After an avalanche, we might encounter a debris pile months later. Common social sector equivalent debris piles include:

• Post gala events.
• Strategic planning brainstorming.
• Recruitment or rotation of board/staff members.
• Post Day of Giving events.

These obstacles block forward progress and are challenging to clean up. Possible remedies include:

• Reaching out to gala patrons disappointed by the event (seating, food, auction items, messaging, etc.).
• Prioritizing genuine strategic opportunities from the amplification of dead-end initiatives.
• Orienting new board/staff and finding points of engagement for board/staff that departed but who want to stay involved.
• Finding meaningful ways to thank the many donors who gave quickly.

Ignoring an avalanche debris pile is optional, and eventually, the concrete snow melts, and a path forward might appear. It takes energy to tackle a debris pile, but waiting to resolve the blockage tends to provide less satisfactory results.

How might we be prepared with a rescue team to jump into action after creating unusually high activity? What if we intentionally only exhaust some of our team so we can act in the days that follow our big events? What if our organization’s superpower was our ability to follow up?