Annual Reporting

Who will lead the annual report project? Identify a staff member who will lead the coordination of activities towards the development of the annual report. Where there is one, we recommend this should be led by a programs/project manager or communications officer. In cases where these posts do not exist, the Executive Director should take the lead.

Which staff member, volunteer or board member will contribute data and other information?
Staff members, volunteers or board members leading on different activities and with sufficient information on key successes achieved in the year should be invited to contribute data. They should gather data relating to projects that they have led in the year. Tips on data to be gathered are available on page xx.

What is the objective for this annual report?
Why are you writing this annual report? Is it to show your impact? Inspire more action on the part of your stakeholders? Sustain old and attract new donors? As part of regulatory or donor requirement? Or to thank your donors and board members? Whatever the objective is, note that an annual report is an important accountability, transparency and communications tool for showing impact and value!

Your Audience
Who are your audience for the annual report? Are they your board, donors, beneficiaries, regulators, nonprofit networks and coalitions, corporate sponsors, individual donors, general public etc. Knowing who your audience is will shape what kind of information you provide and how this is framed in your annual report.

How will the annual report reach your audience?
Do you know the most effective distribution or communication channel for sending your annual report to your audience? While it is a standard practice to publish your annual report online and to send via email it is worth considering other channels like having hard copies of the report delivered to your audience by mail services using courier or regular post. Postcard notification with link to the online version is also another means.

What data should be gathered and included in an annual report?
Consider gathering data that includes the following:

• 3 major achievements for each of your activities in the year. Gather success stories from staff and volunteers involved directly.
• Did your staff or volunteers grow, if yes mention and show their impact.
• If you organised events, how many people attended your event?
• Number of people that benefited from your services. For example, if you provide support to widows, how many were supported in the year? If you train young people, how many werePage-48 trained? How many were male and female? What is their age?
• Profile of your beneficiaries
• Which parts of the state or country did your beneficiaries come from? What is their number per area, local government, senatorial district, region etc.
• If you are a membership based organisation how many members do you have? Is your membership growing? What is their geographical spread?
• If you have a social media page, you may want to tell your audience how many followers you have, impressions and engagements made in the year.
• How many people visited your website, how many page views? (if you have one)
• Number of times publications were downloaded on your website
• Number of organisations or individuals receiving your newsletter (if you publish one)
• How much did you raise from your friends, family, donors, etc to organise or carry out your activities in the year?
• What is your annual budget, income and expenditure for the year?
• Sources of funding: individual donor, grants, consultancies, government, corporate sponsorship etc.
• Case studies where applicable.
• Pictures

What will be the content of your annual report?
We recommend including the following contents amongst others:

• Message from the Board Chair, Founder or President
• Executive Director’s message
• List of board members including Executive Director’s name and affiliations
• Vision and mission, history or timeline series.
• Programmes or projects implemented in the year- Analysis of data captured will assist in developing quick highlights and results.
• Major accomplishments in the year—usually highlighted through stories or case studies
• Awards, grants, donations and in-kind support received.
• Financial statement (audited accounts or income and expenditure accounts)
• Acknowledgement of major supporters, donors, corporate sponsors etc.

In what format will the report be produced?
Will the report be printed in hard copies or only made available online? This is subject to your budget. The following formats may be considered:

• Digital or online
• Printed piece
• Or a combination of both digital and print piece
• Video
• Infographics
• Or a combination of all.

Whatever design is chosen, please bear in mind that a digital or online version is important and must be publicly available on your website or social media page for ease of reference and accessibility by your audience.

What is your budget?
Typically costs associated with an annual report will be incurred during the graphics design stage and distribution phase. Other activities require in most cases staff or volunteer time. Your budget will include the following:

• Graphics designer fee
• Printing services
• Photograph staging (if you do not have print ready photographs) or purchase of stock pictures
• Editorial fees (if you want your report to be edited, spelt checked and proof read by a professional)
• Distribution: courier/postage

Remember to:

• Emphasise your impact and include highlights rather an exhaustive list
• Keep it simple and verifiable
• Play with numbers
• Include pictures and graphics as this will keep your readers engaged
• Spell check and proofread
• Ensure message and letters from the organisation’s leaders reflect why the organisation is successful including highlighting growth and future projections.
• Start creating the annual report immediately your yearly financial audit has been commissioned in order to meet regulatory reporting deadlines.
• Focus on your financial information as this is one of the most important data to be captured by an annual report