A 72-hour gut check for hard news cycles

After ICU nurse Alex Pretti was shot and killed by a U.S. Border Patrol agent during an immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis this weekend, the deliverables on your to-do list may feel like they couldn’t possibly matter.

If that’s where you’re at this week, you’re not alone.

I don’t have answers for how to get through this moment as a human, let alone as a marketer.

But I do know one thing: if your first instinct when you sit down at your desk is to draft a fundraising appeal that profits off tragedy like the one below, please don’t.

Tragedy should never be a content calendar opportunity. (I really wish I didn’t have to say that out loud.) Here’s how to approach tough moments:

The gut check
Before you send anything right now — or let anything fly on autopilot — pull up your queue and ask these questions:

1. What’s already scheduled to go out in the next 72 hours? Emails, social posts, ads, automated sequences — all of it. If you use a welcome series, check that too. What will a new subscriber see if they sign up today?

2. Will your supporters care about this right now? That impact report. The end-of-month goal. The “just checking in” cultivation touch.

Ask yourself honestly: Does this reflect what your audience is feeling, or does it feel disconnected from the moment?

3. Is this capitalizing on pain — or responding to it? There’s a difference between meeting a moment and exploiting it.

If your organization doesn’t work directly on the issue dominating the news, find ways to amplify the work of other organizations that are.

4. What would actually be useful right now? Maybe it’s not a fundraising appeal. Maybe it’s:

Sometimes the most valuable thing you can send is something that helps, not something that asks.

What “meeting the moment” actually means
I wrote previously about how to pivot when all hell breaks loose and about rapid-response pre-planning — building a culture of responsiveness, streamlining approvals and image templates, and moving fast when the moment calls for it.

But sometimes meeting the moment doesn’t mean moving fast. Sometimes it means pausing. It means accepting that your end-of-month goal may shift.

It means pulling something off the schedule because the timing is wrong, even if the content is fine.

It means making sure your work actually reflects your values, not just your calendar or ROI.

A quick checklist
If you have any influence over your organization’s digital comms, here’s what to do before you close your laptop today:

☐ Audit what’s scheduled for the next 3–7 days (email, social, ads, automations)
☐ Flag anything that feels disconnected from the current moment
☐ Ask: Would our supporters rather hear this, or something else entirely?
☐ Decide: Pause, pivot, or proceed — but make it a conscious choice
☐ Check your welcome series and automated sequences (they’re easy to forget)
☐ If you proceed, gut-check the tone — not just the content

The bottom line
The news cycle doesn’t care about your content calendar. And your supporters probably aren’t thinking about your campaign goals right now.

The organizations that earn trust in hard moments are the ones that show up with something useful, or at least know when not make the moment all about themselves.

Check our events list for more or reply to this email to submit one for consideration.

‘Til next time!
Sara

P.S. Your agency’s or organization’s learnings from year-end campaigns or A/B tests could help spark more wins across the sector! Reply directly to this email to share your successes.