I'm Getting Rid of Annual Reports!
At the beginning of a new year, it sounds like the perfect time to talk about the subject issue. Remember my prior post Annual Report is Not Memoir, I'm Not Interested In You where I talked about the content of a proper annual report? Now I would challenge your perception of whether it is really a must to have such a report annually. I am not saying to get rid of your annual report entirely. It doesn't make sense at all as it is the requirement of law to have it published. But you DO NOT have to publish a 30+ page report that takes over 100 hours to create. Who is really going to read that? Save your nonprofit huge amounts of time and money and create something people will actually look at and respond to. In today's information era, organizations have been good at make available of their information on a monthly basis, if not weekly; of their activities, achievement, plans and etc. through their website, newsletters (both printed and e-copies), social media and alike. For this reason, stakeholders are very well aware of the development of the organization in a timely manner whereas the only missing piece is the audited yearly financial report as requested by the relevant regulators. One of the best examples is water.org which is doing a good job in uploading videos in keeping supporters and prospects update of their work, progress and impact on a fairly regular basis. Specially, it is of no secret that people are spending less time on reading from paper with the trend shifting towards reading on phones nowadays, resources that are supposed to allocate to the production and mailing out of hardcopy annual reports formerly could be well spent elsewhere. With this in mind, it seems feasible that we can only publish the financial report and perhaps the donor acknowledgement once a year in response to the legal obligation while everything else was blasting out regularly online. Another unmistakable benefit of doing so in addition to cost concern is that which way do you believe can engaging our supporters more and effectively, regularly, multi-channel and interactive or once a year, one-way static printed material? Yes, I understand that some would consider an annual report as a promotional material, a corporate literature that can leave behind after meeting new prospects or treat it as a summary of the organization activities over the year for an easy understanding of it instead of having to browse through and scroll up and down the website or social media in hope to get a full picture of what the organization has been done or accomplished. But to achieve so, is it necessary to have a printed annual report? To answer this, we have to go back over what's the fundamental purpose of an annual report verse a promotional material. As the name suggested, an annual report is a publication that recap of what was happening or had happened in the twelve months since the last report issued. Meanwhile, a promotional material should focus more on the organization's own view of its future, the future of the society and the social issue it is intended to address, strategic plan on how it is going to further develop, the social impact that it is envisioned to bring, its fundraising goal and et cetera. In short, it is showcasing its key facts, its vision and the big picture. It is therefore clearly illustrated that they are two sets of very different official documents for serving two underlying functions. Well, to address this concern, I always introduce to my charity clients a concept I borrowed from higher education institutions worldwide or well-established Western charities, it is called Case for Support. Through my career, I have never found one university which has no Case for Support at all. In its simplest form, the Case for Support is a philanthropic investment prospectus: a straightforward document that tells prospective donors what your organization hopes to accomplish with their philanthropic gifts. In other words, it is a sort of sales material or you could describe it as promotional literature or sales kits as you wish. In the local charitable organization context, on the other hand, I can hardly find any Case of Support of any kind. By having such a Case for Support to tell its compelling story, it is more able to move your supporters and prospects than keep highlighting of historical data and information. One of the very important elements on such Case for Support is storytelling. On top of the facts, data and vision; it is always the stories that do the talking that touches and moves the readers which help to get the desired result of securing of supports. Although a case may be developed for a campaign or for special project fundraising, frequently however, I would suggest my local charity clients to develop a case for support that positions the organization for investments that support the full breadth of its activities—from annual giving, planned giving, and major gift programs, to special events; as a response to the local setting and due to the cost and scope consideration. Regardless of its appearance, an effective case for support should meet the following criteria:
The case positions the organization's fundraising opportunities as investments that are consistent with the values and interests of the donor.
The case is based on the organization's strengths, not on its "needs." Successful organizations identify issues in the community and then demonstrate how they—and their donors—respond positively. The only needs to worry about are your donors' needs.
The case positions the organization—its value and impact—in a broad context of community and society; it may also set the tone of abundance, rather than need.
Both emotional and rational, the case includes anecdotes and accomplishments that appeal to the heart, as well as statistical data that include demographics, benchmarks, outcomes, etc.
The case must make an impact, which is best done if it is to the point, organized, and meaningful. It also conveys a sense of urgency to encourage immediate action by the donor.
OK, we now have a copy of Case for Support or something to tell our story and appeal to our prospects, what about the other concern of an easy to read historical record of our achievement, events and activities for reference if it is not in the form of the annual report? I keep telling my clients that it is an even easier task to accomplish. Return to your website, see it yourself if it is easy to navigate in finding such information without much hassle. Congratulations, if you can do so in under a minute, otherwise it is time to consider in reorganizing the way in which you present yourself online. One simple way is an interactive timeline of which website visitors can track your organization's achievement and activities effortlessly that is more eye-catching and attractive than a static one, in hope of getting a historical picture of how good your organization is. Alternatively, a digital publishing platform, such as issuu; is quite a nice idea in presenting this information professionally and inexpensively. Again, the other benefit of putting such information online instead of publishing them only once a year is to ensure that the information is up-to-date all the time, or at least in a timely manner that helps in engaging and cultivating of supporters and prospects. If hard copies are still preferred, is it feasible to publish activities, achievement updates quarterly, not annually to help engaging and connecting with supporters more frequently? It may not be in a format like a typical annual report but a leaflet or pamphlet that is simpler, less expensive, handier and more importantly more up-to-date of which we simply plug-in pictures and texts into a standard template. So, going back to the original question, since we now have a media designed for appealing to prospects and supporters while another one in showcasing historical data, do you think it is still necessary to have an annual report in a format like what we currently have? Last but not least, wish you all a wonderful, productive and healthy 2019!