By Amanda Ellis
An annual report, sometimes called an impact report, tells stakeholders about your work, your results, and how you’re a good steward of your resources. If you’re a communications professional for a nonprofit, you know these can be anything but simple and often involve a flurry of last minute activity.
While it’s easy to feel frustrated about slogging through another to-do list item, try to think of your annual report as a prime once-a-year opportunity to share what matters about the work you’re doing.
Our Q Strategies team recently had the honor of producing the Downtown Chattanooga Alliance’s annual report, which is what got me thinking about this topic. The day I sat down to begin writing this post, our local United Way’s latest impact report landed in my inbox.
It was so well done that it inspired me to choose some standout annual report examples from our local nonprofits and get their insight on the dos and don’ts of annual reports.
United Way of Greater Chattanooga
View United Way’s 2020-21 impact report here. United Way marketing coordinator Noah Reaves designed this online-only piece, with video support from a local videographer and some writing support from other marketing team members and United Way community partners.
This report caught my attention with its sleek and simple layout, numbers that animate and clean storytelling components.
“My favorite thing about the piece was the part in which we explain how our Community Investment model works, and then provide stories from our partners that bring it closer to home,” Reaves says. “Having the balance of both was very important for us to have. And having metrics around our awesome volunteer engagement was great too.”
Reflection Riding Arboretum & Nature Center
Another great example of a simple, online-only annual report is Reflection Riding Arboretum & Nature Center’s latest annual report, which you can view here.
The strong photos and unfussy organization drew me in. Creator Heather DeGaetano, also Managing Director & General Counsel at Reflection Riding, says you don’t need lots of design resources to create something inspiring and effective.
“Don't start from scratch,” she says. “Use a template or form from Mailchimp or Squarespace, etc. to get started. Nothing is worse than a blank page, so use your resources to make your process quicker, easier, and less expensive.”
ArtsBuild’s most recent annual report, created in-house by Kathryn Wroth, ArtsBuild Director of Development, is a unique print piece that they’ve made available online here.
This report’s square format is designed to look like a record cover, a fun and relevant way to tie in the organization’s mission of building community through the arts.
“We settled on a theme that seemed to capture our year,” Wroth says. “In 2020, we had to refocus our work on what was most important during the pandemic. We came up with the analogy of a musical ‘remix’ – in the sense that we had to adapt components of our mission. With that theme in mind, we created a simple annual report to look like a record cover and brought in design elements to reference that. We printed it at 7” square but we could easily also print it like a full size record sleeve.”
Dos and Don’ts from Our Experts
DON’T be afraid to keep it simple
If there’s one thing every expert here highlighted - it’s this. Your report doesn’t have to be complicated to be effective. If you have the time and resources, feel free to get snazzy, but short and sweet or clean and simple are equally worthy goals for your annual report.
DO embrace storytelling
“Include stories that accurately portray your work,” Reaves says. “Through storytelling, you can paint a better picture of the kind of impact you make. Add elements that make the report enjoyable to read - whether it's through animation, pictures, videos, and/or interactive drop down menus and buttons.”
DON’T wait until the last minute
“I collect stories for our annual report throughout the year, when we have a big media splash, or accomplish a big section of our strategic plan,” DeGaetano says. “I save relevant photos and content from our weekly newsletters to a folder so I'll have them ready to update and recycle. This saves lots of time.”
DO engage your team
“I ask my leadership team for a list of their top 1-2 successes from the year before and build short stories around those things,” DeGaetano says.
Reaves points out that any numbers you use should be triple-checked, with relevant dates included. He also highlights the importance of making your report easy to understand, leaving out jargon that’s meaningless to people outside the nonprofit world. Your team can be an objective resource to help ensure your annual report will resonate with the right audiences.
DON’T stress about the format
You know your audience best, and deciding not to print your annual report could save significant time and money. You’ve got lots of options for formatting:
PDF only
Video
Webpage
Infographic
… and anything else you can come up with. Will your audience appreciate a cutting edge approach? If so, let your creativity loose.
Wroth also says it’s okay to be short and sweet.
“Don’t go overboard with information,” she says. “Stay with the most important messages or content about your mission that you need to share with your donors and constituents. This was the first year we tried a smaller size format. We were surprised by how much you can still share in less space.”
DO make your annual report easy to access
Whatever format you choose, make sure your report is easy to find and people see it. If print is your preferred option, you’ll still want to be sure it’s available online in some way.
Another idea is to publish an online-only report, but also produce a postcard (much less expensive to print and mail) for key supporters to announce the online annual report with a link or QR code linking to the full version. Have a communications plan in place for promoting your piece.
“Whether it's on social media, email, or your website, make sure the report is shared with as many people as possible,” Reaves says. “Reports like this are for everyone.”
Need more support on your annual report? Call us at Q Strategies.