Nonprofit Communications

The North Carolina Center for Nonprofits (one of the leading state nonprofit associations) has just published Principles and Practices for Nonprofit Excellence: A Self-Help Tool for Organizational Effectiveness. Several other state associations have similar guides for their members.

You’ll find several communications and marketing best practices included in the NC guide and most others:

– “Fundraising communications should include clear, accurate, and honest information about the organization, its activities, and the intended use of funds.” (from the Fundraising Section)

–”A nonprofit should regularly communicate with donors regarding its activities and should make such information available through multiple outlets.” (from the Fundraising Section)

–”E-mail accounts for staff and staff usage that comply with CAN-SPAM regulations for broadcast emails.” (from Information and Technology section)

–”A nonprofit should share the results of its evaluation with all interested stakeholders.” (from Evaluation of Results section)

–”Information provided to policymakers, the media, and the general public becomes a matter of public record. Therefore, a nonprofit should ensure that the information is timely and accurate and that the social and political context of the information is clear in order to avoid misunderstanding or manipulation of the message.” (from Civic Engagement and Public Policy section)

–”In serving the public trust, a nonprofit should produce an annual report that contains information regarding activities and financial and programmatic performance and results. The annual report should include:
-an explanation of the organization’s mission, activities, and results;
-an explanation of how individuals can access its programs and services;
-overall financial information, including income and expense statement, balance sheet, and functional expense allocation; and
-a list of board members, staff, and donors.” (from Transparency and Accountability section)
–”Nonprofits should have crisis communication plans that can be implemented expeditiously by staff and/or board members.” (from Transparency and Accountability section)

As I was looking over annual reports from environmental groups this week, I noticed that both Environmental Defense (ED) and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) claimed that they were largely responsible for getting California’s law on global warming passed.

Now, I really have no idea who did what or how much, and I am sure that both organizations played vital roles. The fact that I am pitting them against each other in this post would probably send them both into a tizzy, since I suspect they work closely as partners on many issues and wouldn’t want to be viewed as competitors.

But let’s get real. Annual reports are largely about wooing donors and these two organizations do compete for funding. So who did the better job in taking claim for this ground-breaking legislation?

Environmental Defense — and here’s why.

1) They tell a better story. They describe how negotiations nearly collapsed and how their attorney “met Schwarzenegger outside the tent where the governor smokes cigars and cuts deals, and told him what was needed . . .” You can see The Governator in your head, and for anyone who knows anything about legislating, you know this is exactly how things work. It’s feels authentic, and it shows how ED has the right kind of access.

For all I know, NRDC was right there too, but they don’t say that. They talk more generically about getting lots of different interest groups in the state to support the bill. This is great work too, but it’s not nearly as compelling as ED’s story.

2) They include a great testimonial. “Environmental Defense played a pivotal role in drafting the bill and securing broad support that was critical to its passage.” — Fabian Nunez, Speaker of the California Assembly. Who better to quote on your legislative effectiveness than the Speaker of the Assembly? NRDC mentions working with the speaker and other bill authors, but that’s not nearly as good as a testimonial.

In its report, NRDC says, “It was NRDC’s reputation as honest brokers of science and the law that helped push the bill past the tipping point.” That’s great, but it would have been so much better if it came out of someone else’s mouth.

3) They give credit to NRDC by name. When special interests tried to thwart the legislation, “Environmental Defense joined with the Natural Resources Defense Council to fight back. We led an unprecedented coalition . . .”

NRDC only refers generically to working with “its partners.” Again, the ED article feels more authentic, because it includes the specific details. To be fair, NRDC does cite other partners by name, like the American Lung Association and PG&E, but note that these are not other environmental groups. Unless you read these two reports side-by-side, you wouldn’t catch this distinction. But the fact the ED names another environmental group as a leader demonstrates ED’s own confidence in its work.

I’d love to hear what you think. Here are the specific pages I’m talking about: NRDC’s Global Warming Pages | ED’s Global Warming Pages. You can get the full reports on their websites: NRDC | ED Read the pages and leave a comment on this post with your take.

This specific comparison aside, I think both groups do a good job with their annual reports. I’m preparing to publish a series of annual report reviews on NonprofitAnnualReports.net to help nonprofits better understand ways to improve their own annual reports. Both reports will be included in the reviews I’ll share later in September. FYI, subscribers to my free “Annual Reports Insider” e-newsletter will be the first to hear about these reviews, so subscribe if you want to read them sooner than later.

