The Founder's Trap
The Founder's Trap
The Founder's Trap Market Archetype Mechanical Natural
Tier
Developing
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
55
Score
Governance
58
Score
Financial
50
Score
Program
60
Score

Institutional Epochs

2010
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 Hidden Hidden 2.4% 55 Fragile Decline Risk
2022 — — — 56 Fragile Decline Risk
2021 — — 2.6% 55 Fragile Decline Risk
2020 — — 1.4% 59 Fragile Decline Risk
2019 — — 2.5% 59 Fragile Decline Risk
2018 — — — 56 Fragile Decline Risk
2017 — — — 52 Fragile Decline Risk
2016 — — — 52 Fragile Decline Risk
2015 — — — 46 Financially Distressed Decline Risk
2014 — — 1.9% 51 Financially Distressed Decline Risk
2013 — — 0.6% 53 Financially Distressed Recovery
2012 — — 0.1% 51 Fragile Decline Risk
2011 — — 0.7% 55 Fragile Stable Watch

Officer compensation history

Tax year 2025

Name Title Phone Email Compensation
NEW YORK PRIVATE BANK TRUST Board Member 2.4% of Rev
ANN ZIFF CHAIRMAN —
TOD JOHNSON Board President —
C GRAHAM BERWIND III Board Member —
JAMES W KINNEAR Board Member —
JIM BERGER Secretary —

Tax year 2023

Name Title Phone Email Compensation
Board Member 2.4% of Rev
DR FRAYDA LINDEMANN Board President —
CHRISTINE F HUNTER TO 5322 Board Member —
JAMES W KINNEAR Board Member —
ANN ZIFF CHAIRMAN —
TOD JOHNSON Board Member —
SHARON URBAN Secretary —

Tax year 2022

Name Title Phone Email Compensation
Board Member 2.4% of Rev
DR FRAYDA LINDEMANN Board President —
WILLIAM C MORRIS TO 2321 CHAIRMAN —
CHRISTINE F HUNTER Board Member —
JAMES W KINNEAR Board Member —
ANN ZIFF FR 6821 CHAIRMAN —
TOD JOHNSON FR 5421 Board Member —
RICHARD KEMP TO 51821 Secretary —
SHARON URBAN FR 51821 Secretary —

Tax year 2021

Name Title Phone Email Compensation
Board Member 2.4% of Rev
DR FRAYDA LINDEMANN Board President —
WILLIAM C MORRIS CHAIRMAN —
CHRISTINE F HUNTER Board Member —
JAMES W KINNEAR Board Member —
ANN ZIFF Board Member —
DAMIAN C GALLAGHER TO 2520 Secretary —
RICHARD KEMP FR 2520 Secretary —
Officer contact details, exact compensation figures, and active litigation are available to verified members.
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Score breakdown

Score breakdown

Financial resilience
50 / 100
weight 40%
Governance risk
58 / 100
weight 40%
Program scale
60 / 100
weight 20%
Overall
55 / 100
Developing

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

Peer comparison

Compared to 124 other orgs in NY with NTEE prefix A1.

Most-divergent component: program score sits 31 points above the peer median (60 vs. 29).

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.