Every year, your nonprofit publishes a digital report to recap your mission progress and provide financial context for supporters. But did you know that your annual report can serve multiple marketing purposes?
A well-designed annual report can also serve as a crucial audience outreach tool to deepen supporter relationships and lay the groundwork for continued engagement.
This is especially true for small nonprofits looking to do more with less—your annual report can be a goldmine for engaging content you can repurpose and share with your audience.
This guide shares six best practices for designing an effective annual report that serves your marketing goals:
- Choose an engaging annual report format.
- Make your report supporter-centric.
- Highlight mission and program updates.
- Tell stories through the report.
- Communicate transparently with supporters.
- Repurpose annual report content across marketing platforms.
According to Bloomerang’s nonprofit annual report guide, “You can recoup the time and resources spent creating the report by turning this report into a valuable donor engagement and retention tool.” You’ll support your organization’s larger strategic plan by closely entwining your annual report with your other marketing and fundraising goals.
1. Choose an engaging annual report format.
Traditionally, annual reports have been straightforward documents or information packets recapping a few main takeaways and financial data from the year. However, with the rise of innovative impact reporting tools, there are now a variety of multimedia platforms to choose from that allow nonprofits to create robust, intriguing annual reports.
Find a design platform that allows you to choose a unique digital report format, such as:
- Interactive PDF. Many organizations digitize their reports as PDF files and link to them on their sites. This format works well if your supporters usually enjoy the book version of your report. You can send the full report to interested supporters and use postcards or short mailers with a QR code to encourage other supporters to visit your website to see the whole report.
- Video. With video, you can show supporters actual footage of your programming or fundraisers so they can see exactly what you’ve accomplished rather than just read about it. Ensure annual report videos are high quality, with professional editing, camera work, and lighting.
- Web page. You can also create a special web page to display your annual report digitally. For example, Habitat for Humanity’s 2024 annual report is showcased in a narrative format on a web page. The page includes beneficiary stories, compelling impact statistics, and engaging images and videos to provide a well-rounded multimedia experience for supporters.
- Dashboard. Some organizations, like The Tableau Foundation, leverage a dashboard on their website rather than a traditional annual report format. The dashboard provides regularly updated information, keeping supporters up to date weekly instead of annually. This format offers increased visibility and transparency that many supporters appreciate.
No matter which format you choose for your annual report, use a platform that allows you to create an accessible resource. For example, your videos should include closed captions, subtitles in various languages, and transcripts of the information provided so that everyone can engage with the content.
2. Make your report supporter-centric.
To leverage your annual report as a truly effective marketing tool, keep the focus on your supporters and community members. Use your report to highlight their accomplishments and generosity, and thank them for their continued support.
Keep the following audiences in mind when developing your annual report:
- Beneficiaries
- Volunteers
- Donors, including minor, mid-level, and major supporters
- Grant funders
- Foundations that support your nonprofit
- Corporate partners
Use your donor management software system and volunteer management software to research these audience members and understand their preferences. For example, some audiences prefer to see your full annual report PDF, while others would appreciate a quick snapshot of the main takeaways.
Leverage the “You” test to ensure your focus stays on your audience. Your annual report should preferably include twice as many “you” words as “we” words. This practice helps keep the primary focus on your supporters’ positive impact on your mission.
3. Highlight mission and program updates.
Your nonprofit’s annual report is your opportunity to provide context for your organization’s decisions. Some organizations simply highlight key finances, which is undoubtedly an essential aspect of your report. However, to make your report a more successful marketing tool, put the numbers in context.
For instance, let’s say you invested in a new fundraising tool before the year-end giving season. If you only show your supporters the financial numbers, they may not see the impact of those funds and the growth of your initiatives as a result of strategic investments.
To avoid this outcome, provide program updates to communicate the impact of your expenses. If you have any ongoing campaigns, such as online fundraising efforts or a major capital campaign, tell supporters about your progress to maintain engagement over time and increase their support.