I’ve just released my new e-book, “How to Write a Nonprofit Annual Report” and am offering you, my blog readers, a $5 off coupon, if you download the e-book by August 31, 2007. Here is the coupon code you’ll need: 329855

The e-book is compilation of practically everything I have written to date on nonprofit annual reports. It’s a clear, practical, and easy-to-follow guide that will help you produce the best annual report possible for your nonprofit.

It will answer all of these questions for you, and more:

It’s $29.99 ($24.99 with the coupon) and available for immediate download at www.NonprofitAnnualReports.net. Here’s the coupon code again –329855 — which you’ll need when you get to the checkout page.

P.S. Want some additional hand-holding as you create your annual report? Sign up for my annual report e-course and you’ll get a copy of the e-book, a workbook, access to a private bulletin board, and my feedback on your questions and ideas.

Here are my replies to the five top questions I get about the lists that you find in the back of nonprofit annual reports.

DONOR LIST: Do we need to list absolutely everyone who donated any amount of money?

No. Many organizations set a minimum dollar amount for inclusion in the annual report to keep the donor list to a reasonable length (one or two pages in an 8-12 page report, three-four pages in longer reports). Smaller donors can be recognized publications like a newsletter. Rather than using expensive printed pages in the annual report some nonprofits photocopy the full list and insert it into the report that way.

DONOR LIST: How should the donor list be organized?

You can either organize the list alphabetically or group donors according to the level of contribution and alphabetically within those categories.

DONOR LIST: Seven of our donors want to remain anonymous. How do we recognize them?

If you have several donors who wish to remain anonymous, you can list “Anonymous” once as the first entry in the list or you can include a brief statement at the beginning or end of the list thanking all the donors who wish to remain anonymous.

BOARD LIST: Should we list non-voting, honorary, or advisory board members?

The main list under your “Board of Directors” heading should include only the voting members. If there is space, you can list other categories of board members under an appropriate heading, but don’t mix the two. It should be clear to readers who the legal directors of the organization are.

STAFF LIST: Which staff members should we list?

Always list the executive level staff (e.g., executive directors and depending on the size of the organization, the next layer of management below the executive director). Many organizations list all staff. It’s up to you and dependent on how much space there is.

This question came in last week to AskKivi.com:

“Should we include articles and photos of our fundraising events over the last year in our annual report? Based on your “Seven Easy Steps to Writing a Great Annual Report“, I would say no since it is an activity, not an accomplishment. What do you say?”

– Sally Coates, Episcopal Charities

Here’s what I told Sally:

I generally discourage it, with three exceptions: (1) You can clearly connect the fundraising event to an accomplishment, e.g., the money raised at the event paid for xyz, which resulted in xyz. You should still lead with the accomplishment, but you can talk about the fundraising for it a few paragraphs into the section. (2) Fundraising event photos are the only decent photos you have. Event photos are better than no photos at all. (3) You include the text and photos in the financial section of the report.

Do you have questions about nonprofit annual reports? Visit my site www.NonprofitAnnualReports.net and if you don’t find your answer there, send me a message at AskKivi.com.

A few months ago, I got a bit huffy when I saw that my husband and I were listed in a local nonprofit’s annual report as “Mr. and Mrs. Edgar Miller” for a donation we’d made. I’ve been living in a small town in the South for five years, so I guess I should be used to being relegated to “wife of” status by now, but my Berkeley feminist roots were pinched. I chalked it up to the cultural and generational divide between Boomer and older age groups (who make up the board of directors of the group and probably most of its donors) and my cohorts in Generation X who were raised to expect equality in all aspects of life.

I didn’t think about it again until the ever loyal husband told me he had informed the development director of the group about my little dining room outburst and disappointment in the group for not taking what I considered to be a more modern approach to their donor list. The next solicitation letter we received from the group a few weeks later was addressed to Mrs. Kivi Miller and Mr. Edgar Miller.

This issue came up again recently when I was working on a client’s annual report. Because of the way their database was set up, the donor lists included entries like “Mr. and Mrs. John Smith” and “Sally Jones and James Smith.” About half of the entries used Mr. and Mrs. and the others didn’t. In other words, if the two people who donated together were not married or the woman had kept her maiden name, she was included by name in the donor list. If she had taken her husband’s name, she was not. The staff noticed this aberration and spent a few days rejiggering their database reports to create a new list that included the first names of both partners, regardless of marital status. In this particular case, all Mr. and Mrs. courtesy titles were removed from the list. This particular group is very progressive, as are their donors, and it was definitely the right decision for that group.

