What to include in your annual report
Whileannual reportsare a hugely flexible format, most reports include many of the following elements.
A letter from the CEO or Board Chair
The letter from leadership is a chance to celebrate the year's accomplishments, and chart a course for the year ahead. It should be inspiring, evocative, and written in plain English. It can be difficult to give feedback to leadership, but as this letter often opens theannual report, it's worth spending time crafting a letter that people will actually excite and capture the attention of the reader.
Navigation help, such as a menu ortable of contents
Anannual reportis a large piece of content and it's rare that anyone will read theentire reportfrom beginning to end. To help people find what they're interested in, add a menu to the top of your report. For your print copy, add atable of contents. Note:we recommend against distributing a PDF-only annual report.
Yourmission statement
Anannual reportis, among with things, an exercise in branding for yournon-profit. Make sure you include yourmission statementandkey messagesearly in yourannual report.
Data showcasing your impact
If you have data, use it. There's nothing more powerful than well-executed data visualisations — including charts, graphs, and maps — in anannual report. If you want to get inspired with great examples of data visualisations,check out our guide here.
Testimonials
Try to includes stories, case studies, and othertestimonialsfrom yourstakeholdersfrom thelast year. This will humanise your report and make it much more compelling to read.
Profiles
Someannual reportsgo a step further and include profiles of team and community members. This is another great way to showcase the people behind yournon-profit.
Donor list
Somenon-profitslike to celebrate their donors with a list in theirannual report. This is perfectly acceptable, though make sure the list doesn't take up too much of the report, as it will likely be skimmed by most readers.
Fundraisinghighlights
Yourstakeholderswant to know that your organisation is resilient and stable. The best way to do this is to present highlights from yourfundraisingefforts from thepast year. This should include infographicsand data visualisations — including easily-understood graphs andpie charts— showing your progress.
Multimedia
Effectiveannual reportsinclude a range of media, including photos, videos, illustrations,infographics, animations, and more. While this is impossible to include in a typical PDF, new digital storytelling platforms make it possible to create immersive multimedia reports that can be read on any device. You can read someinspiring examples ofannual reportsin our guide here.
Acall-to-action
Annual reportsare a great marketing opportunity — but only if you include acall-to-actionor CTA. To be clear, your contact details at the end of a PDF doesnotqualify as a CTA. For your CTA to work, it needs to be immediately actionable, such as a button or a form on your digitalannual report.
Financial statements
Our final item is not negotiable. In most countries, yournonprofitannual reportwill need to include your fullfinancial statementsfrom the last financial year. You'll want to work with your accountant to produce thisfinancial information.
Now that we've covered the basics, let's take a look at the actual process of writing anannual report.
If your organisation is ready to build your ownimmersive annual reportswithout writing a line of code,get started with Shorthand and publish your first story free.
