Mission Critical Fund — story first, then a sprint.
A 30-day emergency appeal that turned the board into fundraisers, doubled every gift with a $40,000 match, and told the story before making the ask.
In September 2026, delayed and lost federal grants put Zero Abuse Project's training, investigation, and survivor programs at risk. Stephanie co-planned the campaign strategy and timeline with the Chief Advancement Officer, designed the campaign graphics across email, social, and direct mail, built the Mailchimp emails, and set up the Bloomerang/Qgiv campaign and board peer-to-peer pages. The campaign spent two weeks earning the ask with story-led emails, then launched a 15-day sprint with a match, segmented follow-ups, and a final-week countdown.
Zero Abuse Project needed fast, flexible, unrestricted money to protect programs built over years — without sounding like every other crisis appeal landing in donors' inboxes that year.
The plan gave each audience its own message and ask. A warm-up thank-a-thon preceded any ask; three story-led emails built the case; the sprint paired the $40,000 match with a give-now-plus-pledge option that kept the campaign working into year-end giving. Board members each got a personal fundraising page feeding one live thermometer, with an ambassador toolkit, match badges, and automatic pledge reminders. The campaign closed with gratitude and a monthly-giving invitation.
Story first, then a sprint
Two weeks of story-led emails — the situation, the people, the threat — meant the launch email didn't have to explain the crisis. It just had to ask.
Board members became fundraisers
A personal Qgiv page for every board member, all feeding the same live thermometer and match. The strongest page raised $9,350 — 187% of its $5,000 goal.
Easy to say yes
Donors could give today and pledge a second gift by December 31, with both counting toward the match — turning "not right now" into "yes, later."
One look across every channel
A dark navy and yellow system carried the match, the deadline, and the way to give across emails, social, and a direct mail postcard.
Want something like this for your team?
We'd be happy to talk through what your version of the project might look like — scope, timeline, and whether we're actually the right team for it.
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