Six tips for creating a standout annual report
Your annual report is more than a recap of the last year, it is an invaluable fundraising tool that allows you to recognize everyone who has helped you make progress toward your goal over the past year — donors, volunteers, sponsors, funders, and other community members. When done right, it helps you strengthen existing relationships and cultivate new ones.
But we won’t lie, it can also be a beast to produce.
Here are a few things to keep in mind as you wrangle all the moving pieces and make decisions on how best to transparently showcase your impact and your successes.
Incorporate your annual report into your larger strategy
A lot of time and effort goes into creating an annual report; carefully thinking through its purpose — and your intended audience — will help you create one that reinforces and supports your organization’s overall strategic goals.
Choose the right format (or formats)
A traditional annual report is a book-length document, but that doesn’t mean yours has to be conventional. Ask yourself what your audience wants to see and what will best capture (and hold) their attention. There are many options, here are a few:
Printed book. This could be as few as eight pages, or as long as whatever you want. Most of our clients opt for between 12 and 20 pages — long enough to share plenty of valuable information but short enough to hold attention spans.
Brochure or newsletter. Keep it as short as a three-panel brochure, or a four-page newsletter. It’s a faster read, and cheaper to produce but requires greater focus in the planning stages.
Digital download. If you want it to feel like a book, but don’t want to spend on printing, create a beautiful digital download. Don’t forget to invest in accessibility tagging so that, like your website, it can be read by screen readers.
Video. A professionally created and edited video annual report shows, rather than tells, your audience what you’ve accomplished.
Interactive website. Build a webpage or mini-site for an interactive version of your annual report. This allows for an immersive experience as your audience clicks through photo galleries, expands graphs, or plays videos.
If budget allows, choose multiple formats to reach your audience in different ways.
Put your audience first
It’s important to keep your audience front and centre — the report isn’t about you and your accomplishments, rather it’s about what was possible because of your donors. This subtle shift in positioning (and language) lets your audience know that you’re truly grateful for their support.
Showcase metrics in a way the audience can understand
A long list of stats can be overwhelming to the reader and holds little meaning when not properly explained. Data is organizationally important to gather, but how it’s collected may not be the best way to present it to your audience. Choose to share the numbers that will have the greatest impact from a donor viewpoint and then present them as infographics or graphs, or using other interesting graphic treatments.
Choose compelling visuals
Design choices are just as powerful as the writing as it visually communicates your theme. The colours you choose, the graphic elements you create, and the images you select all play a part in telling the story.
Look to the future
While an annual report may be a look at the past fiscal year, it’s not the end, it’s the beginning. By showing donors what’s coming next, they’ll see how you still need their support to make the future a reality.
Curious as to what donors really want to see in an annual report? Read The five key components of a successful annual report.