Donors want feedback on what you did with their last gift before they’ll give again, and an annual report is one effective way to provide those details on your accomplishments.
During our on-demand e-course, “Writing a Nonprofit Annual Report,” you learn the basic steps in creating an annual report, as well as all of the common sections you’ll need to write, from the executive message to the donor acknowledgements. We’ll discuss the importance of writing about accomplishments rather than activities and how to present financial information so your readers can understand it. We’ll also look at some of the little extras that will make your annual report stand out.
What’s Included
When you register, you will receive a password that unlocks the e-course home page with all of these resources.
- The E-Book with Reading Assignments. You will receive a copy of our 50+ page e-book, “How to Write a Nonprofit Annual Report.” If you decide to follow our recommended four-week schedule, you’ll be assigned sections of the book to read each week.
- A Workbook with Exercises. You will also receive a workbook with exercises that match up with the reading material for the week. You’ll see more clearly how to apply the lessons in the book to your own annual report. If you work through all of the exercises in the course, you will have a solid first draft of your annual report at the end of the class.
- “How to Write a Four-Page Annual Report” - Recorded Webinar. You can watch a one-hour webinar that shows you how to take everything you have learned about annual reports and boil it all down to just four pages.
PLUS . . .
You’ll also receive the following benefits at no additional charge.
- Instructor Feedback. You can ask any questions you have on the course materials and exercises at any time. Kivi is available via email and phone.
- On-Demand, Self-Paced Schedule. You can work ahead or take some time off. It’s up to you how quickly you work. You will receive a weekly reminder email from us that paces you for a four-week course, but you can work at whatever pace fits your needs.
- Free Updates. If Kivi publishes an update to the e-book or workbook while your course subscription is active, you’ll get the new editions at no extra charge.
Price
The Annual Reports On-Demand E-Course fee is $60.00 (USD). Register Now!
Want an even better deal? This course is also included in Nonprofit Marketing Guide’s All-Access Pass, which is $97 for 12 weeks of access. In addition to the Annual Reports Course, you also get 12 weeks of access to the live webinars (we do one nearly every week) and access to the webinar archive where you can watch more than a dozen recordings. Learn more about the Nonprofit Marketing Guide All-Access Pass.
We accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, and PayPal.
Satisfaction Guaranteed!
If you are not satisfied with the e-course for whatever reason, you can request a full refund within 7 days of your enrollment.
Why Bother with an Annual Report?
Donors want you to report back to them. |
Many studies have shown that donors want feedback on what you accomplished with their gifts before they give again, and an annual report is one important way to provide that feedback. Annual reports communicate your activities and accomplishments to supporters and the community, attract new donors, and serve as a historical record of your organization’s progress.
This e-course will guide you through the process of creating an annual report by discussing all of the steps you need to take and the common sections you need to write in order to create a great annual report.
If you are working on a real annual report now, the exercises will be especially helpful to you. If you complete all of the exercises, you will have made most of the key decisions and have drafted several sections of your report by the end of the course.
Use the Four-Week Schedule . . . Or Not.
Do the course at your own pace, but we’ll send you reminders, just in case. |
This is an on-demand course, which means you can access these materials anytime you like, from anywhere, as long as your subscription is valid.
You can work through the course at your own pace, but we’ve found that many people like some structure to help them get through the materials in a timely way.
Therefore we’ve broken the course down into four one-week sections. When you sign up for the course, we automatically add you to an email list to receive a reminder about the course materials once a week. If the four-week schedule doesn’t work for you, simply ignore the email messages.
Download Your Reading Materials and Exercises
You’ll need the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the PDF files used in this course.
Here’s what you are looking for! The downloads! |
The course consists of two main PDF documents:
(1) How to Write a Nonprofit Annual Report: The E-Book
The chapters in this e-book are your “lectures” and the workbook refers back to the e-book chapters that match the exercises.
(2) Writing a Nonprofit Annual Report: The E-Course Workbook
In addition to the exercises themselves, this document also contains a 4-week schedule of which chapters to read and which exercises to do.
As you work on the exercises, you may also want these documents with sample annual report sections:
Four cover letters from animal welfare organizations
Good captions in an HSUS annual report
Call to action samples from two annual reports
How to Save Copies of the Course Materials
The best way to save the PDFs is to right-click on the links, save them to your computer (i.e., select “save target as” or “save link as”), then open them offline. You can also click on the link to open it up in your web browser and then save it by clicking on the disc symbol in Adobe Reader.
