We’ll dig into the details, how-to’s, and helpful hints in the following paragraphs. But here’s a spoiler alert: It doesn’t have to be difficult!

The basics: what is a nonprofit impact report (and why is it important to your organization)?

What it is

The simple definition of impact report is exactly what the name suggests: this is a way of reporting the impact that your organization has made. It typically summarizes activities and their results, with a focus on quantifiable metrics (hard numbers). This is a report that organizations create voluntarily; it is separate from grant reporting, and it is not legally required.

Impact report vs annual report

The terms impact report, and annual report are often used interchangeably. While the lines are blurred, there are some key differences:

• Impact reports generally cover a specific project, program, and/or time period. You might report the total impact of a completed project that took 14 months, or of a specific event. Also, the only essential elements are those relating directly to impact (including information that provides context and backstory).
• Annual reports, as the name suggest, cover a 12-month period. They typically cover a broader scope of information. Not only impacts for the year, but also basic financials, and general information about the organization’s activities, progress, challenges, and new plans moving forward.  

Why you need it

Although technically not a necessity, most nonprofit executives and marketers consider the impact report vital. Why? It is a valuable financial tool, used for fundraising, building donor relationships, winning grants, and even broader marketing objectives.

What makes a great impact report

The strategic goal is to create a response from the reader, such as sparking interest in your organization, confirming their commitment to support your mission. To accomplish that, your impact report should not only describe activities and outcomes, but also demonstrate your organization’s efficiency, effectiveness, trustworthiness, and dedication to transparency.

TIP: Every nonprofit impact report is different. Design yours around the needs of your organization.

Step 1: Identify your audience and goals

Generally, the target audience for an impact report is composed of people who somehow participated in making it happen, and those who may support similar future endeavors. Before you begin creating the report, decide who will read it, and what organizational goals it can help support. This is important, because it can help you choose the best format, tone, and aesthetics.

For example, you might want to distribute your report to:

• Existing donors – Show them what their dollars accomplished and convince them that their donations were spent efficiently.
  • Goal: Building donor relationships, encouraging repeat donations
• Potential donors – Demonstrate how your organization turns funds into results, and why it is good choice for contributions.
  • Goal: Lead acquisition, growing donor base
• Volunteers and/or staff members – Show them what their work accomplished, why there is more to be done, and help create a sense of pride in being part of the organization.
  • Goal: Relationship building, volunteer and employee retention/loyalty
• Partners, other supporters, or connections in your organization’s network – Highlight the good work your organization is doing and why more support is needed
  • Goal: Lead acquisition for new donors/volunteers, reputation building and brand awareness
• Other (i.e., social media audiences) – Promote the importance and efficiency of your work, the role that supporters play, and the need for more support
  • Goal: Brand building, lead acquisition, community engagement

For each group, gather as much data as you can, including:

• Demographics
• Preferred communication methods (i.e., email vs SMS vs paper and ink)
• Preferred social media networks
• Historical responsiveness (what types of messages and marketing campaigns has this group responded to in the past?)
• Hobbies, lifestyle, interests, and any other common characteristics that may help you tailor your messaging and design

TIP: You need to define a target audience, even if your report will be published widely and you hope that everyone will read it. Narrow it down to those who need to, and those who are likely to read it. an audience of everyone is an audience of no one.

Step 2: Choose the best format and distribution channels  

Now you should have an idea of who you are writing for, and how your organization will use this document to further its goals. The next question is what your impact report should look like. Is paper or paperless better? Where should you publish it and how should you distribute it?

Format and distribution options

Thanks to the ever-increasing array of technology at our fingertips, nonprofits today have almost endless options in in report formats. Best of all, there is no “right” or “wrong” format. In fact, creativity is a rising trend, so feel free to try something a little different, even if no one else is doing it.

Furthermore, you don’t have to choose just one. In many cases, it makes sense create a few versions of your report, allowing it to be distributed and used in various ways. In particular, it is good practice to create a small, social-media friendly, infographic image showcasing the highlights of your report. Sharable mini impact graphics are great accompaniments to fundraising pleas, and they can be accompanied by a link to the full report.

Some of the best choices include:

• Print – Paperless is generally preferred, for affordability and eco-friendliness. However, in some organizations printed impact statements still have an important role. Condensed reports, such a brochures and postcards, can be distributed to a wide offline audience at a reasonable price. In some organizations, book-like, lengthy, and detailed documents (usually called annual reports, because they cover more information than just impact) are traditionally distributed at board meetings or delivered to key high-level donors.
• PDF – This is the ‘traditional’ impact report style of the digital age. PDF documents may not be the most clever or innovative, but their popularity is enduring because there are many advantages. These documents can be viewed without distortion an almost any device, are easily sharable as email attachments, can be hosted and shared as links, are easily embeddable, and easily printable.
• Ezine – Platforms such as Flipsnack an Issuu allow you to convert your annual report, or any other document, into a snazzy flipbook or virtual magazine. It is a more modern, edgy take on the PDF presentation.
• Slideshow – Slides aren’t just for presentations! Slideshow style impact reports typically allow viewers to flip through the deck, although some are recorded as presentation videos. This can be an alternative to a more traditional (like PDF) format. Or, you can create slideshow variation of your impact report specifically for presenting during board meetings, online events, or other relevant occasions.
• Video – It is common practice to embed videos with impact reports and other virtual documents. However, a more recent trend is presenting impact reports (or even entire annual reports) strictly in video format. Photos, charts, graphs, and other graphics can easily be incorporated with basic video editing. This might be a good option if your audience is especially responsive to videos, or if you simply want to do something “out of the box” for this report.
• Web page – A great alternative to a standalone document is a dedicated impact report page on your website. It’s accessible, easy to share the link, offers endless options in content type, and drives traffic to your website. The downside is that impact reports are time-sensitive, limited in scope to a single period or even a single project. As time passes and new things happen, they become irrelevant.
  Web-based reports tend to be replaced, updated, or simply removed once they are outdated. That practice can affect your SEO (search engine optimization), although that is a topic best saved for a future article. More importantly, there may be times when you need to refer to historical reports. So, it is good to have a standalone version, which can be archived.
• Infographic – This is one of the simplest and most effective ways to communicate the highlights or your nonprofit’s impact. The infographic itself is a versatile format, something that can be published as an image, as a PDF, or in print. The size can range from a little bigger than an icon to a full width page, scrollable with infinite length. If you are going for a concise, highly visual document, then a well-designed vertical infographic can be a good choice. Typically, this would be a PDF or webpage, with a length equaling 2-4 pages.
  Probably the most-shared type of infographic today is the socially sized mini-graphic. No larger that a meme, it only contains a few bits of data and minimal words, otherwise it would be too cluttered. Of course, you cannot capture your organization’s full impact in a social graphic. However, creating one or more condensed and sharable mini-graphics to accompany your full impact report is almost essential for any organization with an active social media strategy. 

