This paper focuses on the importance of convincing those in funding positions to invest not only in infrastructure for general safety, but also to make improvements to protect against earthquakes. The report focuses on the challenges of convincing funders to prepare for events that may never occur during their lifetime, but have enormous potential for damage and loss of life. Although the paper was prepared by the California Department of Transportation and concerns only seismic earthquakes, the principles are applicable to any location that faces relatively uncommon but very large risks to their infrastructure and safety.