Why Volunteers Deserve Their Own Annual Report (And How to Write One)

BY VERONICA DEALLY

What if I told you that my organization, the University Health Network, began a corporate engagement program to help our cardiac patients in their healing journey by making heart shaped pillows for patients?

In its first year, we welcomed 10 corporate teams, a total of 161 corporate volunteers who donated 587 hours of their time and made 451 pillows? You would probably think that was interesting.

But what if you read about it and saw the photos in our Volunteer Resources Annual Report (it was on page 14). Now I bet I’ve got your attention. By combining the numbers with some great visuals in this report, we were able to demonstrate the success of our corporate engagement program and in return, receive further funding to keep running it.

Never considered creating an annual or impact report specific to your volunteer program? What better way to tell the story of what your volunteers do for your organization. Creating an annual report allows you to show impact on the community, on the services we provide, on the clients or patient’s experience, along with key data points that matter to senior leaders. And, finally, through this process you can show why your role is important.

But first, let’s talk about the difference between an annual report and an impact report.

An annual report is an opportunity to highlight your accomplishments, build trust in your organization, and show your stakeholders your success. But to really make an impression and help your viewer emotionally invest in your brand, you need to highlight the impact of these accomplishments. If we want to stay away from valuing a volunteer’s work by expressing how much they saved us, we need to show their impact instead.

The biggest difference between traditional annual reports and impact reports is the presence of financial information. Annual reports offer a high level overview of revenue and expenses for the year. An impact report has a different scope, and does not require financial information at such a level.

What kind of report should you create? It depends on the audience you are targeting. If you want to showcase the program and work to donors or sponsors, include financials so that they see where their money is being spent and the great initiatives they are helping to fund. But if part of your audience are senior leaders, you might consider staying away from relating volunteer impact to dollars and instead showcase the work your volunteers are doing.

Let’s look at what to include in your annual or impact report and how to pull it together.

Theme

While not entirely necessary, themes help make a bold statement, a focused interest point and can deliver significant impact. When choosing a theme, select something that will resonate with your audience and align with your organization’s values, mission, or objectives.

Themes help to tell a story and paint a picture. They strengthen the tone of your report and bring a human element to your brand through those stories you tell. Through the theme you can also communicate future goals and objectives. While coming up with the theme may require some creativity, once you have one, it will make the rest of the report a lot easier to pull together.

For example, if your organization has five published values, you could create a theme around those. Perhaps find a story to match each value and highlight an event or volunteer’s contribution.

Opening remarks

In most cases, annual/impact reports open with a signed letter from a senior leader and/or board chair, highlighting the year and the goals achieved. The letter should set a positive tone for the report and speak to the theme, if there is one. Consider including a photo of the author(s) and make this a page on its own or include a table of contents on the bottom or at a corner. A table of contents is helpful if the reader is searching for a particular section (or a story that features them.)

Mission and values

Missions and values act as a roadmap, helping organizations stay on track and work toward achieving their ultimate goals. They help guide management and business decisions, inspire employees and establish client and volunteer loyalty. But how do you show this in an annual report?

Take this example from Toronto General Hospital. A group of volunteers collected and gathered medical equipment that is normally thrown out, such as the ends of lab tubes, or one-time use needles to test blood glucose and created an amazing piece of art. It was a great example of stewardship and one of our values. This story was featured in our annual report and the artwork now adorns one of the busiest hallways on the main floor.

Have fun with it. The organization, Good360, features the vision and mission word for word, but lightens the mood with a playful infographic that showcases their values.

Why?

Audiences want to know what areas you work in, what the need is and how your organization intends to help the problem. World Vision Canada does a great job of explaining their why in great detail: who they help and why this population requires it. It explains their goal and mission in a very clear way. It then covers long term goals and their What’s Next to be covered later in this article.

What?

The ‘what we do’ is important to include for those readers who may not actually know what the organization does. Help readers to understand the problem and how the organization offers a solution. Highlighting the work up front makes it easy to determine what should be included in the report.

Keep in mind that annual reports cover the previous year. So consider what you want your audience to know about the work of your organization and how you can show that through your data collection and stats.

Beautiful images that tell a story are one of the most important aspects of an annual/impact report. Visuals help guide your audience and really connect your reader to the stories you are telling. Pictures show examples of real-life work in action, something numbers or words on a page can’t do.

