The CGI::Application way lets you attach data to the object instead of putting it as a global somewhere. This lets you forget *where* you put the data, i.e. in which particular package, and could minimise interactions with other pieces of software.

Elaborating on friedo's suggestion, why don't you simply set the hash as a parameter:

   $self->param(hash => { funky => 'Brown' });
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somewhere in the beginning, and then retrieve and use it:

sub some_runmode {
   my $self = shift;
   my $hash = $self->param('hash');
   print "this funky var: $hash->{funky}";
}
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like you did before?