In the last blog from this series, we talked about the importance of identifying the audience for your annual report. Now that you’ve established who you’re writing for, you can start to collect the impactful stories and relevant data points that will resonate best with that audience.
Here’s how you lead your audience on a journey with compelling stories and powerful data.
Element 2: Lead with a Story, Support with the Data
The Mistake: Opening with dense financial tables or overwhelming (or even underwhelming) statistics that create immediate disengagement from your reader.
The Solution: Structuring your annual report as a narrative journey, using real-life stories from people impacted by your work as the foundation and the data as supporting evidence.
The Data Storytelling Framework
- Start with the Person-First Story. Open with a compelling story of someone who benefitted from your work, a staff spotlight, or a community impact narrative that exemplifies your mission in action. With written consent, use real names, authentic photos, and specific details that create emotional connection. If confidentiality is required, use disclosed pseudonyms, summarized narratives, or staff perspectives while protecting the individual’s identity and dignity.
- Then Prove its Scale. After establishing emotional resonance, introduce data that shows this story is not a standalone example; rather, it is a piece of the puzzle of the total impact your organization provides.
- Maintain this Balance Throughout. Take this structure and incorporate it throughout the report. Alternate between narrative sections of storytelling and data visualizations. Use pull quotes from clients, staff, or volunteers to add levels to the storytelling.
- Focus on Impact and Outcomes. Connect the activities, services, or programs your organization delivered (the outputs) with the lives changed or impacts made (the outcomes) as a result. Without this connection, you’ll miss the opportunity to showcase true impact.
- Talk about Needs and Opportunities. Balance celebrating your impact with being honest about data from unmet needs or service gaps. This transparency builds credibility while showing stakeholders why continued support is essential to fully achieving your mission.
Data Presentation Best Practices
- Visualize, don’t verbalize. Use infographics, charts, and icons instead of text blocks of statistics.
- Give context to comparisons. Show trends and comparisons instead of isolated numbers for additional insights and meaning.
- Explain the significance. Don’t assume readers of any audience segmentation understand the importance of why a metric matters.
- Limit data points. Feature 5-7 key impact metrics rather than overwhelming with every trackable statistic.
Strategic Tip from Morgan Ellis
“Your data should always answer the ‘And, so, what’s the point?’ question. Every number should clearly connect back to a personal outcome or a mission achievement. If you can’t explain why a metric matters, or you’re really grasping at straws, reconsider including it in the report.”
Read more about putting data into context here.
Up Next in the Series: Essential Element 3 of Annual Reports
Weaving the Mission Throughout the Report
What should every unique audience, compelling story, and powerful metric have in common with your annual report? In our next blog, Essential Element 3 of Annual Reports: The Mission, we’ll combine Element 1: The Audience and Element 2: The Story with the power of your organization’s mission.
Read Element 3 of Annual Reports: The Mission now.
Additional Resources
Listen to the Full Episode
In Episode 25 of the W(h)ine About Data Podcast, our Communication Manager, Morgan Ellis, sits down with our President, Amanda Lopez, to discuss practical strategies for creating annual reports that stakeholders actually want to read and share with their networks. Whether you’re producing your first annual report or refining an established process, this guide breaks down the 5 essential elements every nonprofit annual report needs.
Listen to the full conversation, or continue reading the blog series for key takeaways and actionable tips you can implement immediately.
Related Blog Posts
- Annual Report Challenges: Why Nonprofits Struggle
- Element 1 of Annual Reports: The Audience
- Element 3 of Annual Reports: The Mission
- Element 4 of Annual Reports: The Design
- Element 5 of Annual Reports: The Distribution
- W(h)ine About Data Podcast Episode 20: Tell Impactful Stories in an Ethical Way
- Using Data to Tell Your Story
- Putting Data into Context
- Using Performance Indicators to Drive Impact
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