Emmaus House — Follow-Up Sequence

Target: Emmaus House — 1017 Hank Aaron Dr SW, Atlanta GA 30315 (Peoplestown, south Atlanta) — long-running 501(c)(3) anti-poverty nonprofit

Contact: no named contact published — route through the general inbox

Channel(s): Email info@emmaushouse.org (primary); Instagram DM @emmaushouse (alternate); phone (404) 525-5948 (help hotline (404) 523-2856); Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube

Source first-touch: registry/leads/drafts/emmaus-house-outreach.md (G6, built 2026-09-19)

Source row: targets.md G6 (Web-sourced candidates 2026-09-19)

Generated: 2026-09-20 (night-shift)

Assumes: no reply to the first touch (free short piece, they pick the story, they own the footage)

Register: small, donor-funded, mission-driven anti-poverty nonprofit; program-and-resident storytelling, donor retention, impact reporting, volunteer voices, and year-end giving — not a commercial sell

Cadence

|-------|--------|---------|------------------|

| 1 | D+5 after first touch | Email | The programs-page gap: a programs page names the Freedom School and the pantry, it can't show a kid learning to read or a family back on its feet |

| 2 | D+12 | Email | Free one-page "one program day, sixty seconds" donor-update mini-guide (Appendix A), angled at the volunteer/community voice |

| 3 | D+20 | Email (or DM) | Impact-report-to-screen idea, plus an honest proof point (Detroit Action, held soft) |

| 4 | D+28 | Email | New-Executive-Director first-months angle: turn the transition into a donor story |

| 5 | D+36 | Email (or DM) | Q4 year-end giving / thank-you turn, door-open close |

Flags — read before sending

1. No named contact. There is no named staff member in the G6 row or the first-touch draft. Address the org generally — "Hi —" — and never invent a person. The new permanent Executive Director (announced July 2026) is not named anywhere; if Brandyn looks up the ED's name before sending, he can swap the greeting to a first name, otherwise keep it general.

2. No invented email. info@emmaushouse.org is the only published email. Do not invent a staff address or a new social handle. Email is primary; Instagram DM @emmaushouse is a labeled alternate for at most one or two touches (3 and 5). Pick one channel per touch — never double- or triple-send.

3. Facts confined to the first-touch draft and the G6 row. CDF Freedom School, food pantry, Southside Works, Families On The Move, new ED July 2026, 2026 Impact Report, the Peoplestown address — all from the row. Do not invent donor counts, funds raised, pounds distributed, staff/board/ED names, program statistics, event dates, grants, awards, or quotes. The "kid learning to read in the Freedom School" framing is the standard purpose of a CDF Freedom School (summer literacy for children); it names no specific person or event. A "family back on its feet" is a category, not an invented individual.

4. Touch 3 must stay at "mission-driven media work I've done, Detroit Action included." No results claims, no "client" language. Do not imply Emmaus House is a client anywhere — it is a cold prospect.

5. Touch 4 names no start date for the ED's tenure. The ED was announced July 2026; keep the framing to "first months" / "first season" and do not assert exactly when a listening tour starts or ends. If Brandyn wants to tie it to a real event, confirm the ED's actual start date first.

6. The seasonal hook is Q4 year-end giving (the biggest donor window of the year), made sharper by the fresh 2026 Impact Report. Touch 5 names no specific campaign or date.

7. Stop the moment they reply. This is a conversation, not a drip. Any response restarts as a real thread and the remaining touches get dropped.

Touch 1 — The programs-page gap (D+5)

Subject: the programs page names them, it can't show them

Hi —

Your programs page names the Freedom School, the pantry, Southside Works, Families On The Move. What it can't do is show a kid learning to read in the Freedom School, or a family back on its feet in Peoplestown.

That's the story I'd point a camera at first. Not the program, the person in it. If there's a family or a kid from this summer's Freedom School whose face you'd put in front of a donor, that's where I'd start.

~85 words. Leads with the gap between listing the four programs and showing them, not a re-offer of the free shoot. "You pick it" carries forward from the first touch. The register is donor retention — a small nonprofit's comms problem, not a video pitch.

Touch 2 — Free asset + the volunteer voice (D+12)

Subject: a one-page guide you could hand to whoever runs a program

Hi —

I put together a one-page guide for turning a single program day into a 60-second donor update, shot on a phone. It's written so you could hand it to whoever runs the Freedom School or the pantry — no camera crew needed to start.

It's below, no strings. The volunteer voice is the part most orgs skip, and it's usually the part that moves a donor. If the "one story a month" rhythm reads like something that'd feed your donor letters, that's the part I'd want to build with you.

— Brandyn
Ghost Coast Video · ghostcoast.video

~100 words. Delivers Appendix A. The "hand it to whoever runs a program" framing is aimed at a comms/development person who has to make the case internally, not at a direct video buyer. The volunteer/community voice is the distinct lead value this touch.

Touch 3 — Impact report to screen (D+20)

Subject: the Impact Report is a list, the screen shows the person

Hi —

The 2026 Impact Report names the work. What it can't do is put a donor in the room on a program day, or let them hear a neighbor say what changed. That's the one thing a printed report can't carry.

What I know from the mission-driven media work I've done, Detroit Action included, is that this doesn't wait on a production budget. The stories are already in Peoplestown. It's a matter of pointing a camera at them.

If you want, I'll turn one page of that report into a 60-second piece, so you can see what it does sitting next to the printed version.

