If your organization relies on donor or investor support, your annual report is a key component of your communications strategy. You use it to share the successes and challenges of the previous year, tell your story and demonstrate how you can put your supporters’ contributions to work in productive ways.
I’ve designed and produced many print annual reports over the years. But with everyone looking to reduce cost and waste, I’ve been exploring online annual reports to see how it can help my clients get through these difficult times. While some organizations really do need a printed annual report, others can do quite well moving the information online.
When I say “online annual report,” I don’t mean simply posting a PDF online. This method is unfriendly to users and search engines. I mean adjusting and reorganizing your annual report into a simple micro-website that makes your information convenient and easy to digest while eliminating printing and distribution costs and the need to recycle all those boxes of unused annual reports.
This all sounds great, but as usual I’ve been thinking about how we can take it further. If you’re going to take your annual report online, don’t just convert it and stop there. Take advantage of your CMS and Web 2.0 to bring depth to the conversation and inspire supporters take action based on what they’ve read in your annual report.
In the printed world, we’ve mostly relied on the good ol’ remittance envelope tucked into the booklet spine. On the web, though, you can do much more. Here are some ideas:
Enhance the conversation:
- encourage visitors to post comments and kudos related to your programs
- “read more” links visitors can follow to more in-depth information on your main website
- rotating or animated quotes from individuals you serve
- a simple slideshow or photo gallery with photos of your programs and events
- when listing donors, offer higher-end supporters links to their websites
Inspire action:
- Prominent “donate now” link on every page
- Share This links
- Links to your organization’s presence on social media tools (e.g., Facebook, Twitter)
Annual reports are generally considered a snapshot in time, so you need to consider these features from that perspective. You’re not trying to duplicate your main website; you want to give depth to your story from the previous year and translate that into more active supporters. Also, since one objective of going online is to reduce costs, you don’t want to get too carried away with features (thereby increasing programming costs).
Like any solution, balancing the trade-offs and qualifiers keeps things interesting. But if it makes sense for you to move this piece online, enjoy the process of exploring how you can use the web to make your online annual report more than just a document that lives online. We’re working on a few online annual reports this summer and fall, so check back for updates when they’re finished!
