Did your annual report from last year result in new partnerships, members or donors to your association or nonprofit?

Did any of your donors increase their giving because of something they read in your annual report?

If not, you’re missing the mark.

The goal of an annual report is to connect how your day-to-day activities help achieve the organization’s mission. If you can achieve this goal, you can use the document, like your other communication and marketing efforts to increase membership, donations and partnerships.

But, how do you wrap up all of the great things your association or nonprofit did in an entire year into one report. What must be included? What activities can be left out?

Here are five tips for making your next annual report stronger, more effective and nearly perfect.

1. Stick to the organization’s message.

To get started you might do a quick internet search for sample annual reports. That is fine to give you some ideas, but don’t let a template pull you away from your overall message. Follow these simple guidelines:

• Review all the year’s press releases, newsletters and blog posts
• List common phrases, statements and ideas found in your communication efforts
• Highlight activities that show how the organization is achieving its mission
• Check out a good annual report sample that I wrote earlier this year.

2. Remember, this is not a report for the Board.

Staff changes, computer upgrades and an increased marketing budget might be major accomplishments in the office, but they have very little to do with achieving the mission, at least from the donors and member’s perspective. Instead, inspire them with stories related to the mission in the annual report, and save the celebrations over the staff getting iPhones for administrative reports.

3. Focus on motivators and results, not just activities.

Members and donors want to know what you did, but more importantly, they want to know why you did it. When piecing together stories for the annual report, ask these questions:

• What were the results?
• Why did you spend your time and money the way you did?
• What difference did it make?
• How did that contribute to fulfilling the organization’s mission?

4. Include a testimonial or two.

People love reading real-life stories. Impress your supporters with stories that show how your accomplishments have helped a specific individual or group.

• For nonprofits this could include story about increased volunteer participation, with a testimonial from a volunteer about their experience.
• Associations could speak about increased conference attendance, and feature a new-attendee’s take on the event.

5. Optimize every word of copy in the report.

Every sentence in the annual report should be focused on telling the organization’s story. This is especially true for photo captions because we all know there will be many people who will just flip through the report looking at the pictures, but they should still get an idea of how the organization lived out it’s mission last year. Don’t forget the importance of:

• Photo Captions
• Titles and Headlines
• The President’s letter
• Quotes
• Introduction to the financial section

These are just a few simple rules I follow when writing annual reports for nonprofits and associations. They’ve guided me as I’ve helped organizations create annual reports that provide an impressive ROI.

Want to learn more about my annual report writing services? Contact me.