Why we go dark
The Christmas Appeal frame ends on 24 December because the frame itself says so. Sprint 57 frame-line 6: "It is quiet work because the beneficiaries want it that way." A charity for people in the final weeks of their lives does not send holiday-week fundraising emails. It does not push year-end tax-appeal urgency at 8pm on 30 December. It does not run a "Happy New Year, please give" post.
The dark period is not a passive absence — it is an active discipline. The frame is protected in what we do not do, as much as in what we do.
The channel-by-channel discipline
| Channel | State | What that means, precisely |
|---|---|---|
| Email (org list) | PAUSED | No sends. No drafts scheduled for the window. ESP scheduled-send queue verified empty on 24 Dec afternoon. Touch 5 (23 Dec Christmas note, Sprint 55.2 dependent) is the last touch, if it lands at all. |
| Meta (LWD page) | PAUSED | All active ad sets paused 24 Dec 23:59. Ad account "off" state verified 25 Dec 09:00. Organic posts: no scheduled content in the window. |
| LI-ORG | PAUSED | No scheduled posts. Comment moderation continues (see below). No fresh comments initiated by LWD on other posts using the appeal frame. |
| LI-LM (Lisa · Laurence) | PAUSED | No founder posts touching the Christmas Appeal frame. Personal posts on unrelated topics are individual judgment, not governance. |
| Google Search (paid) | PAUSED | Paused 24 Dec 23:59. Non-brand keywords paused entirely. Brand keywords remain to preserve trademark protection but with capped budget. |
| Website (public) | LIVE | The Christmas Appeal hero (/christmas-appeal-hero-2026) stays live. Frame-lock stays live. Donate flow stays live. Nothing is taken down. The site is a static reference; it is not an "outbound" surface. |
| [email protected] | MONITORED | Corrina checks once per business day (28 Dec, 29 Dec, 30 Dec, 31 Dec). Any inbound press or urgent donor query is answered. No batch-response. No proactive follow-up. |
| Comment moderation | MONITORED | Corrina checks LI-ORG and Meta pages once per business day. Substantive comments answered same-day. Spam removed. Trolling ignored, not engaged. |
| Donation form | LIVE | /donate?appeal=xmas2026 stays live and accepting gifts. Attribution continues. If a gift lands on 27 December, it lands. |
| Live-metrics dashboard | LIVE | Continues to auto-refresh. Weekly review (Fri 26 Dec & Fri 2 Jan) held to schedule per rubric. |
The things we will actively not do
No year-end tax-appeal push
Because we are pre-DGR, there is no tax-deduction to appeal to. Even if we were DGR, this frame does not do "give before midnight". Verboten C (urgency devices) governs.
No "last chance" language
The Christmas Appeal is not closing this week; it closed on 24 Dec. "Last chance to give before New Year" would be false and manipulative. Verboten C.
No matched-giving stunts
No real match exists. Manufacturing one would be verboten I. If a real match materialises in 2027, it is a Q1 sprint, not a dark-period intervention.
No Christmas Day post
Not "wishing you a peaceful Christmas from LWD". Not "thinking of families we serve". The quietness is the message; a Christmas-Day post breaks it.
No new-year "restart" post on 1 Jan
1 Jan is still governance-quiet. First proactive outbound of 2027 is scheduled for Mon 5 Jan business hours, with a straight Q1 snapshot (Touch 6, backlog #21).
No reactive dashboard-driven statement
If the dashboard shows an unexpected number on 28 Dec, we do not post about it. Dashboard is internal. External statements come from Lisa, on a schedule, or not at all.
If something happens in the dark period
| Scenario | Owner | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Journalist enquiry via appeal@ | Laurence | Acknowledge within business day. Substantive response after 5 Jan unless story is time-critical. No off-the-cuff. Reactive rubric T4 applies. |
| Complaint via appeal@ | Laurence | Acknowledge within business day per compliance policy. Full response within 5 business days from date of complaint, per NSW fundraising authority. |
| Unusually large gift (> $10,000) | Lisa | Personal thank-you note from Lisa within 3 business days. Not automated. Not scheduled. Written when Lisa returns to desk. |
| Refund request | Corrina → Laurence | Acknowledged within business day. Refund processed per Terms of Service. No cross-sell, no "would you consider staying". |
| Public criticism of the appeal | Carla | Do not engage publicly in the dark period. Draft response held for Lisa's return. Only respond if T3/T6 threshold breached — reactive rubric applies. |
| Something we did not anticipate | Carla | Call Lisa. If Lisa unreachable, call Laurence. Do not improvise in public. |
Coming out of dark
The dark period ends 1 January 23:59 AEDT. Proactive outbound resumes Monday 5 January 09:00 AEDT (Touch 6, the Q1 snapshot).
Between 1–5 Jan, the discipline softens: comment moderation resumes normal cadence; email inbox is checked business-days; scheduling for Q1 begins. But no fundraising outbound. Q1 launches on 5 Jan with a snapshot, not an ask.