Learn How to Create a Four-Page Annual Report
Woo-Hoo! I can really do an annual report in just four pages?! |
The e-book and workbook explain how to write a traditional nonprofit annual report, which is usually at least 8 pages. But if you want to do something shorter, watch the recording of this one-hour webinar, “How to Write a Four-Page Nonprofit Annual Report.” You can also download a PDF of the slides used in this webinar. (Recorded March 13, 2008)
During the webinar, I explain how to condense the most important elements that I discuss in the e-book down into four pages. If you are having trouble visualizing how this could work, you can also download two samples layouts to show you how all the pieces can fit together in just four pages.
Get Priority Replies to Your Questions
Questions? Concerns? Just need to bounce some ideas around? Email Kivi! |
Confused? Not sure what to do? Just want some feedback on your ideas for your own report?
As part of your registration fee, you also get priority in my email in-box. Please feel free to email any questions you have on the materials or annual reports in general to training@nonprofitmarketingguide.com.
Email messages are sometimes lost in cyberspace or accidentally deleted as spam. If I haven’t replied to you within two business days, please resend your message to me or call me at 336-499-5816 (office) or 336-870-0251 (mobile).
And don’t forget to tell me what you thought of the course! Here is the brief survey.
Thanks for taking the course!
Kivi Leroux Miller
During our September 17, 2008 webinar on “Parties with a Purpose: Putting the Fun Back into Your Fundraising Events,” we asked participants about their favorite items for auction fundraisers. Here are some of those suggestions. You can also read more auction tips from Gail Perry and Claire Meyerhoff on Kivi’s blog.
- Mystery bag with a certain minimum value
- 4-night stay at an out-of-town resort
- Wine baskets
- Weekend stays at a board member’s beach or mountain house
- Sporting event tickets
- Show tickets (musicals, TV show tapings)
- Themed baskets
- Local artwork
- In-house dinner party with local chef
- Cabin getaways
- High profile concerts hosted by a board member in their executive suite
- Experience vacations, e.g. one week at a working goat farm and pottery studio
During our webinar on September 17, 2008 called “Parties with a Purpose: Putting the Fun Back in Your Fundraising Event,” Gail Perry and Claire Meyerhoff said you should “name it and claim it” — in other words, give your event a great name and use that name to brand your event as your own special party.
We asked webinar participants to share the names of their events. Here are our top twenty favorites to get you thinking about what to call your own event.
Blue & White Gala
Hats In The Garden
Retro Bash
Golden Apple Gala
The Whisker Whirl
The Ultimate Picnic
Antique Quest and Wine Fest
Justice for All Ball
Barn Blast
Black Tie & Tails Dinner
Helping Lives Bloom: A Garden Gala
Beyond Imagination Gala
October BrokerFest
Evening at the Theater
Musical Mayhem: A Celebration of Sound
Gathering in the Gardens
BASH…Building a Superior Hospital
Food, Wine & Wishes
Denim, Dinner & Dance !
10th Anniversary Kelly Shires Breast Cancer Snow Run
Research and Case Studies
Recent research into what works in fundraising appeals shows that a powerful story about a single individual moves donors more than general information or even stories about more than one person.
One of my favorite articles on the power of nonprofit storytelling, “I Want You to Meet Joe: How a Riveting Story Can Get Your Message Across,” appeared in the Stanford Social Innovation Review.
More Storytelling How-Tos
Watch a keynote presentation by Andy Goodman, a leader in helping nonprofits see the value in storytelling.
Check out the quick primer on nonprofit storytelling by Nancy at Getting Attention.
TechSoup offers eight tips for telling your story digitally.
Network for Good offers seven ways to improve your storytelling.
How can you inject storytelling into your day-to-day communications? Here are ten specific examples of ways nonprofits can use stories.
1) Include a story about a real person in every speech you give. Talking to potential volunteers? Tell a story or two about a real volunteer and the difference she is making in the lives of others.
2) Turn a story into a how-to article for your newsletter. Using the first person (”How I . . .”), have someone on your staff, a board member, or a volunteer explain how to do something, based on his own experience in learning how to do it.
3) Include testimonials in your event marketing. Ask people who attended your workshop to provide testimonials about how they personally used what they learned at the event in their own work.
4) Single out one person you are helping in your next fundraising appeal letter. Instead of talking broadly about the need for low-cost childcare in your community, talk about the plight of just one single mom.
