By Corinna Keefe — Contributing Writer
Getting ready to write an annual report? The process doesn't have to be tedious.
In this guide, we showcase ten exceptional nonprofit annual report examples.
With no-code publishing platforms and nonprofit annual report templates, designing a high-impact annual report has never been easier.
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Build stunning, interactive annual reports with Shorthand. Publish your first story for free — no code or web design skills required.
While you might be familiar with the basic definition of an annual report – a yearly statement summarising your organization's accomplishments and financial health – there's much more to it.
A well-crafted annual report can serve as an essential reference, a flagship content piece, and a source of inspiration for employees, volunteers, and donors. As we've mentioned in The Craft, content is a critical component in most non-profit marketing strategies. Great annual reports have evolved into versatile tools, providing material for case studies, interviews, infographics, and statistics throughout the year.
Increasingly, annual reports feature data visualisation — from standard pie charts and graphs to more interactive graphics and maps.
For nonprofits where every cent and minute are valuable, annual reports present an incredible opportunity.
However, creating an in-depth, high-quality annual report requires thoughtful planning. Nonprofits must make their work relatable to readers and stakeholders who may not possess industry expertise. They must also showcase their values, real-world impact, and future mission.
The design should be anything but dull. Annual reports must be engaging and reflective of the organisation's exciting vision for the future.
In the past, annual reports were often distributed as printed brochures or PDFs , with a cover page and table of contents. However, these formats have their drawbacks.
Printed reports can be costly to produce and only reach a limited audience. While PDFs offer broader distribution, they can be cumbersome to navigate and are known for their inaccessibility.
Reading PDFs on mobile devices is challenging, a crucial consideration as mobile has accounted for over 50% of internet traffic for years. Google now actively penalises non-mobile-responsive pages, impacting the SEO value and readability of your annual report. Learn more about the limits of PDFs.
Nonprofit organisations must also consider their diverse range of stakeholders. It can be challenging to craft annual reports that effectively communicate with executives, investors, employees, clients, donors, and volunteers — while still adhering to brand guidelines
The solution? Create an accessible, visually appealing annual report that displays well on all devices, featuring your brand fonts, colour scheme, and typography. With beautiful writing, great graphic design, and a great content platform, your year-in-review is a potent marketing tool.
Achieve this without breaking the bank or becoming entangled in costly software solutions.
In this article, we highlight some of the best digital annual reports from nonprofits published with Shorthand. The no-code publishing platform enabled them to produce evocative and impactful reports without relying on an extensive team of developers and web designers.
So, let's dive into the top ten annual reports from the previous year, and explore what makes them exceptional in a simple way.
