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Try this:
The steps to move away from resource incrementalism are quite straightforward. What it takes is the confidence to try it.

Step 1: Determine what it would really take to accomplish the results you want for your community.

• What staffing levels do you really need? Not to just get by, but to excel…
• What salary range will allow your people to live without worry? Not “market rates,” because nonprofit market rates are horribly deflated. HUMAN rates of what it really takes to live.
• What facilities and equipment will move your team beyond “getting by?”
• What training is needed, not just to get started, but in Year 2 and Year 3 and beyond? What benefits are needed?
• Etc.

Step 2: Tell the whole story in your budget
Make sure your budget tells the WHOLE story of what it will take to produce the results you intend to create. Aim your budget at accomplishing everything necessary to have healthy, energized people creating visionary community results. Show that you will be providing your people with everything they need to get the job done well (not just “get the job done,” but doing it WELL).

This is not wishful thinking; it is REALITY thinking.
The real wishful thinking is the ridiculous notion that we can accomplish great things with less than adequate resources.

To tell the full story of how you intend to accomplish your goals, use a Collective Enoughness / shared resources budget, to describe ALL the resources you will activate, including your volunteers and your in-kind support (see the Resources section below for details). Providing just a cash budget tells only a small part of the story of what it actually takes to do your work, i.e. an incremental part of the story.

Step 3: Seek funding for ALL of what you need.
Make the case for what you truly need. Ask for it and stand your ground.

While some funders / donors may argue that moving beyond incremental funding is unreasonable, what is actually unreasonable is for funders and donors to expect people to do the work our communities need without being paid and supported to do so.

The worst that can happen. And the BEST that could happen.
As you ask for what it really takes to do the work well, the worst that can happen is that folks will say “no” and you will be back where you started. That you will only raise the small amount you would have asked for in the past.

In our experience, though, that is unlikely. We really do tend to get what we ask for. We just need to step into our power rather than being cowed into only asking for the bare minimum.

And the best that could happen? You will be reaching for your vision of what is possible for your community. And you will be doing it with the resources you need to make that happen. That big leap beyond incrementalism is what Catalytic Thinking is all about.