TIP: If you aren’t sure what formats to use, here is a winning combination that works well for most. Choose a PDF, ezine, or slideshow-based document to present your primary full impact report. (If you will want some printed reports, go with PDF as a base.) Then create one or several social-sized graphics based, as well as any other variations you may need, based on that document.

Step three: Gather information and plan an outline

Every organization has a slightly different public relations strategy, but the top level goal of an impact report is nearly always to elicit a response. You want people to feel proud of their involvement, feel compelled to support the cause in some way, gain trust in the organization… To accomplish that, you need to establish credibility and stir emotion; tell a story while also clearly stating pertinent facts.

What elements should be included in a nonprofit impact report?

The answer to that question depends on the scope of your report. If you are creating an organizational annual report (as mentioned above), then you will want to include a lot of general information. However, if you are reporting the impact of one specific program, then you’ll want to stick with relevant information.

For example, the organization might provide food, clothing, shelter, counseling, and employment assistance for at risk young adults. You might include a photo or client quote from a recent job fair in a report about the employment assistance program, or in an organization annual report. However, they would not be relevant in impact report that is specific to the soup kitchen.

Here’s a list of some of the most common elements; customize it according to your organization’s needs and the scope of your report:

• Mission and vision statements – Organizational level and/or program specific
• Goals – What were you aiming to achieve? Show how you planned to make your vision a reality.
• Needs – Why is this program necessary? Who benefits from it? Use a combination of data and narrative to effectively communicate the need.
• Activities – Make sure readers understand what the organization actually did, and what resources went into meeting your goals.
• Hard impact – The facts and figures are the heart of an impact report. They should be clear and accurate. Avoid the temptation to cherry-pick only the best numbers. Transparency is a key to establishing credibility.
• Soft impact – You can’t measure the hope and confidence that you give clients; you can’t yet analyze how many clients will go on to have long and thriving careers. Yet, these things are real and they are valuable. Use images, narratives, and concise descriptions to convey the impact that cannot be described with data alone.
• Storytelling – The word report brings to mind something as technical and inspiring as computer analytics. You want to bring your story to life, draw the reader in, and make them feel compelled support the organization. Give your facts and figures some context and meaning with storytelling elements. Depending on the type of project, this might include short case studies, quotes, first person narratives, or examples of specific outcomes.
• Next steps – This is important if you hope to use your impact report as a fundraising tool. People are not donating to what is already done; they are contributing to what is coming next. And, your report should demonstrate why that is a worthwhile use of their donation dollars. Was the program a smashing success? Explain how you intend to keep the momentum going and growing. Did you fall short of your goals? Explain what you learned, how that will help you evaluate and revise plans, and demonstrate that you have a solid plan to overcome those obstacles.

TIP: The primary goal of an impact report is to state provable changes that your organization brought about. Quantifiable metrics should be the star of the show.

Step four: Putting it all together – design tips for a report that makes an impact

We often talk about writing an impact report. In reality, there is much more involved than writing. There is a lot of information in an impact report. How many people would read it if the entire thing was presented in long blocks of plain text? Not many. Furthermore, people who did read it probably would not understand or retain most details.

By nature, people are visual learners. The design, graphics, photos, layout, formatting, and overall appearance of your impact report is just as important is the information that it contains. Here are a few tips to bring your document to life:

• Photos – In the era of smartphones, many people believe in the motto “if there’s no picture, it didn’t happen.” Although not a requirement, meaningful photos are a great adjunct to an impact report. Just be sure to include descriptive captions.
• Charts and graphs – Have you ever read a long list of statistics or numbers – and then re-read it a few times because it just wasn’t sinking in? Yet, you can glance at a chart or graph and instantly grasp a complex concept.
• Symbols/icons – These familiar shapes are instantly recognizable. Often, icons accompanied by numbers can convey the most important quantifiable metrics at a glance.
• Bullet points – No one likes to read long, boring blocks of text. So, they don’t read it. Instead, they skim content, reading subheadings and lists. The more clearly and concisely your information is presented, the more impactful your report will be.

TIP: Stay on brand! Consistent colors, visuals, and messaging and essential when designing an impact report. Refer to your organization’s brand guidelines or style guide for reference.

The post Writing your nonprofit impact report: where to start, what to include, and how to make it look great appeared first on The Blue Pail.