5) Use serial storytelling on a campaign blog. Hook in readers with frequent updates about a particular person, animal, or item. Environmental and humane groups use this tactic effectively all the time (e.g. tracking a particular whale’s journey — “Will he evade the evil whale hunters?” — or a dog that has been badly abused, but is now on the mend after being rescued — “Will she live? And walk again?”).
6) Give each board member at least one good story to use, and have them practice telling it. Your board members should be advocating for your organization at all times. Give them real stories they can use that will put your organization in a good light with potential donors, volunteers, community decision-makers, etc. Make time on your next board meeting agenda to learn the stories and to practice telling them.
7) Lead your next press release with a story. The media loves real stories, so use them as angles in your press releases. If you can make the real person in the story available for interviews, that’s even better.
Incorporate a story into a training session. Who do you train? Volunteers, new staff, community members, others in your field? Incorporate a good story into your next training session.
9) Add stories to your annual report. They can take the form of personal profiles, first-person accounts, or short testimonials, but include stories about real people in your annual report to reinforce the narrative about your accomplishments and activities.
10) Rotate stories on your website home page. Collect stories about specific people related to your organization and rotate them on your home page.
Good stories about your nonprofit’s work may be your single most valuable asset in marketing your nonprofit to new supporters and in keeping your current supporters interested in your work.
But what makes a good nonprofit story? How do you put a good story together? You’ll learn how in this on-demand e-course. Work on it whenever you want, wherever you want, for 30 days when you register a la carte or for as long as you want when you purchase an All-Access Pass.
This e-course currently includes five lessons with video screencasts, articles, recommended resources, and exercises. It’s constantly changing as I add new material.
Please feel free to send me any questions you have via email. I’m here to help! I’m also available to work with you on drafting your stories for an additional fee. Please email me to learn more.
~ Kivi Leroux Miller
The Course Outline
1. Getting Started
Introduction: Why Stories Work So Well for Nonprofits - Watch the Video Lesson (Length: 8:48)
Where to Find Examples of Great Nonprofit Storytelling Online (Article with Recommended Links)
More Research and Resources on Nonprofit Storytelling (Article with Recommended Links)
2. Writing the “Challenge” Story
Writing the Challenge Story - Watch the Video Lesson (10:42)
Download the Challenge Story Worksheet: Word | PDF
3. Writing the “Creativity” Story
Writing the Creativity Story - Watch the Video Lesson (9:04)
Download the Creativity Story Worksheet: Word | PDF
4. Writing the “Connection” Story
Writing the Connection Story - Watch the Video Lesson (11:08)
Download the Connection Story Worksheet: Word | PDF
5. How and Where to Use Stories in Your Work
Questions to Answers with Stories describes the five questions that new supporters will have about your organization and how you can answer them with stories, including links to nonprofit examples.
Specific Ways to Use Storytelling in Your Work is a quick list of ways to inject storytelling into your overall communications and organizational management.
FAQs about Writing Your Stories and Using Your Stories. These Frequently Asked Questions come from participants in my storytelling trainings. Please add your questions!
New donors, volunteers and other potential supporters have questions that they want answered before taking the next step with your organization. These five simple but universal questions that people will have about your organization are best answered not with statistics or wonky program statements, but with stories. Your website is the perfect place to answer these questions.
1) What Do Other People Think About This Group?
Answer with Testimonials. When someone is learning about you for the first time, they’ll be curious what other people think about your organization, your staff and your effectiveness. You can talk about how great you are, but that’s not nearly as convincing as testimonials from other people who aren’t on your payroll (or even on your board). Testimonials are short quotes — little mini-stories — that offer insight into why someone is happy to be associated with your organization in one or two sentences. Gilda’s Club Seattle includes testimonials and photos at the top of nearly every page on its site that instantly convey how important the group is to its supporters.
2) Are People Here Like Me?
Answer with Profiles. When someone donates time or money to your organization, they are joining a virtual community of people who believe in the same cause. If someone is not quite sure if your nonprofit is a good fit for them, showing them that they fit in with other supporters can help overcome that barrier. Profiles of clients, donors, volunteers, members, and other supporters are a good way to show the different kinds of people who are involved with your group, making a newcomer feel more comfortable that they are in the right place. Iraq Veterans Against the War lets members write their own profiles as part of the open, online membership directory.
3) Does This Work?
