A nonprofit annual report is like an elevator pitch for a year of fundraising efforts. When you think about how to run a successful nonprofit, these year-end documents can be an internal pulse check and a showcase to your community about how you’re doing.
Nonprofits work hard year-round to run fundraising campaigns and accept donations to fund their missions, but how can people see the impact that funding makes? Annual reports offer a clear and concise summary of fundraising outcomes for donors, partners, and stakeholders to engage with.
Nonprofit annual reports are different from the Form 990 required by the IRS. These year-end and impact reports are more creative and can truly reflect a nonprofit's personality.
Whether you're a nonprofit creating an annual report or someone looking to find one, keep reading to learn:
What is a nonprofit annual report?
A nonprofit annual report is a great way to summarize the past year in a physical document or digital asset. Organizations typically use these reports to highlight their most significant accomplishments, campaign highlights, and impactful moments.
Reports can serve various purposes and appeal to multiple audiences simultaneously, such as a digital annual report or a one-page PDF annual report. Many nonprofits report on building relationships with new and existing donors, corporate partners, stakeholders, board members, volunteers, and sponsors.
An annual or impact report differs from the IRS requirement for 501c3 nonprofits to file a Form 990. Having a less formal outlet to share with stakeholders in addition to standard financial disclosures can build more confidence in your organization's mission and inspire readers to support it.
Don't worry; it doesn't have to require more work for your team. Many organizations will use a nonprofit annual report template to simplify the process. The most important goal is to accurately display wins and learning moments of the past year in a way that captures the reader's attention.
The value of a nonprofit annual report
A nonprofit annual report adds a lot of value for charitable organizations. It also offers stakeholders, board members, and potential collaborators who are curious to learn more simply to get the most essential information in one place.
Nonprofit annual reports provide readers with the following:
- Full financial transparency
- Emotional benefits from charitable giving
- Awareness of where donations are going
- A simple way to view activities, accomplishments, and impact
- A clear view into plans and vision
Nonprofit annual reports help nonprofits:
- Acquire new donors, partners, board members, grantmakers, and volunteers
- Support retention plans
- Build relationships with fundraisers, major donors, corporate partners, and board members
- Reengage lapsed donors to entice them to return as supporters or partners
- Create trust and confidence in the organization
It's helpful to consider your main purpose in creating a report. Some organizations may have specific goals that inform what format to use and what should be included.
To help you choose the right nonprofit annual report this year, we've included a report template and examples that can inspire new ideas and out of the box thinking.
Nonprofit Annual Report Best Practices
The first step to creating an impactful nonprofit annual report is to clarify your primary goal and audience. Your report's audience might include current community members, prospective supporters, advocates, or both.
It’s helpful to start by reflecting on your annual fundraising strategy to clarify the goal(s) a report can align well to. For example, you might want to reach more potential corporate sponsors and use this report to pitch collaboration ideas.
As you examine what makes a strong nonprofit annual report and the options you have to customize it below, your goal will help guide your decisions.
What to include in a nonprofit annual report
- Visually appealing content: Think about how to keep your report light and engaging to existing and potential donors with multimedia. Nonprofits might include interviews, links to online photo galleries, embedded presentations, videos, and playlists.
- Your story and background: This may be a reader's first introduction to your nonprofit. Include a snapshot of your founding story, mission statement, values, nonprofit bylaws, and vision statements.
- The progress you've made: Demonstrate your organization's impact with specific numbers and visuals. Be transparent about fundraising results, key activities, and how they all contributed to your goals for the year.
- A future outlook: Excite people about how this year of impact leads to another. Mention your vision for what's to come and anything new you're working on that they may be able to support you with.
- Donor appreciation: Recognize any major donors, partners, or contributors who significantly contributed to your fundraising outcomes. You can list organizations and individuals or add a thank-you letter to shout out anyone who made a difference with a more personal touch.
- Financials and outcomes: Showcase fundraising totals and the precise impact on your community and beneficiaries. Be bold and let people in on your nonprofit accounting and financial statements; be honest about challenges to help build trust.
How to choose a format for your nonprofit annual report
Choosing your nonprofit annual report format is about your audience and how they are most likely to engage with important information. Don’t be afraid to have fun with a few versions as you explore what resonates each year.
Physical reports
These hard-copy versions of an annual report can be shared in person or mailed. They can be brochures, postcards, or even bound books.
Some people enjoy receiving a hard copy of an annual report for a more personal feel. You can increase that sentiment with a handwritten note from a team member to particular donors or messages from beneficiaries with photos related to the results you achieved.
PDF reports
The most common format for an annual report is a PDF that can be embedded into a website, offered as a free download, or printed off for those who enjoy physical copies. A PDF is simple to create from a nonprofit annual report template and keeps a consistent and clean design.
A PDF can also be saved as an image that you can share on your social media channels or embed into an email. This hybrid option can also become a physical mailer or printout for events so you can customize the experience by reader preference.
Online reports
Digital annual report versions can be posted on a nonprofit’s website or another online channel as a visually compelling summary. You may also see online reports as interactive websites, videos, presentations, and social media posts.
Many people like to access digital annual reports because they always know where to find them and don’t need to download anything. This option can also allow your organization to edit and add real-time information.
Benefits of an annual report hosted online is the ability to track analytics and page views, which provides valuable insights into how people engage with the information and what to pivot on in the future.
