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
38
Score
Governance
58
Score
Financial
15
Score
Program
45
Score

Institutional Epochs

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

Historical Performance

Year Revenue Top Comp Comp % Rev Score Phase Label Outlook Details
2024 Hidden Hidden — — Unknown —
2023 — — 2.1% 38 Financially Distressed Recovery
2022 — — — 35 Critical Intervention Needed Decline Risk
2021 — — — 36 Financially Distressed Decline Risk
2020 — — — 44 Financially Distressed Recovery
2019 — — 12.6% 33 Critical Intervention Needed Decline Risk
2018 — — — 35 Financially Distressed Decline Risk
2017 — — — 45 Fragile Recovery
2016 — — — 43 Financially Distressed Decline Risk
2015 — — — 43 Financially Distressed Recovery
2014 — — — 43 Financially Distressed Stable Watch
2012 — — — 43 Financially Distressed Stable Watch

Officer compensation history

Tax year 2025

Name Title Phone Email Compensation
Peter Hildebrandt Board President 0.8% of Rev
Wayne Baughman Board Member 0.7% of Rev
Tim Aucoin Board Member 0.6% of Rev
Shafiq Jadavji Board Member —
Orlando Ojeda Board Member —
Rachel Keller Board Member —
Angela Harvey Board Member —
Douglas Russ Board Member —
Diana Weitz Board Member —
William Pu Board Member —
Karen Robertson-Wall Board Member —
Amy Chang Board Member —
Scott Braynard Board Member —
Pamela Boles Board Member —
Ting Chiu Board Member —
Erin Elwood Board Member —
Ping Chen Board Member —
Marilyn A Margolis Board President —
Kevin Brown Secretary —
Jun Wu Treasurer —

Tax year 2023

Name Title Phone Email Compensation
Rachel Keller Board Member —
William Pu Board Member —
Cliff Davis Board Member —
Amy Chang Board Member —
Kent Davies Board Member —
Charan Shikh Board Member —
Diana Weitz Board Member —
Ping Chen Board Member —
Karen Wall Board Member —
Pamela Boles Board Member —
Ting Chiu Board Member —
Angela B Harvey Board Member —
Wayne Baughman Board Member —
Marilyn Margolis Board Member —
Ali Adabi Board Member —
Arthur Holst Board Member —
Tim Aucoin Board Member —
Douglas A Russ Board President —
Peter Hildebrandt Board President —
Jun Wu Treasurer —
Kevin Brown Secretary —

Tax year 2022

Name Title Phone Email Compensation
Wayne Baughman Board Member —
Douglas A Russ Board President —
Angela B Harvey Board Member —
Kevin Brown Secretary —
Kathleen Klotz Board Member —
Ting Chiu Board Member —
Peter Hildebrandt Board President —
Marilyn Margolis Board Member —
Diana Weitz Treasurer —
Arthur Holst Board Member —
Ali Adabi Board Member —
Tim Aucoin Board Member —
Amy Chang Board Member —
Kent Davies Board Member —
Cliff Davis Board Member —
Rachel Keller Board Member —
William Pu Board Member —
Karen Wall Board Member —

Tax year 2021

Name Title Phone Email Compensation
Linda Brill Executive Director 3.2% of Rev
Wayne Baughman Board Member 0.6% of Rev
Lyman Louis Secretary —
Douglas A Russ Board President —
Craig Carter Board President —
Angela B Harvey Board Member —
Kevin Brown Board Member —
William Abely Treasurer —
Catherine Abely Board Member —
Kathleen Klotz Board Member —
Ting Chiu Board Member —
Peter Hildebrandt Board Member —
Marilyn Margolis Board Member —
Karen Wall Board Member —
Diana Weitz Board Member —
Arthur Holst Board Member —
Officer contact details, exact compensation figures, and active litigation are available to verified members.
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Score breakdown

Score breakdown

Financial resilience
15 / 100
weight 40%
Governance risk
58 / 100
weight 40%
Program scale
45 / 100
weight 20%
Overall
38 / 100
Priority Review

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

Peer comparison

Compared to 209 other orgs in GA with NTEE prefix A6.

Most-divergent component: financial score sits 40 points below the peer median (15 vs. 55).

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

The two changes that would most improve this score:

  1. Build cash reserves to at least 3 months of operating expenses — moves financial resilience score meaningfully (~10 points).

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