Answer with Success Stories. Do you get the job done? Are you going to make a difference with the money I give you? Success stories show donors (and potential new donors) exactly what it is you do and how you do it. They can be full-length articles or shorter vignettes like those on the National CASA website. The multimedia stories on the home page show the children they serve and their adult court-appointed advocates speaking about the benefits of the CASA program. These stories end with this simple statement: “Children with a CASA volunteer are less likely to reenter Child Protective Services.” Does it work? Yes, it does.
4) What Difference Can a Single Person Make?
Answer with Personalized Giving Options. Big problems are overwhelming. If you swamp people with the enormity of the need, they are likely to tune you out and move on to something that feels more manageable. One way to overcome this problem is to focus on the difference that a single person can make and clearly demonstrate through storytelling that a new donor, as a single individual, can bring about change by supporting your organization. Tying donor actions or gift levels to specific results is a great way to do that.
Kiva and Donors Choose are the shining stars in this category. CARE’s “I Am Powerful” campaign also makes a clear yet less direct connection between individual donors and the people they are helping.
5) Can I Come Along?
Answer with Personal Chronicles. For your supporters to fully engage with your nonprofit, you have to be willing to share what’s really going on. A small but important segment of your donor base won’t be happy with the level of detail they get in your newsletters. They’ll want more and you should give it to them. Blogs are a natural way to provide this kind of ongoing, detailed, behind-the-scenes narrative about your work.
The Humane Society of the United States’ dispatches from the Canadian seal hunt are riveting (although brutally graphic). It’s one thing to ask supporters to put a “Save the Baby Seals!” bumper sticker on their car — it’s another to invite them to tag along virtually with the HSUS’s Rebecca Aldworth as she chronicles the bloody devastation on the ice floes day in and day out. A more heart-warming example can be found on the Interplast blog, where doctors chronicle their efforts around the globe to repair birth defects like cleft lip.
In both cases, these nonprofits are taking their supporters to places they would likely never physically go themselves, showing them in detail both the need for their support and what can be done with their donations and advocacy. By bringing your supporters along day in and day out, you can make them feel like they really are part of your team.
While storytelling is a wonderful tool for nonprofit marketing, it only works with a specific goal in mind. What point are you trying to make? Or in these cases, what question are you trying to answer? Without a goal behind your story, the words may be interesting or amusing, but the point will be lost on your supporters. Know what question you are answering before you start telling your story for maximum impact.
Look no further than these websites for some great nonprofit storytelling. Tell me about your favorites and if I like them too, I’ll add them to the list.
National CASA is my current favorite. The video vignettes on the homepage with both children and volunteers are incredibly powerful, in a very short amount of time. The site also features some written stories, and while still good, they aren’t nearly as moving as the videos.
Interplast. Their blog contains wonderful stories about how their teams are repairing cleft lip and other birth defects around the globe. Lots of great before-and-after photos that really take you into the lives of the people they are helping.
Covenant House California, a homeless shelter for youth, features multiple success stories right on the home page. Each story explains the specific challenges the teens faced and how Covenant House helped them regain control over their young lives. Covenant House clearly inserts itself into each story, but leaves the teen as the central character, as it should be.
ONE Northwest, a nonprofit that helps other nonprofits with technology needs, shares several client stories. While these don’t fall into the “touching” or “inspirational” category like those above, they do clearly show the difference they are making for the organizations receiving their assistance. If you do capacity building or provide services to other organizations, rather than individuals, you’ll find yourself telling stories like these.
DonorsChoose obviously has great material to work with — who doesn’t like helping little kids learn? — but I especially like the way that this organization offers both short case studies and quickie testimonials.
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Local Funding Partnerships website shares stories from a variety of community-based organizations that have received foundation funding. The foundation paid for storytelling training with Andy Goodman, so you’ll find some really well-developed and crafted stories here.
Heifer International uses stories throughout its website. I especially like their founding story.
HSUS also uses lots of stories and is quite skilled at taking the plight of one animal and using it to illuminate greater institutional injustices, whether its factory farming or puppy mills.
Don’t see your question here or here? Email me and I’ll add it to the list.
What is the difference between a story for the media and one for a grant proposal?
There may not be much difference. It really depends on what you’re trying to convey. The press will love stories told in any of these three plots, but especially the Challenge and Creativity plots in more newsy reporting. You’ll find all three plots, including the Connection plot, in more feature-oriented reporting, like you see in magazines or the Living or People sections of newspapers.
And you’ll use these same kinds of stories in your fundraising materials. You’ll probably focus more on the stories that demonstrate the need and how your work, your solutions, are addressing those needs.
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