Think about some of the events your organization has put together this year. Or a volunteer who has done tremendous work. Now ask yourself if you captured this moment? Is there a photo to go with this story? If not, keep in mind that for next year’s report you need to catch impact in action. Think of yourself as a journalist for your movement or cause. You never know when an image could inspire a story.

Design

When it comes to design, remember that less is more. Pick a few colours (2 to 4) and use them throughout the whole report. Do the same with the font: use one type for headlines and one for the body. Consider spacing: sometimes a single quote on a page can be more impactful than an essay. Don’t be afraid of white space. Your text should be concise: express it in the least amount of words possible. These design choices can help accentuate the key points you want to make.

Showcase impact through bold photos or in-your-face infographics with large bolded numbers. You want to show data and analytics that speak to all the programs, events, and locations in which your volunteers do their work. You can use a combination of design elements like charts of various types, using icons to represent an important detail, and numbers to back what you are saying.

A really great way to show this is through your page layout. Showcase your numbers through photos, bright bold colours, and spread it across two pages. Show diversity through graphics or photos that represent your client base and real facts about how your outreach has helped.

If you’re an organization that serves a state, country, or the world, show where your work touches and get creative with it. It doesn’t have to be a map design. For example, at my hospital, volunteers help in over 150+ departments — listing them out really shows the scope of volunteer work.

One tip to keep in mind: how will your report be distributed? Will it be emailed or printed? Doing one doesn’t always translate into the other, but deciding ahead of time will allow for the proper layout to be created so that if featured online, it looks well put together. If printing is an option, the online version can easily transform into a print.

Features

Features should answer the why questions: why volunteers donate their time, why they dedicate their work and commitment to your organization and how it reaches the intended project/ people. Plan Canada’s 2021 Annual Review features a story about Kristine, who is a sponsored child and someone who has received the services of the organization. Because of the support she received, she found inspiration to continue her education and eventually became a journalist through the aid and support of the organization.

Awards, galas, and ceremonies/achievements

If your organization has events throughout the year, such as galas, awards ceremonies, or fundraising events, be sure to spotlight them. Shoot some fun photos of participants. People will always pose at an event for a good cause. Include some big stats to show the success of the event, and don’t be shy about how well it did.

Volunteer Awards serve as a reminder that our organization cannot run without our volunteers. Recognizing their value often doesn’t necessarily require a plaque or even their name in a report, but it is certainly a great way to say thanks. Lifetime Achievement or Long-Standing Service awards are definitely worth showcasing. A great example comes from the Red Cross who featured volunteer Tom Pardee receiving his Lifetime Service award celebrating his 17,000 hours with them.

What’s Next?

Your ‘What’s next’ helps the audience to understand that not only are you working in the here and now, but that you are looking well into the future of your organization and setting new goals to grow your organization and the impact your volunteers have on the community they serve.

Celebrating your people

As much as readers love to read stories and see impact, they also care about the people behind the work. Create a page or spread that features your staff team. It could be a simple group shot with introductions. Include text that highlights a team event or highlights the team has completed that year, or any departmental news and changes.

Financials

If you are creating an annual report, you should include financials. While larger annual reports might have 3-5 pages of financial information, smaller organizations might not require as much lengthy detail. Focus on the information the reader needs to know about how you spend their funding. Consider displaying the financials in an infographic style which shows the numbers in a more visually graphic way.

Thanking key stakeholders

Remember to thank your Board of Directors, Sponsors and Donors. Put this at the end and make it simple with names and sponsor logos, or go into more detail and include donor names and amounts. Whatever design you choose, always keep your target audience in mind and the purpose of your annual report.

Call to action

End your report with a call to action page. A call to action invites your readers to get involved by making a donation, volunteering with you, or sponsoring future events. Provide a QR code that links to the relevant page on your website. List your social media pages so they can become followers and engage with you. Feature all of the ways the reader can get involved and reiterate the need for their critical involvement with your organization.

Over to you

Annual/impact reports are a great way to show your community along with your senior leaders, managers and staff, why your work is so important and why communities need the programs we offer through volunteer engagement.

Creating an annual/impact report doesn’t have to be a daunting task. Do some research on your favourite organizations and see how they presented their information. You can find many free resources available online to help you with designs and templates. Worried about the work involved? Tap into your volunteers. Recruit volunteers who are both tech and graphic savvy and more than happy to help by going out and taking the photos, videos or creating designs and layouts.

Convinced yet? Great. Start creating your annual report right now.

VERONICA DEALLY, is a Sourcing Specialist, Talent Acquisition with the University Health Network in Toronto, Ontario.