Why Annual Reports Matter for Non-profits

Non-profits serve many masters. Donors fund your work. The media scrutinizes your impact. Your board wants to see results, and your employees need to be motivated by your cause. Potential partners want to understand how you help, and so do your volunteers. From addressing policy issues to managing public relations, your message has to reach many audiences.

There’s clear pressure to maximize your budget. You need high quality communications to achieve the greatest possible impact — which means powerful design. But it has to be budget-friendly. The best solution is a well-constructed annual report.

Why? Because a good annual report puts a clear, cohesive message in front of all your stakeholders. Across multiple channels. Year after year.

Donors, potential donors, employers, volunteers, and board members all want to support a productive organization. Every stakeholder wants to see positive community growth and lasting impact. Annual reports communicate your organization’s value in many ways. Annual reports —

• Show your appreciation. Publishing donor names as a thank you acknowledges the significance of their contributions and demonstrates your appreciation.
• Help you stay relevant. Your non-profit stays relevant to any and all groups when they see your impact demonstrated thoroughly each year.
• Build trust. By publishing your financials and telling the stories of those who benefit from your services, you provide a sense of accountability. Transparency always reinforces trust.

You build credibility by showing —

• Validation from respected sources. Publishing certifications from GuideStar and other non-profit certifying organizations reinforces your message of accountability.
• Data to support your work’s impact. Infographics condense massive data into easy to digest information. The right design can help people understand your numbers more easily, trust their authority, and grasp their significance.

Best of all, annual report content may be repurposed across various touch points.

• Video for fast reach. Use video for your online version. Share video segments through your social media streams for ongoing touch points and shares.
• Print for impact. In a digital world, print stands out. Print a small number for key audiences and keep costs down.
• Digital for interactivity. Browser viewing and downloads are fully supported by PDFs and other e-publishing interactive software.
• Digital for the environment. Less paper means less negative environmental impact. Your stakeholders will appreciate the gesture along with the ease of access and sharing.
• Digital for accessibility. Make your PDF accessible to broaden your audience and increase your website’s SEO.

The annual report is a smart investment for raising funds, demonstrating impact, and reinforcing trust. Without your annual report, how will your stakeholders get the current big picture of where you’re at? How will you succinctly demonstrate how successful you’ve been? Who you’re partnering with? How efficiently you manage your funds? The annual report communicates all of this. For this reason, the annual report should be a priority for your communications budget.