Creativity break! 3 fresh ideas for your '22 annual report
Written by Niki Juhasz
Different year, same annual report. Do you find yourself having similar thoughts as you launch your 2022 annual report process? If you do, you’re not alone–we’ve heard this sentiment from communicators across the country.
My response? It doesn’t have to be! This year, funders are looking for impact–not report length–and they’re welcoming creativity too. That means you get to rethink what you WANT your annual report to look like, trim down those extra pages you hate and bring the fun!
We’ve included a few examples, and ideas, below.
Make It Interactive
There’s no getting around it: if it’s an annual report, you have to bring the stats! We love the way Girls Who Code made their numbers interactive in their 2020 annual report. The team:
Made it easy to engage with the numbers–by clicking and scrolling, readers learn more about the nonprofit’s mission and achievements.
Incorporated GIFs and fun elements into their landing page to keep the content engaging.
Connected the numbers with the people, personalizing the work–which is always a priority in an annual report.
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Brainstorm Question: What do we want our readers to take away from our data? Your annual report doesn't have to be all about pie charts. Think about how you can connect your numbers with real impact–which is what important audiences, like funders, want to see.
Bring in the Art and the Heart
In a year of remote work, online partnerships and masks, most nonprofits don’t have as many photographs as they usually do to share in annual reports. We loved this example from the Smidt Heart Institute, because:
It incorporated hand-cut artwork instead of solely relying on photographs, which makes the report memorable on its own.
The art had deeper meaning–all of the pictures included images that represent cardio care, including heart rates as mountains. Heart rates as mountains!
One of the organization’s doctors partnered with the artist on the work, bringing the heart of the work straight to the pages.
Brainstorm Questions: How can we get creative with our artwork? Could the kids we serve share drawings? Is one of our alumni an artist now–from illustrator to painter to graphic designer? Water color images, graffiti-style art, cartoons…the possibilities are limitless.
Walk Through the Impact–Literally
Okay we may be biased, because we spend a lot of time in Mailchimp. But we love the platform’s annual report, which allows you to literally walk through its past year–tell me it’s not fun, I dare you! The animated report makes meaning from the data, sharing partner stories and statistics along the way–in a glorious, colorful fashion
Brainstorm Questions: What form should our annual report take? Could we create a fun landing page? A video-style report? There are so many possibilities! Ideas we’ve seen include creating popup books, notecard-style reports and seed paper–where readers could literally plant the book after they finished reading it.
Feeling inspired yet? We’re excited to see what fun, creative ideas you come up with. (And who knows, YOU could be featured in our annual report email next year!)
P.S. You can find our guide for what to include in your annual report here!
Image Sources: Girls Who Code, Smidt Heart Institute and Mailchimp