4. Tell stories through the report.
One of your primary marketing goals is to help supporters remember your organization and consider contributing to future campaigns. Stories are a great way to accomplish this objective since they are much more memorable than facts alone. When discussing your progress with supporters, use real stories from the past year to paint a compelling picture of your efforts.
If you tell stories on other platforms, like your newsletter and social media posts, reuse the most compelling ones in your annual report. Tell stories about how your programming has improved the lives of others and made a difference in the community.
Of course, you should also ensure that these stories are well-written and tailored to your audience. Here are some tips to write a compelling story for your report:
- Keep beneficiaries at the center. The protagonists of your stories should be specific supporters who helped make an impact or beneficiaries who received assistance from your nonprofit. For instance, you might write your story about the donor who contributed the necessary funds for a program, the volunteer who made the program possible, or your constituent who worked hard to get back on their feet after losing their job.
- Simplify your stories. Complex storylines that are difficult to follow will lose your audience. However, a simple story with one primary hero and an easy-to-understand plot will likely hold readers’ attention.
- End with impact. Tell your story with the end in mind. The conclusion should be the point that captures the readers’ hearts and feelings. Conclude your story with one last quote from a beneficiary or an inspiring call to action that encourages readers to join your ongoing campaigns.
As you incorporate storytelling into your annual report, align your stories with your other web design and social media strategies. For example, you should use the same tone of voice and messaging, whether upbeat, friendly, casual, formal, or serious. Consistency across marketing channels helps reinforce your message and promote your brand image.
5. Communicate transparently with supporters.
Your annual report is an opportunity to celebrate your nonprofit’s successes from the year. However, be careful not to overly emphasize your successes while neglecting your challenges. Instead, remain transparent with your supporters about the good and the bad.
You might hesitate to include any lows in your annual report for fear of pushing supporters away. However, providing transparency can actually increase your supporters’ respect for your organization and show them that you’re willing to take accountability and grow when needed.
If there are some challenges and issues you’d like to address in your annual report, take these two steps to provide the necessary context:
- Explain any challenges. Tell supporters exactly what happened in clear terms. Explaining the context of the issue will help you gain their trust immediately and invite supporters to view your thought process.
- Discuss the remedy. The solution should be a more substantial section than the first step. Tell supporters how you’ll address the problem and encourage them to participate in the solution.
For example, your donor retention numbers may not be as high as expected. Maybe external factors like economic challenges in your local community contributed to falling giving capacity across your supporter base.
Let supporters know that to address this issue in the coming year, you’ll refocus your community-building efforts by asking supporters for feedback and incorporating their input into your outreach strategies.
Explaining the solution shows supporters that you won’t just ignore issues, but will continuously take action to improve your organization for the future.
6. Repurpose annual report content across marketing platforms.
Your efforts to make your digital annual report visually engaging, full of unique storytelling, and supporter-centric can pay off over the long term, allowing you to reuse annual report content in other forms of digital marketing outreach.
Consider repurposing annual report content to other marketing channels like:
- Email streams. Create email campaigns with information from your annual report. The campaigns could focus on donor, beneficiary, or volunteer stories. Include photos, direct quotes, and a link to your website to read more from the annual report.
- Blog articles. Pull data from your annual report to enhance the credibility of your nonprofit’s blog content. For example, if you’re writing a blog post about the success of a new program, include a stat illustrating how many community members you helped through your efforts.
- Social media posts. Your annual report can be a source of social media content anytime during the year. Share videos, photos, graphs, charts, statistics, and other key details from the report in short-form social media posts on platforms like Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook.
Tailor your content to the unique specifications of each marketing platform. For example, Instagram is a visual-first platform, so share high-quality videos and photos there. Focus on sending shorter email messages—just around 50-150 words tends to work best. And ensure your blog posts contain multimedia content to break up the text and engage your audience on a deeper level.
Nonprofit annual reports can be powerful online marketing tools that increase supporter engagement and even open new fundraising opportunities for your organization. They provide transparency and a 360-degree view of your programming from the past year, showing supporters your accomplishments and opportunities for improvement.
With these tips, you can ensure you make the most of every supporter engagement opportunity by developing an engaging, accessible, informative report.