5 Tips for Writing Your Annual Report
Writing your organization’s Annual Report can feel like a daunting task. There are a ton of decisions to make about the look and what to include. Once all of that is decided, it takes time and effort to gather the information and make sure it is accurate. If you hire a graphic design company, the process can also be costly.
Here are some suggestions on how to make the process easier and even a bit fun while producing a report that your supporters will enjoy reading!
1. To Print or Not?
No and Yes. Printing and mailing hundreds of copies of your Annual Report is costly and not necessary. You can create a beautiful report and share it electronically with almost all of your supporters by email, through your website, on your Facebook page etc. It is, however, nice to send your largest donors a printed copy with a personal thank you for their support. You’ll also want to send copies to anyone who was highlighted in the report such as a volunteer or client.
It’s a good idea to keep a printed copy from each year in a binder that contains your organization’s other historical and significant items such as event invitations or newspaper articles. Maybe keep a few copies in the office for visitors to look at as well. Create a targeted list of recipients and print only what you need.
2. Hire a Design Company or DIY?
If you are a large organization that has hired companies in the past, loved the work and it is part of the budget, there may not be any reason to change what you are doing. If, however, money is tight, it is easier than ever to create your own professional looking Annual Report. Here are a few options:
Find a Template Online
Venngage.com has several annual report templates that can be accessed with their free plan. They also have a non-profit plan for $10 a month that provides access to templates, icons, and other graphics.
Design Your Own
If you have someone on your team with graphic skills they can design the report on Illustrator, Adobe or other graphic software. The first year may take some time but then you will have the bones of a report to edit and use each year.
If you aren’t already using Canva, now is the time! It is an amazing free, online website for creating beautiful graphic designs. There are tons of templates for your online and printed marketing needs. Unfortunately, they are a bit lacking in the non-profit Annual report area.
This is the fun part, at least for me! Canva makes it so easy to pop your information in and create something you will be proud of!
3. What is the purpose?
Before you dive into the process of putting together your report, it is a good idea to be clear on its purpose. Do you need it to submit with grants? Do you use it to share accomplishments with your donors? Does it tell the story of your organization to new and potential supporters? Does it set a theme for the upcoming year or aim to promote a specific program or organizational need?
4. What to include?
Director’s Letter
The annual report should include a letter from a leader in the organization. This is typically from the Board President or Executive Director, or both. The best letters are compelling. They briefly recap the past year highlighting a few accomplishments and perhaps a challenge and how it was overcome. One way to make them compelling is to share a personal story. Perhaps this is the reason the writer got involved, what the past year meant to them, or a meaningful project or client interaction. Often the letters set a vision or goal for the upcoming year with an invitation for readers to get involved.
Mission, Vision & Theme
Every Annual Report should include your mission statement as well as vision statement, if you have one. Having a theme for your Annual Report makes it more interesting to read, helps you create focus throughout the report, and differentiates this year’s report from the others.
Volunteer Story
Including a story about and thank you to an exemplary volunteer can be a meaningful way to tell the story of your organization. Volunteers choose to work for your organization… without pay! They probably have unique insight into what makes your organization a wonderful place to give their time. Their story may encourage others to give their time and money.
Donor or Partnership Story
Just like it is persuasive to include a volunteer story, including a story about a donor or important partnership can move readers to give or get involved. This may be a story of a significant individual donor, a foundation, a company, or an organization that provided a needed in-kind gift. Find out why the gift was given and let your audience know how it was used to make an impact.
Client Stories
Individual success stories are almost always more compelling than statistics and numbers. Powerful stories paint the picture of what life was like for your client before you got involved, what services were provided, and what the positive impact has been.
In addition to specific client stories, sprinkling client quotes and testimonials throughout your report is a powerful way to demonstrate your impact.
Photos
A picture is worth a thousand words. You’ve heard that adage many times before, I am sure. That is because it is true! Photos of the work you do, show your readers who you serve and what your work and the results look like.
If your photos from the year are not already organized and easily accessible, here are a few tips. By the way, this is a great virtual job for a volunteer!
Create a google folder and ask your main staff members and volunteers to upload their photos from the past year.
Go through your social media accounts, download the best photos from there and add them to the google folder.
If you had any professional photographer shoots, make sure to include those as well.
Identify the best photos and create captions to describe what is happening and how it related to your mission.
Be sure to ask permission (if you haven’t already) from the people in the photos to publicize them.
If you do not have enough photos to include in the report, make a plan to take them as soon as possible.
** This past year, 2020, may have been tougher to capture photos. Photos of computer screens and zoom calls may not be as heart warming as children on a playground but they certainly tell the story of 2020. You will also want to be sensitive to mask-wearing and social distancing requirements.
Accomplishments
This is one of the most important areas of the report. It is an opportunity to share your incredible work over the past year. Often, organizations try to fit in too much information or throw a lot of meaningless numbers at their audience. To best demonstrate your impact, pick only a handful of your most important or significant impacts. Highlight both numbers (how many served, participants, meals provided, financial aid given etc.) and changes or impact.
When possible, use a graphic or chart versus a list of numbers. Be VERY CAREFUL about how much space you spend describing your programs. It is easy to get too wordy, wanting to let the public know about everything you do. Find someone outside your organization to ready the description and ask if they get a clear picture of how the program impacts the population it serves and the community.
Financials
With your financials, you want to offer your audience transparency and an overall picture. Unless required by funders, you do not need to include your entire profit and loss statement. You can tell your financial story with a graph that demonstrates how much money goes to each program versus operations and fundraising. On the income side, the graph can show what main buckets your financial support comes from.
Donor Lists
Creating an accurate list of your donors can be the most time consuming part of your annual report. While it’s nice to recognize your donors in print, it is also easy to accidentally leave someone off or misspell a name and do more harm than good. One solution is to list donors separately, like Habitat for Humanity has done below. Then that linked list can be more easily edited without needing to edit the whole document. You’ll also be able to limit the pages of your report and keep just the most impactful sections.
Cover
The cover one of the most important aspects of this project. It is what people will see first whether they are looking at a printed version or seeing it online. It should highlight your organization and the theme of your report with one professional-looking photo. If you don’t have one that works, it is worth spending the time capturing moments in your programs to get a cover-worthy photograph. See if there is a professional photographer who will donate their time for a mention in your report, website, and social media. If not, someone with a good camera phone and an eye for photography will work.
Call to Action
Remember the purpose of your report. Have you done what you set out to do? Does it provide a heartfelt thank you to the past year’s supporters? Does it give readers a clear message about how they can get involved?
5. How to Share it
So, you have spent lots of time creating a stunning report, now what? Make sure it doesn’t just stay on a shelf collecting dust. Think of the unveiling of your report as its own fundraising event. Who needs to receive it? When and how will you invite them? Here are some ideas:
Put it on your website so you have an easy place to link to.
Send an email with report highlights and a link to the whole report to everyone on your list.
Post on social media. You can do this several times with images from each section.
Mail out printed copies to large donors and people highlighted in the report.
Add a link to the bottom of your email signature. Learn about our 2020 accomplishments!
Sample Annual Reports:
Have a great Annual Report? I’d love to link to it for others to see! Reach out at hello@growthcapacityservices.net or https://www.facebook.com/growthcapacityservices.
Want a template, so you don’t need to start from scratch?
I’m also happy to answer questions and chat about helping with your upcoming report!
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