What is the inflection point between hoarding and securing additional resources? In the social sector, this tension plays out when an organization with a significant endowment requests funding for distinct initiatives. For example, a summer camp requiring deferred maintenance of its facilities may be questioned about the criteria for deploying the endowment for the upkeep and maintenance of the facility versus seeking new contributions.

How might we be prepared to communicate with our supporters when we are building up caches to provide fuel for our journey and when we are stocking a storage room for a pandemic we hope never occurs? Knowing how we intend to deploy resources may differentiate a donor’s perception between contribution and aggressive panhandling.