Could be they're a victim of their own success. I saw a local charity spiral down that hole. They decided to up their game and go for big money donors. To do so they had to spend a bunch of money on marketing, social networking, events, personnel, etc.. Then the big money started coming in. Then they found out to keep the big money coming in they had to keep spending even more on marketing, social networking, events, personnel, etc.. It spiraled out of control, eventually imploding under the weight of their own success. The last straw was when they hired a high-powered (and high dollar) Executive Director who's success was networking rather than fundraising. She upped their community standing considerably, but at the expense of their core mission. Donors noticed the change and started sending their money elsewhere.
I'm kinda seeing the same thing here. Starting out local and solid, and with a simple, achievable goal. Got some national recognition and morphed into something completely different, especially after Power Players got involved. Took a legit charitable service organization and turned it into a giant Look-What-I-Did! social status club.
Brad