The secrets to an astounding annual report

A well presented annual report is a sure fire way to showcase your achievements and generate support in the community – think of it as one great big advertisement for all the great work you do.

If your group has never put an annual report together, or if yours is feeling a bit flat, then check out this e-book.

How to Write a Nonprofit Annual Report

This is easily the best guide to putting an annual report together I’ve found. It shrinks the enormous job of putting one together, into bite sized manageable chunks with it’s step-by-step approach. I can’t recommend it highly enough!

 

Photos are key

Good photos make a huge difference to the presentation of your annual report and make it much more interesting to your reader – but what do you do if you don’t have any?

Simple – buy some! Individual stock photos are really cheap (even cheaper if you want web quality) and can make your annual report or website really stand out.

My favourite site to buy from is istockphoto.com where you can buy individual images for the web for around $1.50 (small) and print quality $3.00 (medium). With 24,472 photo results for ‘dog’ and 8,330 for ‘cat’ they’ll certainly have the images you need to brighten up your report.

 

Putting it all together

The hard bit is over – you’ve come up with dynamic and positive content, chosen a bunch of great pics that represent your group and have a pretty good idea on how you’d like it to look – what now?

Of all the things you should beg, borrow or steal, a graphic designer is at the top of the list. Luckily it shouldn’t be too hard to find one to put it together for you – put a call out on your website, on internet forums and on PetRescue. Pet loving graphic designers are everywhere (trust us).

 

To print or not to print

This is completely dependant on how you do business now. You should definitely send your annual report to your major supporters, potential supporters, volunteers and with all future grant applications. Whether you will contact these people by post or over email is completely up to you.

 

Just do it!

Having an annual report (even if you aren’t able to produce one every year) is a great way to demonstrate the large positive changes you are making in the community. Don’t underestimate it’s power to generate loyal supporters who want to be able to see tangible results of their donations. It also encourages new supporters to get on board, as they can see you have been using your resources effectively and really ‘making a difference’.

While it may seem like an insurmountable task, if you approach it as a marketing exercise you will find it’s actually really fun to put all the great things you’ve done in the one place. What a great way to motivate everyone!

Please feel free to share your annual report successes here, to help other rescues find the inspiration to take the leap!