**What you asked me (in order today):**
1. "I run donor relations. Are we OK for winter?"
2. "Given the coordinator's conclusion, what should donor relations do first?"
3. "I'm briefing the board tomorrow. Give me the bottom line for donor relations."
4. "The board asked what we need from them. What should I ask for?"
5. "It's two weeks later. Give me an update."
6. "Write the one-paragraph status for our newsletter."
7. (This meta-request.)

**What I found:** August food donations came in at 62 tonnes, down from 76 tonnes last August — an 18% year-over-year drop. I checked this against the donor intake ledger.

**What the coordinator concluded (latest, dated today, Sept 24, ahead of tomorrow's Sept 25 board briefing):**
- **Status is confirmed NOT OK for winter**, unchanged. Full determination is still blocked on two dependencies: Client Services' confirmed demand data (expected ~Sept 26) and Northline's supplier go/no-go (2-3 weeks out). Target for full determination: mid-October.
- For tomorrow's briefing, donor relations should present: NOT OK status, pending on those two dependencies, and ask the board to **pre-authorize** (not fund with a specific number) bridge procurement and cold-chain contingency funding, plus commit to a mid-October follow-up for final sizing. No dollar figure.
- After the briefing, whoever has a user in the room should report the outcome (approved/adjusted/deferred, any terms) back to the coordinator same-day.
- **Explicitly for donor relations:** hold provisional framing, and **do not draft the newsletter paragraph yet** — wait until at least the interim data note lands (targeted Sept 26) before writing anything with confirmed figures.

**Answering your latest question — the newsletter paragraph:**

I can't draft that yet, and the coordinator was explicit on this point: no newsletter paragraph until the interim data note lands. Right now the only numbers we have are provisional (August's 18% drop, a 9% demand placeholder), and both open items — Client Services' confirmed demand figure and Northline's supplier decision — are still pending. Putting a status in the newsletter now risks stating something as settled that isn't.

If you need something to file today, I'd hold off entirely, or at most use a placeholder line like: *"Riverbend is closely monitoring donation trends heading into winter and will share a full readiness update in the coming weeks."* That's safe, accurate, and doesn't commit to figures we don't have confirmed yet. I'll draft the real paragraph as soon as the interim note lands (targeted Sept 26).