Video annual reports
Your nonprofit’s annual report can be a creative video or animation with multimedia elements that bring your story to life. This format can grab the attention of potential donors when they're choosing the right nonprofit and offer financial transparency to stakeholders with a quick link.
Videos can be a series of short clips or a brief YouTube video format that you can use all year long. Using a YouTube video format aligns with an easier way to track engagement and views over time and social media sharing.
Nonprofit annual report template [free download]
A nonprofit annual report template gives you an easy way to remember everything you need to include and keep things concise. We put one together to showcase how different layout, visuals, and branding can work together to bring your report to life.
Nonprofit annual report examples we love
Tommy’s Pantry: Versatile impact report example
Tommy's Pantry welcomes readers to explore its 2023 impact report right from the nonprofit's website. The embedded PDF is the first menu item under "Learn About Us" in the main navigation, where visitors can arrive at a clean and engaging report to celebrate 2023 outcomes.
Here's what we love:
- Embedded design: The Tommy's Pantry community never has to leave the nonprofit's website to view its impact each year. This convenience of an annual report website keeps readers engaged with the nonprofit after finishing the report.
- Key stats: The report adds statistics that showcase the impact of food insecurity and rising costs throughout 2023. The introduction reiterates the importance of Tommy's Pantry mission statement.
- Community shoutouts: The report closes with a special appreciation callout for all the partnerships that made the year possible. It also includes the number of donations and volunteer shifts aligned with the powerful outcomes from 2023.
Tommy’s Pantry uses its impact report to honor an incredible year of change-making. So far, the organization has raised $79,277 on Zeffy and saved $4,000 in fees.
Bee University NYC: Online impact report example
Curious visitors and loyal community members can click "Impact & Data" to find Bee University NYC's online annual report. From there, they arrive at a beautifully-branded landing page to view the 2023 impact.
The web page highlights impressive fundraising results from 2023 when Bee University NYC raised $6,261 and saved $313 in fees with Zeffy.
Here's what we love:
- Visual storytelling: The page opens with an image of young individuals participating in Bee-U's Urban Beekeeping Fellowship. A personal quote from a program member also helps bring their voices to life. Anything that captures a reader's attention strengthens relationships.
- Vibrant branding: Headings and text throughout the page differentiate between the organization's signature yellow, green, and red to draw readers to the most important information.
- Precise results: The impact numbers are larger than anything else on the page to demonstrate each donation's impact on the beekeeping fellows and program.
- Easy to read: The full report landing page is brief and easily consumed by passive skimmers. At the same time, it offers essential information to establish confidence among highly-invested stakeholders. Your report should be a simple and compelling resource for donors to read information in an appealing and digestible way.
Dear Future, Inc.: PDF year-end report example
Dear Future, Inc. put together a PDF version of their 2023 year-end report that allows readers to view it online or print it out. The organization also keeps recent year-end reports available to website visitors through the main menu.
Here's what we love:
- Engaging presentation: This report is a great display of colorful branding and a personal touch. Smiling children greet readers throughout the report to help them envision who they support and why.
- Project focuses: The report includes pages dedicated to specific projects that supporters helped make possible throughout each quarter of 2023. These pages provide an honest review of the initiatives and remind readers how they contribute to the greater mission.
- Future projections: Readers can feel clear about what's ahead for 2024, from goals around the number of children reached to the amount of materials they predict will be needed.
The Dear Future Inc. year-end report celebrates a meaningful year as the organization raised $4,801 and saved $240 in fees with Zeffy's fundraising platform.
Quick tips and free tools to create your annual report
The best practices and examples above can help get your wheels turning. When you consider that every nonprofit will likely have some form of an annual report, the tips and tools below ensure yours stand apart.
8 quick nonprofit annual report tips to take with you
- 1. Start early and plan to stay calm in the busy giving seasons.
- 2. Show more than you tell through visuals and numbers accompanying short, supportive text.
- 3. Consider the modern reader who likes to skim and access 60-second video clips as you find ways to trim down the information you share and the format you use.
- 4. Stay transparent about your organization's most successful initiatives as well as challenges to build a trusting relationship with your readers and let them know where they can help.
- 5. Encourage readers' enthusiasm by providing a way for them to continue learning about your organization at the end of your report.
- 6. Get donors involved by collecting feedback throughout the year about what they are most curious about to create your most valuable report yet.
- 7. Communicate financials from overhead costs to profits to give the full picture to your community members.
- 8. Tell detailed stories through the information in a way that takes the reader along for a journey that feels easy to follow and appeals to emotions.
Free tools to create your annual report
You’re never alone when it comes to crafting a document you’re proud of. In addition to templates, there are many free nonprofit tools at your disposal.
Check out these options and more to produce a report you’re proud of, without straining time and resources.
- Canva: Design support with report-specific templates and brand kits that keep your report looking professional and exciting year-after-year
- Hemingway App: A writing tool that helps to edit content and trim down text for simple readability that appeal to a wider array of readers
- ChatGPT: Inspirating prompts to create your report outline and structure (For example, you might use a prompt like, “Write me an annual report outline for my nonprofit using this information.”)
- YouTube: An easy way to host video reports or supportive multimedia to embed into your online report and share it out with a simple link that you can track analytics on
Create your most impactful year with Zeffy
Zeffy is the only 100% free (zero fees) fundraising software for nonprofits. We focus on providing nonprofits with the tools they need to create the most impact from their fundraising efforts and expand communities with experiences donors enjoy.
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