Purpose. The stewardship plan (/donor-stewardship-plan) defines six touchpoints and five lifecycle stages. This page plots them month by month across CY2027 so the operations lead can see, at a glance: what fires this month, what preparation is needed, what compliance obligations coincide, and what quiet weeks are deliberate silence.
Ownership. AI CMO (spec) · operations lead (execution + monthly checklist) · AI retention analyst (measurement) · Carla (visibility, quarterly review).
Cohort assumption. The calendar is built around the Christmas Appeal 2026 cohort as first-cohort baseline. New donors joining through 2027 anchor to their own T+0; the calendar structure holds, only the personalised timing shifts.
1 — Month by month, Jan–Dec 2027
1 January 2027 — Sprint 51 ship + cohort at T+30
T5 Save-flow Save-flow templates go live on 1 January for the Christmas Appeal cohort. The 4-week window (Christmas Appeal 2 Dec → end Jan) is the highest-risk period; involuntary decline volumes are highest here as first monthly charges hit and reveal any card errors from the sign-up flow.
Compliance Privacy Act annual notice refresh: check the /privacy-policy last-updated date is < 12 months old. Update if not.
2 February 2027 — Sprint 52 window + quiet touchpoint month
T5 Save-flow Continues from January — involuntary declines still elevated for a second month.
No planned touchpoints. This is a deliberate silence month — the Christmas Appeal cohort is at T+60 to T+90, and hearing from LWD too soon after gift feels performative. The quarterly impact micro-report (T2) is timed for March, not February, for exactly this reason.
Compliance Sprint 52 (Media & PR pack) opens. The stewardship function does not need to intervene — Sprint 52 is about press readiness, not donor communications.
3 March 2027 — First Q-impact micro-report
T2 Q-Impact The first live send of the quarterly impact micro-report (T2) fires in the last week of March, to all Christmas Appeal cohort donors now at T+90+. Content: one composite case story (labelled), three Q1 numbers (cases resolved Jan–Mar, K10 average drop, direct-service ratio), one line on what changed operationally.
Preparation: AI retention analyst pulls Q1 numbers by 15 March; AI copywrite drafts the composite story by 20 March; two-eyes review by 25 March; send Mon 30 March 09:15 AEDT.
Compliance ACNC AIS (Annual Information Statement) is due within 6 months of the financial year end (30 June); if LWD has been ACNC-registered by this point, AIS preparation starts here for the previous financial year.
4 April 2027 — Sprint 53 review + retention-curve first read
No new touchpoints for donors this month. The retention curve gets its first read at Sprint 53 review: how did the Christmas Appeal cohort behave through Q1? Is the 48% Y1→Y2 target still tracking? Adjustments (e.g. Template A subject-line changes) approved in April take effect from the next quarterly send.
Compliance Sprint 53 (post-launch review sprint) kicks off. Includes: Y1 audit prep begins; annual supporter report (T6) template drafted.
5 May 2027 — EOFY warm-up + T4 upgrade fires
T4 Upgrade The T4 upgrade prompt fires for the first time this month — for donors whose only gift was the once-off segment of the Christmas Appeal 2026, now at T+180. Single send, no follow-up. Expected volume: modest (Christmas Appeal was designed to convert to recurring at the point of gift, so the once-off segment is small).
The EOFY campaign (May–June, driven by Room A: individual major giving) runs in parallel but is a separate stream — not a stewardship touchpoint. Retention function ensures existing recurring donors are not double-messaged.
6 June 2027 — EOFY receipting + FY end
Compliance EOFY donation receipting: every donor who gave in FY2026–27 receives a tax-deductible receipt by 14 July 2027. Format: PDF attached to email, plain-text summary in body. Compliant with ATO requirements once DGR endorsement is confirmed.
T2 Q-Impact Q2 impact micro-report fires last week of June (Q2 cohort at T+180+). Same template pattern as March; content updated with Q2 numbers.
Compliance Financial year-end — Y1 audit period closes 30 June 2027. Audit fieldwork begins early July.
7 July 2027 — Post-EOFY quiet + audit-in-progress
No new touchpoints. EOFY receipts have just landed; the retention team’s job is not to add more email volume. Save-flow continues automatically on any declines.
Compliance Y1 audit fieldwork underway with RSM Australia. Retention analyst supplies the CRM data extracts requested by auditors.
8 August 2027 — Audit complete + T6 annual report drafted
Y1 audit completes early August. Annual supporter report (T6) is drafted using the finalised audit numbers. Full template pattern per stewardship-plan §4 T6: audited Y1 numbers, board chair letter, three composite cases, one page on what did not go to plan, one page on next-year direction.
Compliance ACNC AIS submitted before end of December (deadline is 6 months after FY end). Preparation starts in August, submission target October.
9 September 2027 — T6 annual report live + Q3 impact
T6 Annual report Annual supporter report sends to all Loyal + Lapsed donors (Stages 3 and 5). PDF (12 pages) attached, HTML page live at /supporter-report-2026-27 (Sprint 53 deliverable, not yet built). Two-week window between Y1 audit publication and the T6 send.
T2 Q-Impact Q3 impact micro-report fires last week of September — but only to donors who are Active (Stage 2), not to Loyal donors who just received T6. Prevents email fatigue.
10 October 2027 — Q3 read + Sprint 54 + AIS submission
No new donor-facing touchpoints. Sprint 54 review examines whether stewardship worked: is the retention curve on track toward 56% by Dec 2027? What did T4 achieve? Did the T6 annual report land? Do we need a Sprint 55 correction?
