Introduction
I want to begin this blog post about nonprofit annual reports with an uncomfortable truth:
Many non-profits don’t like their annual reports. Why?
To me, there are many reasons, including:
- Very long in length
- Formulaic
- Dull
- Boring
To change this, many non-profit professionals turn to Google to search for resources about how to make these annual reports better. You may have done this yourself. You may have come across how-to guides, tips and best practices on topics such as:
- Graphic design
- What to include and exclude in your annual reports
- How to structure your report
- Why your reports are boring
- Templates and examples
These resources can be helpful. In fact, I recommend several of them, including this step-by-step guide to nonprofit annual reports by Keela and this detailed annual report guide by FlippingBook.
However, among several of these resources, I’m noticing an interesting trend:
Many guides and resources about nonprofit annual reports tell you how to fix them instead of telling you how to actually approach writing them. Have you noticed that?
The title of the resource may include “writing” or “how to write” but there is no mention of the actual writing. Why is that?
The writing has to be good, first.
Annual reports are like any other strategic communications asset for one important reason:
The execution of the asset will only be as good as the written content. If that written content is not good, relevant or meaningful to your target audience, there is nothing that will save it. In other words if your annual report already lacks clarity in terms of its content, structure and ideas, then not much else will not change that for the better, not even graphic design.
Why?
The written content of annual reports is where the ideas begin. In other words, if you want to understand the themes and ideas of an annual report, you begin with reading the content. Everything else, including graphic design, is complementary to that. So, when you are viewing nonprofit annual reports, you are viewing the execution of a comprehensive idea. Essentially, you are evaluating all of the elements together to determine if the execution either demonstrates alignment and continuity of ideas or a lack thereof.
Takeaway: Annual reports represent an execution of ideas and themes that originate from the written content.
Let’s use a real example to demonstrate this notion.
The theme of the 2022 Laidlaw Foundation annual report is breaking barriers. I was fortunate enough to be able to write the stories for this report. I used the theme, grantee interviews I conducted, my own understanding of the nonprofit sector and direction from my client to craft these stories.
With these resources and the theme in mind, I was able to use intentional language to emphasize aforementioned subthemes and welcome readers to learn about different experiences with barriers.
For instance, the story of the YMCAs in Québec Alternative Suspension Social Impact Bond is about breaking barriers that can make schools unwelcoming environments for young people. The story includes a young person’s experience with alternative program that models how to meet the needs of students.
I used and contextualized terms such as “access support”, “mentor”, “comfortable” and “strengthen” to demonstrate the power of perseverance, perspective, trust and accountability, key components of breaking barriers. By using this language, I could reinforce the theme and even further contextualize the Chair and Executive Director message at the beginning of the report.
Now, look at other illustrations in the Laidlaw report:
All of the illustrations are extensions of the breaking barriers theme. They are visual representations of subthemes such as collaboration, teamwork, inclusion, community building and solidarity. Furthermore, there are a variety of people represented in each illustration.
Would any of these illustrations come to life if the writing was not good? In other words, would the continuity of the theme be clear if the visuals and written content did not match?
Hint: Probably not!
How do you write a nonprofit annual report?
To write nonprofit annual reports, you need three things:
- An approach
- Structure
- Clear direction
These three things will make the writing easier and less intimidating.
I know what it’s like to stare at a blank screen for hours with important deadlines coming up. It’s not that you don’t care or aren’t motivated. Rather, the words just aren’t coming to you. In the nonprofit sector, creativity and time to think can feel like luxuries.
Tip: Check out my brainstorming services to make creativity feel more essential to your work
As such, there never seems to be enough time to brainstorm. So, when there are meetings (and there are always meetings), that can become the time to do everything – make decisions, brainstorm, debrief, determine collaborations etc. – which makes the meeting ineffective.
Hopefully, this section equips you with an approach to writing nonprofit annual reports that you can use every year. The goal is to help you stop writing without direction and start writing with excitement!
Each section has a task and guiding questions to help you along.
The approach:
Planning your annual report is a must. It will save you time and energy trying to consolidate and structure information at the same time. Furthermore, planning gets the administrative work out of your way so that you can focus on more creative aspects of your report. Here’s how to get started:
Determine what your key accomplishments are:
- What are some compelling data of your work?
- How do you want to explain financial decisions that aided those accomplishments?
- How would you rank your most important accomplishments in order of priority?
Decide how you want to frame these accomplishments:
- How would you summarize the year?
- What should readers take away from your report as a whole?
Build the story of your year:
- How does the story begin?
- What are some of the challenges, hesitations and conflicts of the story?
- What are some insights, lessons and takeaways?
- How does the story end?
Choose your theme:
- What were the most recurring messages of last year?
- What have your key stakeholders said about the messages?
- How do they align with your strategic plan, business objectives, mission, vision and values?
- In which internal/external documents do you see these messages the most?
- What comes up when you search these recurring messages online?
Determine the audience, tone and voice:
- What are you current fundraising objectives?
- What does your style guide mention about annual reports?
- Who is most likely to read your annual report in depth?
- How will they access it?
The structure
Next, you want to figure out the structure of your annual report alongside the format. It’s easier to decide the two at the same time so that you’re clear on what to include and exclude from the report. Note that everything you did last year does not have to go into your annual report. As well, your annual report does not have to be 30 pages. Even typical sections of your report are not necessary. Here’s how to structure your written content:
Revisit your strategic plan
- What progress have you made?
- What are the key messages and themes?
- What are the priorities (given your audience for the report)?
Create a brief for your team
- What is your budget and timeline?
- How will you measure the success of your report?
- What are some considerations for repurposing the content in the future?
- What format will your annual report take? Will it be print or digital?
- How will you share it?
Clear direction
You’re now ready to write! Given all the planning you’ve done, this part should be easier to complete. Use your creative brief to guide your writing. Note that all written content should align with your theme, organizational priorities (and representations of it), audience and your organization’s style. Instead of guiding questions, I want to offer tips and tricks to enhance your writing:
Write like a human being:
- Lose the jargon
- Use voice and tone that your readers will understand
- Use welcoming donor-centric language (Use a thesaurus!)
- Drop the adjectives and adverbs (they are distracting
Aim for clarity and conciseness:
- Drop the adjectives and adverbs (They are distracting)
- Vary your sentence lengths
- Align your writing with your ideas
Make the theme shine:
- Refer to your style guide
- Remember your audience
- Keep the format in mind
- Focus the narrative
Over to you
Writing nonprofit annual reports doesn’t have to be scary or a bore. It can be an outlet for your creative thinking and storytelling skills. Furthermore, it can challenge you (in a good way) to strengthen the alignment between your messaging and your audience.
Think of your annual report as a strategic document that can:
- Engage key stakeholders
- Elevate your organization’s narrative
- Build trust and accountability
- Create further interest in your organization’s accomplishments
If you approach your annual report with intention and structure it accordingly, then you’ll have a clear direction for writing every time.