Rethinking

If your organisation is funded by more than one source, you know the particular pain of reporting season. Every funder wants something slightly different. They each have their own templates, deadlines, and formats. You end up telling the same story about the same work several times over, reshaped each time to fit someone else's requirements. Here is how to make that manageable. Why This Is So Draining The work itself has not changed between one funder report and the next. Wha

Once the content of an impact report is decided, the next question is what form it should take. Most organisations reach for a PDF by default, because that is what everyone does, but the format you choose shapes how much of your work actually reaches people. Here is an honest comparison of the three options. Print A printed report has a physical presence nothing else matches. It works well when it will be handed over in person, left on a table at an event, or sent to a small

It is later in the cycle than you meant it to be, the report is due, and you are wondering whether there is a fast way through that does not end in something you are embarrassed by. Most advice on annual reports assumes you have months. This is for when you do not. Here is how to make good decisions under time pressure, and what to avoid. First, cut the scope, not the quality The instinct when time is short is to keep the whole plan and rush every part of it. That is how you

If a funder has asked you to report on a grant, or you are trying to win the next one, it helps to understand what they are actually looking for. Funders read a great many reports, and the ones that stand out are not the longest or the most polished. They are the ones that make the funder's own job easier. Here is what that means in practice. They want to see the outcome they paid for A funder gave you money to achieve something specific. The first thing they want from your r

Most annual reports are read once, by the people who made them, in the week they go out. If you are about to start yours and would rather it earn more attention than that, here is a practical way to approach it. None of this requires a bigger budget. It requires deciding a few things before you write a word. Start with who it is for, not what happened The most common mistake is to begin with everything that happened over the year and try to fit it into a document. That produc