

Name Title Phone Email Compensation
Erika Robinson Chairmn Of The Board
Brad Cohen Board President
John Cather 1st Vice Chairman
Jenn Flato 2nd Vice Chairman
Robert Torres Secretary
Alfred Cain Treasurer
Officer contact details, exact compensation figures, and active litigation are available to verified members.
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Score breakdown

Score breakdown

Financial resilience
45 / 100
weight 40%
Governance risk
58 / 100
weight 40%
Program scale
15 / 100
weight 20%
Overall
42 / 100
Priority Review

The three components combine into a single 0–100 score weighted as shown. Full methodology →

Peer comparison

Compared to 830 other orgs in CA with NTEE prefix A6.

Most-divergent component: program score sits 16 points below the peer median (15 vs. 31).

5-year trend: The Founder's Trap

10-year flat revenue, below-market executive comp, and a small board. The organization survives purely on the sweat equity of a founder, making it utterly un-transferable.

What's driving this score

What would change this score

No specific high-impact levers identified — this org's score is balanced across components.

Improving governance is a board decision. These are the levers.