SPN 159. Q4 -> The Case for Starting Now

Plus, sample email flow for donation intent re-engagement; and, brand building is soo back

Jun 29, 2025

A very warm welcome to all the new subscribers. You’ve joined a community of over 3k marketing and fund raising operators at mission-driven Org’s. I’m thrilled to have you as readers and truly appreciate your feedback and support.

In this week’s SPN:

Why Q4 begins now
High-intent supporter contacts you can activate at year-end
Sample email flow for donation intent re-engagement
And, plenty of Jobs & Opps!

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Brand

Some of the most interesting thinking from Cannes centered on how brands can adapt to the new world, as well as what the digital world can learn from brand building.

I enjoyed a WARC podcast from Cannes this week “Brand building in a complex media landscape”. It dug into the details and the McDonald’s convo around distinctive brand assets, in their case the Golden Arches, was enlightening.

A CreativeX analysis published last week of 100,000 creator ads across Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok (which ran between 2024 and 2025 and represented 800 brands) supported what SPN has long suggested - that the rules of marketing effectiveness need to apply more tightly:

To their detriment:

53% of creator ads don’t have a brand mention in the first three seconds

Only 14% of creator ads are watched past the first three seconds

45% of media spend on creator ads on Meta were, according to the company’s definition, “waste” – which meant that they were both unbranded and not watched past the first three seconds

I’ve sat through many a conversation on the cutting room floor discussing whether showing too much branding or showing the Org too early will turn off future donors. Well, I saw this fantastic Toblerone ad by LePub → and vote earlier is best.

- Distinctive brand asset in the first second (use of the Toblerone red)
- Another distinctive brand asset in 2 seconds (Toblerone “M”)
- Product in the first 3 seconds
- I counted 17 uses of distinctive brand assets (Font, Red, Product, Logo)

= marvelous!

Also reminds me of research UNICEF did with Meta that found integrating brand/programs into the story with human/program interaction drove 44% higher fundraising impact.

The debate moves on with a seminal research study. Working with TikTok, System1 published a thorough report full of gems like these:

In skippable media, creativity has become more important. This research clearly shows how short-form ads can stop the scroll and make viewers feel something to create lasting effects for modern brands. There’s no one-size-fits-all strategy for creative effectiveness. What works depends on who you are and how you show up. This paper reflects that nuance, unpacking how brands of various sizes can gain an edge, along with the pitfalls and powerful potential of creator-led ads.

In short-form skippable media there’s a brutal reality. To build more branded memories with as many people as possible, integrating brand assets within the first few seconds of an ad remains global creative best practice.

But does that early branding come at a cost to attention? Contrary to popular belief, early branding on digital ads doesn’t automatically lead to declines in attention. (Donors) are savvier than ever and expect advertising to include branding as long as it feels natural vs forced.

It’s over 50 pages so merits proper attention. Time to book that London-Paris Eurostar for 2 hours of peace and quiet, and System 1 thinking.

Weekly Reads 📚

Vibe Marketing: How I Built A Fully Automated Marketing Machine (Garrett Rysko)

Zuckerberg’s macho makeover (FT)

McKinsey just released their 2025 State of the Consumer Report (McKinsey)

Software is Changing Again… If you have 39 minutes, this is a great video to watch. Enter Software 3.0.

The Real Message Andy Jassy Is Sending to Employees on AI (WSJ)

Performance Max vs. Search Campaigns: New Data Reveals Substantial Search Term Overlap (Search Engine Land)

10 AI Tools That Transformed My Workflow in 2025 (Charles Ross)

The Reebok x MANORS Collaboration Lights Tradition on Fire (Hypebeast)

How to Find A Unicorn Idea By Studying AI System Prompts (Techcrunch)

What Does PDK Stand For and How Does It Work? (Jalopnik)

The 97% You’re Probably Ignoring - and Why It’s Costing You

As we approach EOY strat planning - I know, I’m early, but now’s the time - most Org’s focus on optimizing their conversion rate for an immediate gift.

Yet 97%+ of traffic doesn’t convert.

Few Org’s I speak to have a plan for those would-be donors. No capture strategy. No re-engagement flow.

If we do simple math: spend $200K on a year-end paid campaign, drive 50,000 visits, at a 2% conversion rate, you’ll get 1,000 donations. But what about the other 49,000 people who visited and left?

Most Org websites aren’t built to capture or follow up with them. That’s hundreds of thousands of potential future dollars left on the table.

The List is the Lift

Capturing emails and phone numbers from non-donors isn’t just a marketing tactic it’s a strategic growth lever. Especially now. The best nonprofit operators I know are building “pre-donor” lists year-round, not just collecting gifts at the moment of peak intent.

They’re testing:

Personalized popups and lead captures (offering exclusive online event access, matched gift alerts)
Intelligent triggers based on behavior (visited a campaign page? clicked a story? opened a giving calculator?)
Nurture journeys that convert intent into action over time

Because once someone opts in, everything changes. Now you can bring them back. You can tell a story. You can offer relevance. You can actually build a relationship.

What Happens After the Opt-In is What Actually Drives Revenue

Here’s a sample email flow that works for donation intent re-engagement:

“Still thinking about supporting X?”
Sent 1–2 hours after the web visit. Reinforce impact, remind them of what they saw.
“See why others gave”
Use social proof. Highlight donor testimonials from similar supporters. Show them how the gift fits into a larger story.
“We saved your match”
Create urgency with a matching gift or campaign deadline.
“Only a few days left”
Scarcity works. Be honest about timelines and outcomes.
“What if it’s not the right time?”
Emphasize flexibility. Monthly giving. Pledge options. Trust-building matters here.

This sequence alone can bring back a surprising percentage of nearly-donors but only if you have their contact information in the first place.

The Case for Starting Now

→ The reason this matters in June (not October) is compounding.

Build your list now, and you’ll have 3–4 months of identified, warmed-up, high-intent supporter contacts you can activate at year-end. Even small gains in opt-in rate can snowball into major revenue impact:

2% capture = 1,000 prospects
10% capture = 5,000 prospects
Across multiple campaigns, that adds up fast

Retention Is the Second Half of the Game

Most Org’s celebrate donor acquisition and then neglect the relationship. A CXO of a very large bank shared the same dynamic with me when she worked at AOL back in the day.

→ But high-performing fundraising teams know: when a past donor revisits your site, that’s a signal.

The best flows recognize returning supporters and meet them with relevant reminders, updates, or new offers of engagement. And yes, that kind of infrastructure takes work to set up but once it’s running, it turns passive interest into real retention lift.

What I’m Seeing

The Org’s who are thriving in this environment are treating email capture and behavioral flows not as “growth hacks,” but as core infrastructure. They’re running like media companies.

They’re measuring lifetime value, not just cost per acquisition. And they’re building systems that treat every touchpoint - even a bounce - as a chance to re-engage and re-inspire.

If you want a bigger year-end, it starts by building a smarter Q3.