Do we have to keep producing an annual report?
Whether you have to keep producing an annual report depends on what your funders, your board, and your other commitments require, so start by finding out. Some grant agreements and funder relationships call for an annual report, and some boards expect one as part of their oversight of the organization. If any of those apply, the decision in front of you is how to make the report worth reading, and that decision still leaves you considerable room to change its length, structure, and timing.
A grant's annual report to its funder is a separate obligation, with requirements set by the funder's reporting template or award terms. What does my funder's annual report actually need from the evaluation? covers what that report usually needs from an evaluation. If nothing requires your organization's annual report, you have even more flexibility to decide what form it takes, although the questions below still apply.
How do we find out whether anyone reads our annual report?
You find out whether anyone reads your annual report by asking the people it's meant for and looking at whatever information you already have about how it's used. A short conversation with a few board members, donors, or partners can tell you more than a guess: what they remember from last year's report, what they skipped, and what they would have wanted to know earlier.
If the report is published online or sent by email, your website or email records may also show how many people opened it and how far they read. Those records describe what people did, so pair them with what readers tell you about their reasons before deciding what to change.
You may find that different readers want different things. A board member may want a short account of progress and challenges, a donor may want to understand what their support made possible, and a community partner may want to know what was learned and what happens next. One document may not serve all of them equally well.
What could we make instead of, or alongside, a long annual report?
Instead of, or alongside, a long annual report, you can make one shorter main report and a few smaller pieces designed for the people who will use them. The main report holds the year's results, what your organization learned, and its plans. Shorter formats then carry the most important points to each audience.
Formats worth considering
| Format | Who it might serve |
|---|
| A one-page summary of the year | Donors, partners, and anyone who won't read the full report |
| Brief updates during the year | Board members and staff who need to know about progress while there's still time to act |
| A short presentation | A board meeting or a conversation with a funder |
| A summary of what participants told you | Participants and community partners who contributed their time and experiences |
Make only the formats someone will use. CDC's evaluation framework notes that the format used to communicate findings should be tailored to each audience, and the same principle applies here: each format should exist because a particular reader needs it. Sharing findings during the year also means your team and board don't have to wait for the annual report to learn something important.
How do we make the annual report itself worth reading?
You make the annual report itself worth reading by building it around what its readers need to know, putting the main points at the beginning, and explaining what the year's results mean for the people your organization serves. A report that tells readers who took part, what changed, what the organization learned, and what happens next gives them a reason to read it.
How do I turn program data into a report my funder actually reads? covers how to organize and present a report so it gets read. The same approach works for an annual report written for donors, partners, and your community.
The Grantibly perspective
Angelika's perspective
We aren't interested in producing enormous reports no one reads, and we don't believe findings should sit on a shelf. Annual reports matter, but the people doing the work shouldn't have to wait until the end of the year to learn something important. We believe in sharing useful findings while there's still time to act on them.
When someone asks us what should go in the annual report, we'd rather start with a different question: what does the team need to understand, and what do the people you report to need to know? Once that's clear, deciding what to include, what to leave out, and what form it should take is much more straightforward.
