This season I am working my way through every new Hallmark Christmas movie, which is a real commitment. Hallmark Channel is premiering 34 original movies for its 17th annual Countdown to Christmas, the most in the event’s history. The tradition started with just four.
We all know the formula. A big-city professional (shout out to the many fictional female marketers and publicists) lands in a cozy small town, meets a handsome local, hits a problem that threatens the holiday and gets a happy ending before the last snowflake falls. We know exactly how it ends, and we watch anyway. A Syracuse University media psychology researcher told Yahoo Entertainment that these movies are predictable, positive and make us feel good. One recent premiere, A Merry Scottish Christmas, drew 3.33 million viewers, beating every cable news program that week.
That same storytelling formula works to make nonprofits’ year-end giving campaigns stand out to donors and the reporters. Last Giving Tuesday, 38.1 million Americans gave a record $4 billion. This year it falls on December 1, three weeks from today. Here is the script.
Give the audience one person to root for. Hallmark asks you to care about one baker, one Christmas tree farmer, one marketer stuck in a snowstorm. Donors and journalists work the same way. They love a hero they can connect with on an emotional level. This spring, Brittany Scott, owner of The Braid Station in Fall River, captained a team at Project Bread’s 58th Walk for Hunger. She first walked as a child with her church. Her full-circle story in the Fall River Reporter gave her neighbors a reason to lace up for an event expected to raise more than $1 million.
Name the problem. Every holiday movie needs a conflict: the inn is booked, the bakery might close. Nonprofits face real crises, like a surge in basic needs, a lack of volunteers, reduced federal funding and competition for financial support. In October, The Boston House, which gives families of children with cancer a no-cost place to stay near treatment, placed a letter to the editor in The Boston Globe titled “When there is no room at the inn for patients” in response to an article about the medical housing shortage for families in Boston. It named the problem plainly, and a week later a reader donated in response.
Set it in a small town. Every Hallmark movie takes place in one town where everybody knows everybody. For nonprofits, that town is the hometown paper / website with smaller staff and a loyal readership ripe for telling personal stories that inspire others to donate, volunteer and participate. Somerville’s Kristen Erekson has mentored through Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eastern Massachusetts for 20 years, and she and her Little Sister, Joi’elle, were named the agency’s 2025 Match of the Year. Each December, Erekson matches gifts dollar for dollar, and Teak Media brings that story home to The Somerville Times, which covered her campaign in 2024 and again in 2025. Her story travels to larger media outlets, too. This spring, WBUR interviewed her and The Boston Globe quoted her in its coverage of the agency’s celebration for graduating mentees.
Let the whole town show up. The final act always brings the community together. Every October, Old North Church invites neighbors to bring their pets for its annual Blessing of the Animals. This year, Teak shared the tradition beyond the North End. The Boston Globe put it on the front of its Metro section, the Boston Herald ran a photo gallery and five Boston TV stations aired previews or post-event photos. Coverage like that puts neighbors (and their four-legged family members) in front of everyone who missed it, and gives them a reason to come next year.
If you want help casting your year-end story or getting it in front of the right hometown audience, that is the kind of work we love at Teak Media. Reach out, we’d love to partner with you.
