Tips for a great (short!) annual report
Written by Niki Juhasz
If we’ve said it once, we’ve said it a thousand times: long, clunky annual reports are a thing of the past. Your audiences want to see your impact in minutes, not hours. (Some rather questionable math by yours truly tells us it can take about an hour or more to read 24 pages.)
So when you’re Marie Kondoing your annual report, how do you cut content – but still show impact? We have two tips.
1. Include a Letter from Leadership
We were recently working with a partner who wanted to create an annual report that was just two pages – a front and back one pager. But they didn’t want to lose the impact of storytelling in the process. Our solution? Write a separate letter from leadership! This approach includes two pieces:
The annual report itself. Your actual designed annual report can include the financials, an overview of your mission and what you accomplished in the past year. We always recommend that you feature real photos from your work (when possible) to personalize what you do. You can share this document with your most important stakeholders – from donors to board members to partners you collaborate with. It will show the snapshot of your year!
The cover letter. This is where you can make the work even more personal. Writing a letter from a leader on your team will empower you to speak directly to your chosen audience, telling them why your report matters to them. You can celebrate your staff for their accomplishments, say thank you to donors for making it happen and more. (Yes, you can take the same core letter and use it as a base, tweaking it for your different audiences.)
This will help your readers imagine the work with real-life examples of what the numbers actually mean. You can share details and garner support for your personal vision of where you see the organization going. People want to work with other people, to support other people, not businesses. Show your work’s impact AND humanity.
Through this strategy, you are still saving time – and design dollars – but accomplishing all of your goals.
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2. Create a Quote Bank
This is a simple piece of advice that might just change your life. (Okay, maybe not change your life – but it will DEFINITELY make your communications way easier.)
When you’re writing your annual report, you’re likely interviewing people in the process: staff members, leadership, those you serve.
After you finish each interview, choose three to five quotes from your interview notes that you could use in other projects. Then, run them by the person you chatted with for edits and approval. Let them know that if they are comfortable with it, you may use these quotes in your marketing materials, from your annual report, to your website, to social media.
Use at least one or two quotes in your annual report to incorporate storytelling into your document. And then, save the rest for future use!
Even if you only interviewed three people and have three approved quotes from each person, you suddenly have *nine quotes* you can use in your marketing materials!
This will save you a scramble the next time you’re putting together communications materials.
And with that, my friends, you can simplify not only your annual report process, but your future communications, too.
Sound good? Then let’s do the thing!
P.S. You can find one of our favorite examples of a short annual report here. And then our blog with creative annual report ideas here!
