Soapbox Engage Blog

Stories are a cornerstone of our everyday lives. Whether we acknowledge it or not, we love the stories of Olympic athletes’ journeys to athletic greatness or lose ourselves in the pages of a great book (fiction or nonfiction). Stories help us understand complex issues and can even deepen our connection with each other.

If we love getting swept up in stories, why do so many nonprofits leave them out of the biggest storytelling project of the year?! Telling the right stories can showcase your impact, empower your donors to celebrate your collective accomplishment, and equip them to share about your organization with others.

Putting storytelling at the core of your annual report can make it an irresistible read and assure your donors they made a strong investment.

Stand Out with These Fundraisers

• 3 reasons to include stories in nonprofit annual reports
• 5 tips to help you incorporate stories into your annual report

3 Reasons to Include Stories in Nonprofit Annual Reports

Strong storytelling can transform your annual report from a drab collection of data to a dynamic account of how lives are being transformed and needs met. The right stories can change the way your audience experiences your annual report—and what they do after reading it!

Stories turn numbers into people

Relaying data and statistics is an important part of your annual report. By sharing that data through story, you reinforce the truth that each number represents real lives being touched. You’re showing how each dollar given translates into real-life results. This goes a long way to build trust with your supporters and reminds everyone that it’s not about the numbers, it’s about people.

This level of authenticity and transparency builds trust and confidence in your nonprofit and reassures your supporters that you’re doing good work with their hard-earned dollars.

A great example of this principle comes from the 2020 Feeding America report. They spotlight the number of meals the nonprofit served and include the stories of individual people who received the food assistance.

Stories make your numbers memorable

When was the last time you were excited to tell someone about raw data and numbers you read? (Hopefully, never… unless you’re into that sort of thing). Nobody relishes the idea of slogging through a boring report filled with raw data. But an exciting report filled with stories, visuals, and a well-written narrative is a whole different ball game!

Stories make data easier to understand and more memorable and relatable. Stories help your donors grasp the “why” behind your work and understand why each of the numbers matter in the grand scheme of things.

Even presenting your data with visuals like graphs and charts can increase the comprehension and retention levels of your readers! When they understand and remember the data, they’re more likely to tell others about it.

Stories get people excited about what comes next

An annual report is meant to summarize your year and forecast what’s coming next. A great report with compelling stories invites your donors to move into the coming year with hope, expectation, enthusiasm, and a renewed commitment to the vision and goal.

Stories show your supporters that their investment made a difference last year. It also invites them to continue partnering with you to expand that impact. Additionally, the stories remind your team of the valuable work you’re doing together.

5 Tips to Help You Incorporate Stories into Your Annual Report

Rather than focusing solely on stats and data for your next annual report, think of this document as a powerful way to report the data through stories. These stories really showcase what you do, why it matters, and how your donors made it happen.

Here are our top tips to help you incorporate powerful stories into your next annual report to make it a document your donors will be eager to read.

1. Make the donor the hero

While there may be a lot of different people reading your annual report, your donor is the core audience you should be writing to. Therefore, your annual report should tell an emotionally compelling story that connects with your donor, reinforces your relationship, and ensures they understand the role they’re playing in your work.

How do you do this? One simple way is to speak directly. Use the words “you and “your” throughout the report.

It’s tempting to use words like “we” and “our” to communicate that you and your donors worked together to accomplish great things. But really, you aren’t able to do much without the support and generosity of your donors. Your financial supporters need to understand that your nonprofit is the conduit by which they make an impact in the world. So, make your donors the hero of the story.

2. Choose a core narrative

There’s so much good content and information in most annual reports… but most of it goes to waste because it’s not presented in a helpful way.

Anchor your annual report with a core narrative. Did your nonprofit have a theme for the year? Was there a major initiative or project that you worked on for much of the year? Did you accomplish a major goal or affect change in a notable way? All of these make excellent core narratives for your annual report.

