HOW TO DIY A NONPROFIT ANNUAL REPORT
Drafting an annual report is crucial for ALL nonprofit organizations! Even if you’re a small shop, you should be sharing an Annual Report with your donors each year. Don’t skip this!
Thankfully, annual reports don’t have to be an overly complicated process whatsoever. You can make the overall procedure easy peasy with these simple steps!
Begin with a shared Google document with your board members and staff. This should include:
A letter from the Executive Director of the organization
Any big and newsworthy announcements
Spotlight and showcase your volunteers
Financial information and details
And more
The next thing you need to make sure you do is assign team members and deadlines to collaborate on the Google document. Everything (and I DO MEAN everything) should be in one common place so you aren’t scrambling endlessly in search of the copy. Don’t forget to check for spelling and grammar errors before formatting your text on Canva (Grammarly is AH-mazing!)
Now that you have the majority of your data, you’ll need to choose a report template. You truly don’t need an editorial team or even a graphic designer to DIY your annual report. Using Canva.com is an advantageous way to design your report without having a background in graphic design.
Here are a few of my favorite game-changing templates:
For a longer report click here.
Robust report with visual charts and graphs for financials and stats here
Short report with great visuals on the first page here
If these don’t fit what you’re looking for, you can search “annual report” in the templates search bar, or “business report” and “financial report” (both of which had the best options).
Once you have your report template, all you have to do is add your nonprofit’s brand colors and fonts (a one-and-done since this is a template you can reuse for years!) You can grab my Canva mini-course here for a quick rundown on how you can do this (You’re welcome!)
Go through your organization’s recent posts for photo inspiration. Now you’ll want to plug in the director’s letter, financials, photos, and content pieces. Finish off your annual report by proofreading your final draft and printing copies. Canva allows you to order 2-page reports but if your report is longer, you can easily download the PDF, send it to your local printer and have them “stitch” it together. You can now sit back and celebrate! 🥳
That wasn’t bad at all! This is the simplest way for you to DIY your annual report in record time; and impress your donors and supporters without overwhelming yourself and your staff while wasting hours on design.
Pat yourself on the back because you’ve created a crazy compelling annual report without being a graphic designer or having an enormous budget. Now you have an easy, repeatable system for gathering content instead of spending hours scrolling and reading through your endless email inbox. Best of all, your report looks professional, and on brand and highlights your most impactful moments!
Still need more help? Get instant access to my course Design an Annual Report on Canva” and a Custom Annual Report Canva Template!
BONUS TIP: Download a digital copy of the annual report and have it “live” on your website to include in e-blasts to your online community.