The 20-Person Rule: Why We Say No to Scaling So We Can Say Yes to People

Every funder conversation eventually arrives at the same question: how do you scale this?

The honest answer is that we do not, and that the refusal is the method. Twenty people is what real advocacy costs when advocacy means knowing somebody’s court date, their landlord’s name, and which week their car is likely to fail.

We grow by adding people who can do this work alongside us — peer mentors, volunteers, staff — never by thinning what each participant gets. When someone moves on, a seat opens. That is the whole model.