So what should you do in your annual report?

I recommend that you list donors however they request to be listed. If someone fills out a donation slip with Mr. and Mrs. Edgar Miller, then print it that way. If they complete the form like we always do (Kivi and Edgar Miller) then list them that way. I quickly reviewed about ten annual reports from major nonprofits this week and found the majority used a mixed list. I don’t know how they are deciding when to use the courtesy titles and when to use the first names of both partners, but I hope it’s based on the donors’ stated preference.

What do you think? Is using the courtesy titles with the husband’s first name only as the default style for a donor list still OK in 2007? Should both first names always be used sans titles? Or is a mixed list based on donor preference OK, even if it makes your list look a bit messy and inconsistent? You know how I feel. Tell me what you think.

The Columbus Foundation asked me to write an article  on annual reports for  one of their newsletters. That article appears below. If you’d like a customized article for your foundation or association newsletter on  nonprofit annual reports or another nonprofit communications topic, contact me at kivi  *AT*  writing911.com  or  336-499-5816.

Even though nonprofit organizations aren’t required by law to publish annual reports, most nonprofit leaders recognize the value annual reports can provide. A well-written annual report will help you demonstrate your accomplishments to current and future donors, cultivate new partnerships, and recognize important people. Five questions are most frequently asked by nonprofit managers who are producing an annual report for the first time.

Do we really need an annual report? Yes. You don’t need a beautiful, full-color, glossy 40-page production, but you do need some sort of accounting of the organization’s work over the past year. Even if it is only a two-page flyer you photocopy, you should get in the habit of producing an annual report. It is better to start simple and to work up to more complete, professionally written and nicely designed reports over time than to produce nothing at all.

What’s the most important part of an annual report? The most important part of a nonprofit annual report is the description of your accomplishments. We want to know what you did, but more importantly, we want to know why you did it. What were the results? Why did you spend your time and money the way you did? What difference did it make? Connect the everyday activities of your organization to your mission statement. Don’t assume that readers will automatically understand how your activities help you achieve your mission. Connect the dots for them.

What needs to go in the financial section? The financial section of a nonprofit annual report should clearly explain where revenues come from and how they are spent. In addition to the information provided in traditional financial statements (abbreviated formats are fine in an annual report), it’s also helpful to include pie charts, bar graphs, or other visuals that help readers see the big picture and understand financial trends. A short narrative description is also essential. Explain in plain English the meaning behind all those numbers.

How do we handle the donor lists? Organize your list of donors however it makes the most sense for your organization. Most nonprofits organize donors by contribution level and then alphabetize each of those lists. You can also alphabetize the full list without regard to donation level. Be sure to double-check all names, both personal and organizational, in your donor lists. Spelling a donor’s name wrong in your annual report is a sure way to sabotage a future donation.

What should an annual report look like? If you aren’t sure how your annual report should look, spend some time looking at other annual reports to discover what you like and don’t like. You can find links to over 100 nonprofit annual reports at www.NonprofitAnnualReports.net. See how other organizations in your field or geographic area are designing their reports. Show the person who will design your report several samples that are line with the look and feel you are after. It is also helpful to show a designer samples that you don’t particularly care for.

To learn more about writing nonprofit annual reports, visit http://www.NonprofitAnnualReports.net where you will find tip sheets and a self-paced annual reports e-course. You can also sign up for the Nonprofit Annual Reports Insider, a free monthly e-newsletter.

I’ve compiled a list of the ten mistakes that I most often see in nonprofit annual reports. The top mistake? Focusing on activities instead of accomplishments. I’ve written about this one before. You can request a copy of the full list at www.NonprofitAnnualReports.net

Don’t feel bad if you’ve made some or all of these mistakes. There is very little guidance out there for nonprofits on how to write a good annual report. I’ve tried to fill that gap with www.NonprofitAnnualReports.net and especially with my e-course, which is now self-paced. You can start any day you’d like (including today) and the $149 fee includes a half-hour of consulting time with me. It’s structured as a four-week course, but you get six weeks to complete it. It’s full of practical advice, clear examples, useful exercises, and great resources. Learn more about the course here. It’s been favorably reviewed by every person who has enrolled in the course to date and by Joanne Fritz over at About.com. If an e-course is more than you need, you’ll also find free advice and some reasonably priced tip sheets at the site.