A Blast From the Past: How Much Asking is Too Much? (March 2008)

To avoid that, you walk around on tiptoes, not daring to speak to them too often (or too emphatically) because they might “burn out.”

Conventional fundraising wisdom has it that donors’ gifts are a limited resource, like an old-growth forest: Ask too often without substantial “resting” periods, and you can “overharvest” — you’ve chopped down all the trees quicker than new ones can grow.