10 Tips for Writing a Great Annual Report | |By Kivi Leroux Miller | |Even though nonprofit organizations aren’t required to produce annual reports like publicly traded companies are, most nonprofit | |managers recognize the value of producing one. Annual reports can help you demonstrate your accomplishments to current and future | |donors, cultivate new partnerships, and recognize important people. |But since annual reports aren’t legally required, nonprofits often struggle with what should be included in an annual report and | |what should be left out. The following ten tips will help you craft an outstanding nonprofit annual report. | |Focus on accomplishments, not activities. | |We want to know what you did, but more importantly, we want to know why you did it. What were the results? Why did you spend your | |time and money the way you did? What difference did it make? Connect the everyday activities of your organization to your mission | |statement.
Don’t assume that readers will automatically understand how your activities help you achieve your mission. Connect the | |dots for them. | |Jettison the administrative minutiae. | |Getting a high-speed connection in the office and new accounting software may be big accomplishments from where you sit at your | |desk, but they have nothing to do with your mission. Inspire donors with accomplishments related to your mission in your annual | |report and leave all the administrative items for your board report. | |Don’t over-emphasize fundraising accomplishments. |Donors expect you to raise money, but fundraising accomplishments should not be celebrated in your annual report on the same level| |as your mission-related accomplishments. Readers are more interested in what you did with the money than how you raised it. While | |it is appropriate to include information on how well your fundraising efforts are going, it’s best to place this information in | |the financial section of your report, rather than front and center. | |Include photos. | |Yes, photos really are worth a thousand words. Many of the people reading your annual report won’t actually read it.
The Essay on Annual Accomplishment Report
I. INTRODUCTION: The Alternative Learning System, since its implementation, saw the great success of its programs. As an alternative way of learning, it provides a viable alternative to the existing formal educational system. Its two major programs the Accreditation and Equivalency Program (A&E) and the Basic Literacy Program (BLP) become the new hope for our out-of-school youths and adults in ...
Show them | |what you’ve been doing with photos. If you don’t have a digital camera, get one now. It’s also fine to use stock photography to | |illustrate your work. Type “royalty free stock photos” in your favorite search engine and you’ll find numerous sites. | |Write captions that tell your story. | |Now that you’ve got them looking at the photos, tell a story with your captions. Don’t just state what’s in the photo. Connect the| |photo to an accomplishment. If people read nothing but the captions in your annual report, they should still get a sense for the | |good work you did last year. |Include personal profiles. | |Donors will be more impressed with real stories about real people than general summaries of your work. Explain what you have | |accomplished overall, then humanize your statistics with some personal profiles. Highlight how your work helped a specific | |individual. Share a volunteer’s story of how they made a positive difference. | |Explain your financials. | |Many of your donors won’t know how to read a financial statement or won’t take the time to read it. Include a paragraph or two | |that explains in plain English what the tables say.
Where does your money come from and how do you spend it? What are your main | |fundraising strategies? Did you implement any cost-savings measures this year? | |If you need space, trim the donor lists. | |Nonprofits need to strike a balance between using the space in their annual reports to discuss their accomplishments and using it | |to recognize donors. If as much as half of your annual report is donor lists, you should consider scaling the lists back to make | |more room for text and photos. Smaller donors can be recognized in other ways, such as lists in newsletters. |Triple-check your donor lists. | |There’s no better way to sabotage a future donation than to spell the donor’s name wrong in your annual report. If you are | |uncertain about a name, don’t guess. Check it with the donor. Also carefully check the names of government agencies and | |foundations that gave you grants. The names people call these organizations in conversation are often short-hand for the full | |legal names that belong in your annual report. | |Tell donors how they can help. |Never leave a potential supporter hanging, wondering how they can help you. Once you’ve inspired them with the good works in your | |annual report, close by telling them how they can help you do more. How can they support you with their money or time? Do you | |offer planned giving options, for example? Will you accept gifts of stock? Can they use a credit card? Be clear about the best | |ways to help. | |You can find more tips and training and sign up for Kivi’s free monthly e-newsletter, Nonprofit Annual Reports Insider, at | |NonprofitAnnualReports. et | |This About. com page has been optimized for print. To view this page in it’s original form, please visit: | |http://nonprofit. about. com/od/nonprofitpromotion/a/annualreps. htm | |©2007 About, Inc. , a part of The New York Times Company. All rights reserved. | | |
The Review on Communication Theory Lists And Stories
Amy Marinkovich Comm Theory TH 3: 30-5 Due 25 September 2001 Susan JaskoCommunication Theory Two: Four November 1992 This journal consisted of an interpersonal and organizational communication theme. The first article examines how lists and stories act as organizational communication tools. The second article describes the different aspects of "the ecology of games" and how it affects ...