Compliance ACNC AIS submitted (target date: 15 October). Public via ACNC Charity Register after 4–6 week processing.
11 November 2027 — T3 anniversary window opens
T3 Anniversary Anniversary-of-first-gift emails fire for the earliest Christmas Appeal cohort (those who gave in the 28 Nov 2026 pre-Giving-Tuesday window). Each fires personalised on the individual anniversary date, staggered across late November.
Preparation: AI copywrite verifies the calibration paragraph (hours-of-mediation funded, annualised) is accurate given Q3 audit numbers. Template updated once, propagates automatically thereafter.
12 December 2027 — T3 anniversary peak + Y1 retention read
T3 Anniversary Anniversary emails peak this month — the majority of Christmas Appeal cohort gave on or around 2 Dec 2026 Giving Tuesday, so most T3 sends fire 1–7 Dec 2027.
T2 Q-Impact Q4 impact micro-report fires third week of December — before the deliberate silence period (25–31 Dec, per Sprint 49 discipline that extends into stewardship).
Silence 25–31 Dec: no automated sends, no save-flow retries. Involuntary declines during this window are held for retry on 2 Jan 2028.
Y1 retention read. By end December 2027, the cohort is a full year in. Retention is measured against the 48% Blackbaud target. Actual number reported in Sprint 55 review (Jan 2028).
2 — Compliance-calendar cross-check
Retention stewardship intersects with several statutory obligations. This table names the collisions and how we manage them.
| Compliance obligation | Deadline | Retention overlap | Management rule |
|---|---|---|---|
| Privacy Act 1988 — APP 5 collection notice refresh | Annually (12 months from last publish) | All touchpoints link to /privacy-policy | Ops lead confirms Jan and Jul that /privacy-policy is < 12 months old. If not, refresh publish before next touchpoint sends. |
| Spam Act 2003 — unsubscribe compliance | 5 business days (per Act); we honour within 24hrs | Every touchpoint has one-click unsubscribe | Ops lead checks weekly that no send has fired to an unsubscribed address in the previous 7 days. Zero-tolerance red-line. |
| ATO donation receipting | Annually by 14 July (Y-end) | T6 annual supporter report follows the receipt, not the reverse | Receipts fire early July; T6 draft begins August; T6 live September. No overlap. |
| ACNC AIS lodgement | 6 months after FY end (typically 31 December) | AIS numbers must match T6 annual report numbers | AIS draft cross-checked against T6 draft during August; both use finalised audit figures. Discrepancy = ship blocker. |
| ASIC RG 96 language check | Every send | Every stewardship email potentially references debt work | Every template has RG 96 pre-flight review before first live send; annual re-review in Jan for any regulatory update. |
| FIA Code of Practice | Continuous compliance | Donor Bill of Rights applies to every touchpoint | Quarterly stewardship audit checks compliance against all 10 items of the Donor Bill of Rights. Any gap = P0 fix. |
| Payment Card Industry (PCI-DSS) | Continuous | Save-flow card-update links are the highest-risk vector | Card update happens on the payment processor’s hosted page (Stripe/Adyen), never on LWD-controlled UI. One-time tokens on the update link expire in 14 days. |
3 — Rhythm rules (do-not-violate)
Four rhythm rules run above the calendar. If a proposed send would violate any of them, it is pulled — regardless of what the calendar says.
- Never two touchpoints within 14 days. If a donor has received any stewardship email in the last 14 days, no further touchpoint fires until day 15. Save-flow is exempt (it is transactional, not stewardship).
- Silence 25–31 December. No automated sends between 25 and 31 December, ever. This includes save-flow retries. Involuntary declines during this window are held to 2 January retry.
- Silence 24–26 April (Anzac Day weekend). No stewardship sends across the Anzac Day long weekend. This is not a statutory rule; it is an editorial choice to respect a memorial period.
- Never send Monday before 08:30 AEDT/AEST. Retention email opens are highest 09:00–10:30 on Tuesday and Wednesday; Monday early-morning sends land in a Monday-inbox pile and underperform. All planned sends target Tue/Wed 09:15 AEDT.
4 — Quick-lookup: touchpoint by donor status
Reverse-index for the operations lead: given a donor at status X on date Y, which touchpoints have they received and which are next?
| Donor status | Last touchpoint received | Next touchpoint | Earliest fire date |
|---|---|---|---|
| New (T+0 to T+30) | T1 Welcome (auto-fired at T+4h) | T2 Q-Impact | Next quarterly send window (Mar / Jun / Sep / Dec end-week) |
| Active (T+31 to T+180) | T1 or T2 depending on join date | T2 Q-Impact OR T4 Upgrade (if once-off at T+180) | Whichever comes first per calendar |
| Active (T+180 to T+365) | T2 Q-Impact (last quarterly) | Next T2 Q-Impact, then T3 Anniversary | T3 fires on individual anniversary date |
| Loyal (Y2 onwards) | T3 Anniversary (last) | Next T2 Q-Impact + annual T6 | Q-cadence continues; T6 in September |
| At-risk (missed payment) | T5 Save-flow (auto-fired on decline) | T5 second retry, or graceful move to Stage 5 | Per template retry schedule |
| Lapsed (90 days post-cancel) | Final lapse email at Stage-4 → Stage-5 move | T6 annual report only | September of following year |