Businesses risk money. Non profits risk political capital that can take years to rebuild, and in many cases, the very lives of the people they serve or advocate on behalf of. Failure in our world can mean less effective services to the homeless, less responsive assistance for victims of domestic violence, the squandering of funds for public education, and so and so forth. This is not a game. But the problem with this seriousness, no matter how accurate it may be, is that is often applied with such tenacity and to such great extent as to morph into a self-righteous excuse to settle for the status quo. 

Will people really die if you reformat the way you send out an email? Will genocide be any more intense if you try a creative online action for your organizations? Will the world really end if you try to engage students in their own advocacy vs. just parents? Probably not. What many don't understand is that while our issues may seem too important to risk failure in the short term, their importance has kept many in the sector from experimenting and innovating fast enough to succeed in the long term.