You don’t need to share every little thing with your reader. Too much content hides or complicates your core story.

Writing your report with a powerful core narrative makes it easier for readers to understand and helps you showcase all your organization actually accomplished in the context of your greater vision and goal.

3. Incorporate visuals into your storytelling

Studies show you have about 3 seconds to grab someone’s attention and 8 seconds to convince them to keep reading. It’s critical to create a visually appealing report that draws your readers in. One of the easiest ways to make a visually appealing annual report is to include high quality, emotionally appealing pictures throughout your report that help tell the story.

International Justice Mission does an excellent job of telling a visual story throughout their annual report. You can thumb through their report and not read a single word but still understand what IJM does and what they’re about.

Some people just want a visually appealing experience and that’s ok! Combining high quality photos with powerful stories and important data engages the widest audience and makes your report appealing to everyone.

4. Use unconventional storytelling formats for your annual reports

In case you haven’t noticed, we live in a digital age with loads of different ways to tell great stories. Don’t be afraid to experiment with unconventional storytelling methods for your next annual report! Don’t get us wrong, we love printed materials. But there’s a wide world of opportunities for creativity out there and many nonprofits have gone beyond PDF or print formats to help engage broader audiences.

Of course some audiences prefer—even demand—printed annual reports. That’s ok! Consider adding other formats in different combinations to help you connect with new audiences, communicate challenging messages more clearly, or even reduce your overhead costs associated with printing.

Here are a few clever ways some nonprofits are expanding their storytelling in their annual reports:

• Add a video story or animated film to tell the most important stories from the previous year.
• Record video messages from your nonprofit’s staff or leadership team.
• Interview people who have been impacted by your work (volunteers, recipients, donors, etc.) about what they’re most excited about from the previous year and what they’re looking forward to in the coming year.
• Photo collage highlighting different projects and initiatives.
• Really the options are endless. The most important thing is to find the storytelling method that best connects with your audience.

5. Know exactly how much to include

Here’s where knowing your audience becomes critical. Keep your stories concise and tailor your word count or video length to what your audience wants to read or watch. Too much content increases your printing or production costs and reduce the likelihood that people will actually read (or watch) and enjoy it.

Resist the pressure to include everything in your annual report. Instead, give your readers the most important information and tell them how they can learn more if they’re interested. Or, put your annual report online with links to more detailed information throughout the report. That way, casual readers can grab the highlights and those who are interested will be able to take a deep dive into your stats, too.

There are countless benefits to making stories the core of your annual report. We recognize it’s a bit more time consuming and emotionally taxing to write these kinds of annual reports, but we promise, the reward is far greater than the cost. Your donors will greatly appreciate your efforts and you’ll probably see a boost in your fundraising over time, too!

Now that you’re ready to add some powerful stories to your annual report, here are three more resources to help boost your fundraising.

• Surefire Ways To Improve Your Nonprofit Storytelling: The best communicator you know is probably an excellent storyteller. They help you feel as though you’ve been somewhere or experienced something without even leaving your comfy chair. Your organization creates powerful stories through your work to transform the world. Unfortunately, you might not have the time or resources to learn how to use those stories to their fullest potential. This blog has some practical ways you can boost your overall storytelling skills.
• 10 Essential Ingredients of a Nonprofit Business Plan: Business plans can be an invaluable too to help your nonprofit maintain a strong purpose statement, attract quality board members, and even get grants, loans, and corporate donors! But it can feel daunting to write an effective nonprofit business plan. This blog will walk you through the basic steps to creating your own helpful business plan.
• Create A Powerful Branding Strategy for Your Nonprofit: Branding isn’t something only large corporations and big name nonprofits do. In fact, developing a trusted brand is essential for nonprofits of every shape and size! And the great news is, you don’t need to have all the resources of a big company to make it happen. This blog has some practical tips to help you develop a branding strategy for your nonprofit.