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Promotion planning for churches. The schedule is generated from the size of the event. $29 a month per church.
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Playbook · Thanksgiving
A Thanksgiving outreach has a collection phase and a delivery phase, and the promotion runs both: what to bring and by when, then who serves on the day. The event is the Saturday before Thanksgiving, when the boxes are packed or the meal is served, and the collection has to close the Sunday before that so the counts are known. The schedule starts six weeks out, in mid-October, because the list of items is set with the partner organization first.
The whole church: 10 pieces over 6 weeks. Dated for Saturday, November 21, 2026, the next occurrence after the day this page was built.
The size
Whole church. Every household is asked to bring items, every adult is asked for an hour on the day, and the number of families served is set by the collection. Ten pieces, with the collection deadline repeated on every one of them.
10 pieces · 6 weeks
Everybody should know. The level this event is on.
6 pieces · 4 weeks
A ministry or an age group. 4 channels.
3 pieces · 3 weeks
The people already involved. 3 channels.
The schedule
For Thanksgiving outreach on Saturday, November 21. Publish is the day a piece goes out. Due is the day it has to exist, which is the publish date less the channel's lead time: 2 days for Newsletter, 1 day for Social, 1 day for Sunday Announcements, 3 days for Website, 7 days for Print.
| When | Channel | Piece | Publish | Due |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 weeks before | Newsletter | First mention | Thursday, October 15 | Oct 13 |
| 5 weeks before | Social | Save the date | Friday, October 16 | Oct 15 |
| 4 weeks before | Website | Put the page up | Monday, October 19 | Oct 16 |
| 3 weeks before | Newsletter | Second mention | Thursday, October 29 | Oct 27 |
| 3 weeks before | Posters up | Friday, October 30 | Oct 23 | |
| 1 week before | Sunday Announcements | Announce it | Sunday, November 8 | Nov 7 |
| 1 week before | Social | Reminder post | Friday, November 13 | Nov 12 |
| 6 days before | Sunday Announcements | Final announcement | Sunday, November 15 | Nov 14 |
| 2 days before | Newsletter | Last call | Thursday, November 19 | Nov 17 |
| The day | Social | Day-of post | Saturday, November 21 | Nov 20 |
Move the event and every unfinished piece keeps its weekday and its lead time. A piece in the event's own week that would land after the event is moved to the week before; the day-of post counts from the date itself.
What each piece carries
What the 10 pieces above have to say for Thanksgiving outreach, channel by channel.
The first mention gives the date, the item list with quantities and the collection deadline, and opens the volunteer sign-up for the day. The second mention is the collection count against the target and the items still short. The last call is the final count, the volunteer schedule and the packing or serving location.
Save the date is the item list and the deadline, on an image that can be shared outside the church. The reminder post the Friday before is for volunteers: time, location, what to wear. The day-of post is a photograph from the packing line, with the number of families served.
Announce it two Sundays before with the items still short and the volunteer shifts open. The final announcement is the Sunday before the Saturday, which is also the collection deadline: the final count and the schedule for the day.
The item list with quantities, the drop-off location and hours, the collection deadline, the volunteer sign-up with shifts, and where the food goes. Published four weeks out, the day the collection opens.
Collection boxes with the item list printed on them at every entrance, and a poster with the deadline. Due a week before the boxes go out.
How it is built
Three inputs: the event's date, the level, and the church's framework. The framework is the one above until a church edits it.
Channels with a default weekday and a lead time, levels with a rule for each piece: which channel, how many weeks out, which day. A church edits the defaults to match how it publishes, and every schedule after that follows the edited rules.
Enter the event, pick the level, and the pieces are written with a publish date and a due date each. Each piece is assigned to a person, who sees it on their own list and in their own calendar, with the brief and the copy attached.
Change the date or the framework and the unfinished pieces move to the new dates. Finished pieces, assignments, notes and the copy already written stay where they are. Nothing is published or sent by the software; a person presses every button.
Other playbooks
The same schedule arithmetic, for the events a church runs through the year.
Set your church up, enter the event and pick the level. $29 a month per church. Free for 15 days, no card.
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