— Brandyn
Ghost Coast Video · ghostcoast.video

~110 words. The impact-report-to-screen angle, tuned to a donor-funded nonprofit heading into year-end. Detroit Action stays at "mission-driven media work I've done" — a fact, not a results claim and not a client relationship. Does not imply Emmaus House is a client anywhere.

Alternate channel (Instagram DM @emmaushouse): same message, addressed "Hi —", condensed to the report-versus-room idea and the "turn one page of the report into a 60-second piece" line, signed "— Brandyn / ghostcoast.video".

Touch 4 — New ED, first months (D+28)

Subject: a new Executive Director's first months, on camera

Hi —

A new Executive Director is a set of first impressions, and right now they're all happening off camera. A 90-second piece that follows the ED through the Freedom School, meeting families, standing in the pantry line, turns a leadership transition into a story a donor can follow from the start.

It's also the cheapest donor communication available right now, because the moment is already happening whether there's a camera or not.

If the new ED's first season is something you'd want on the record, I'd start there.

— Brandyn
Ghost Coast Video · ghostcoast.video

~90 words. The new-ED angle, distinct from the program-day and report angles. Names no start date and no person. "Standing in the pantry line" is imagery about a role, not a fabricated individual or event.

Touch 5 — Year-end giving, door-open close (D+36)

Subject: one face beats the year-end letter

Hi —

Q4 is the biggest donor window of the year, and the hard part of a year-end ask is making a year of work land as something a donor can feel. A 60-second thank-you — a kid from the Freedom School, a family at the pantry, a volunteer who shows up every week — does more for the second gift than the letter alone.

I've sent a few notes over the last month and won't keep them coming if the timing's off. The offer stands as it was: one free piece, your pick, you own the footage. If Emmaus House ever wants its people on camera, I'm around.

— Brandyn
Ghost Coast Video · ghostcoast.video

~110 words. Combines the Q4 year-end giving turn with the door-open close. No ask, no recap, no guilt. The "second gift" line is the donor-retention register, not a hard sell.

Alternate channel (Instagram DM @emmaushouse): same message, condensed to the year-end/thank-you idea and the door-open line, signed "— Brandyn / ghostcoast.video".

Appendix A — "One program day, sixty seconds" donor-update mini-guide

The deliverable for Touch 2. Self-contained; paste into an email or drop into a PDF/Google Doc.

One program day, sixty seconds — turning a day at Emmaus House into a donor update on a phone

What it is. A short recipe for taking one real day in the work — a Freedom School morning, a pantry distribution, a Southside Works session, a Families On The Move meeting — and turning it into a 60-second update a donor can feel. Shot on a phone, no crew.

Why it works. A donor gives to a person, not a program. The programs page names the Freedom School and the pantry; it can't show a kid learning to read or a family back on its feet. One honest minute of a real day does what the whole page can't.

The shot list (shoot in this order, in whatever order the day actually happens).

The room before the program starts. Empty chairs, folded tables, the quiet setup.
Hands at work. A volunteer stacking food, a teacher prepping a lesson, a door being unlocked.
A volunteer's face while they're working, not posing.
A resident's face while they're not the subject — the quiet moment between tasks, looking at something that matters to them.
The room full. The same room from the first shot, now loud and moving.
The quiet moment after. A chair pushed in, a cleared table, a volunteer tying an apron.
One detail that says "this place is real." A thank-you card wall, a sign-in sheet with names, a kid's drawing on a wall.

The one question. Ask one person — a resident, a volunteer, whoever's willing — one question and let them answer in their own words: "What changed for you here?" Don't coach the answer. That single answer is the whole story.

The cut. One person, one place, one change. Sixty seconds. The phone footage carries the room; the one answer carries the meaning. End on the person, not the logo.

What a donor gets. A face behind the word "impact." A reason to give again. A piece they can share, which does the asking for the org.

What Emmaus House gets. Donor retention — the second gift is the hard one, and it's earned with a face. Footage for the next impact report and the year-end letters. A library that builds itself one program day at a time, at no cost to start.

The rule of thumb. A donor remembers the kid learning to read, not the number of programs.

Notes for Brandyn

Appendix A is ready to deploy as a one-page PDF or Google Doc for Touch 2. The "one program day, sixty seconds" angle is what makes it Emmaus-House-specific rather than a generic nonprofit checklist, and it is distinct from the FCS "One Block, In Place" one-pager, the Grove Park "one block, ninety seconds" guide, and the HWG "From Vacant Lot to 90 Seconds" guide.
Strongest touch if only one gets sent: Touch 1 (the programs-page gap). Touch 5 (year-end) is the close second because it's tied to the Q4 giving calendar, which is exactly when a donor-funded nonprofit needs story assets.
Detroit Action stays soft. It's referenced in Touch 3 only as "mission-driven media work I've done." Do not upgrade to a case study or a results claim. If Brandyn wants to name it more concretely, confirm the current state of that retainer first.
The greeting stays general until Brandyn looks up the new ED's name (announced July 2026, unnamed in the row). Every touch is written as "Hi —" for that reason.
Downstream asks stay held until a real conversation, per the first-touch draft: paid recurring series, impact-report production, year-end campaign video. None of these appear as asks in this sequence.
No fabricated clients, metrics, program names, dates, or testimonials anywhere. Only Emmaus House's own published facts are named: the four programs, the 2026 Impact Report, the new ED (July 2026), and the Peoplestown address.