Baseball is one of the few games that is not predetermined by distance or time.  There is no clock to expire while the ball is in play.  Their is no final yard to keep a faster finisher with all the momentum from sweeping past a fading competitor.  You are guaranteed a final at-bat and if you can mount a rally the game goes on until you have been provided a final chance.

As the social sector sweeps towards its favorite season of solicitation in the form of end-of-the-year giving, it is a reminder that not all decisions about philanthropic engagement need to be driven by a calendar or a deadline.  Sometimes the game needs to play out.  Sometimes you need to let everyone get a last-at-bat before you can call the final score.  A cause’s time line does not mean it needs to be a donor’s countdown to commitment.