Create a Year-End Social Impact Report to Engage Donors and Customers

Can one person really change the world?

I think it depends on what you count.

Some people are only impressed by massive reputations, millions of dollars, big programs, and culture-changing ideas.

But as nonprofits and social impact companies started to release their year-end reports over the last few months, my favorite ones to read are the creative reports that:

• make tangible the intangible,

• highlight the small numbers that represent a change in heart or thought for a few people,

• share the seedlings of disruption that will shape a family's trajectory forever,

• tell the David versus Goliath stories,

• represent the optimistic beginnings of early-stage organizations,

• sound more relatable to me.

It's the idealist in me, but these reports represent hope and what could be.

Don't get me wrong, I'm certainly in awe of the big nonprofits and social enterprises who make an impact that I could only dream of. But I think we often forget that everyone who tried to do something great had to start somewhere, usually with meager resources.

Even on a small scale, these reports are the testimony of how you've used your resources to do something worthy of your donor or customer’s investment in you—whether that be time, money, influence, or anything else. No matter how big or how little you feel your contributions are (and theirs in you), they deserve to hear the story of what you did together.

If you haven't done so already, I urge you create your own report—and I’ll talk you through it.

Why Do You Need a Year-End Report?

Here are a few reasons why having a year-end report benefits you and your nonprofit or social impact company.

• Help your community understand what you did with their resources, which might encourage them to give more.

• Show them where you're headed in the future, and how they can be a part of it.

• Tell stories of the real lives that were affected by your mission and the shared belief that things can be different (and better!).

• Reiterate their standing as an insider that will always be kept in the loop when you've been trying something new.

• Thank your current large donors, partners, and sponsors.

• Build trust in you, your work, and your vision for a new and improved future.

We are in need of more good news than ever before . . . and you are in a fantastic position to share it!

How to Easily Design Your Year-End Social Impact Report FOR FREE

Here’s what you need to know: Your social impact report doesn’t need to be fancy. It certainly can be, but don’t let that stop you from making it happen.

Canva

Canva is the (free) tool that I use to create pretty much anything visual on this website or my social media. There are thousands of free templates to utilize for pretty much every purpose, and it’s pretty easy to get up to speed. Canva lets anyone be a designer!

People Resources

If you have a limited budget but a pair of extra hands, put them to work! It could be an intern, volunteer, board member, or peer that you can barter with.

Yearly

Yearly is a tool I only recently discovered through a friend, but it looks user-friendly and like it could create a great social impact report.

Webpage

No eye for design or short on time? Simply add a new page to your website and list all the data there. Just try to compliment numbers with stories and information that bring the facts to life.

Marketing Your Social Impact Report

Once you’ve taken the time to create your year-end report, be sure to get the most mileage of it by promoting it everywhere you can.

• Website

• Social media

• Email newsletter

• Conversations with donors and customers

• Partner and sponsorship presentations

• Direct mail

• Speaking engagements and interviews

• And anywhere else at your disposal!

Pssst—You can also promote it more than once! For example, you could even promote it to new donors and customers as they begin to interact with you over the course of a year.

Examples of Year-End Social Impact Reports

After everything we’ve discussed above, would you like to see some impact reports from small nonprofits and social enterprises like you?

Atlanta Dream Center (now Frontline Response)*

This incredible organization has been doing good in Atlanta and beyond for a couple of decades now. So, they have some pretty great numbers to tout. However, one of the things I love about their social impact report is their vision for the future. At the end they show a photo and blueprint for their new headquarters as well as the budget they need for it. This allows their current donors to understand future needs and make the investment.

Gifts for Good

When you don’t have a designer on standby, you can follow Gifts for Good’s example and simply add a new page to your website with all the relevant stories and stats. A few of the creative stats they included were hours of employment, gallons of water save by using recycled materials, and chemo rides for cancer patients.

Refugee Coffee Co.*

My friends at Refuge got super creative in 2020 by telling their story through the lens of a fairy tale. If you have talented artists at your disposal, this is a fantastic way for their skills to intersect with your mission. You’ll see that they included cups of coffee served, hours of training, mentor/volunteer hours, and reiterated that their customers and donors helped them fight injustice.

Love Not Lost

My friend Ashley and her team at LNL had a heck of a year trying to help us all process grief in the midst of 2020. But they showed up in the ways that only they could, and loved on their community at a safe distance. Their report is a terrific example of what happens when you don’t make your goal. They were honest, upfront, and showed their donors and supporters their vision for 2021 with gusto! I know anyone who received this wasn’t disappointed—only proud to be a part of their community.

Kula Project

My friends at Mad+Dusty created this beautiful report, and the design was inspired by the founder’s quote about seeing the light and continuing to follow it. As you can see in this piece, they kept written content to a minimum but used the opportunity to show off the amazing photos of their work in action.

Goshen Homes

Another Mad+Dusty special, this one isn't quite an impact report, but it is still certainly a great model. Even without the beautiful design, you’ll see the testimonials scattered throughout that reinforce the importance of their work. And I love that it also shows you clear steps to getting involved.

Partners International

A huge kudos to Partners International for including a video with their annual report! It’s really the icing on the cake, and sets the stage for their work and impact. And for those who don’t like to write or don’t think you have much to say, note that their report doesn’t actually include a lot of words, but still does an excellent job of communicating what happened through powerful language and a beautiful layout. You’ll also notice that they include the donate button right after the report, which is another great move!

Conscious Capitalism

I love that this report starts off with the title, “A Pivot Toward the Future.” It’s hopeful, shows they are still standing strong after a hard year, and points to their work moving forward. I also like that they counted the attendees for their online gatherings as a stat. Finally, I love that they dedicated several pages to thanking their major partners, event donors, board of directors, and team. You can never thank people enough!

To The Market

This report stood out to me for several reasons. First, I love that they reinforced their work with stats about why their mission matters to the public at large. Second, they showed their growth very simply and in a straightforward way on page 5. (And yay for utilizing interns!) And, third, you’ll notice that their case studies are short and so is their social impact report. This is a terrific example of how you can communicate impact in a compact way.

Bi-Bett Corporation

Full disclosure—I wrote this report! Bi-Bett is a substance use treatment center in California, and they’ve been doing incredible work for over five decades. However, this was their first impact report so they wanted a hefty mix of stories, hard stats, creative stats, and showing their gratitude for everyone who contributes to their success. I loved the way we ended up quantifying some of the more emotional parts of their work such as safe nights spent in their care, observations by staff, days people felt supported, and people who turned their lives around. They have a lot to be proud of!

Signify’s 2020 Social Impact Report

I’m one person, so my stats are meager at best. But, again, that’s not the point and hopefully you’ve seen that by now. I show mine to you not to say, "Hey, look at what I did!" Instead, I show it to you in the hopes that you'll create your own and share it with your community.

I really do believe that one person can change the world—when you know what's important and what to count.

You're the one.
Get out there.
Create your impact.
Share it with the world.

PS: Have your own awesome year-end report to show off? Link to it in the comments!

* Past or present Signify client

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I’m Kristi Porter, and I help cause-focused organizations understand and execute effective marketing campaigns so they can move from stressed to strategic. Your resources may be limited, but your potential isn’t. Whether you’re a nonprofit, social enterprise, or small business who wants to give back, I’ll show you how to have a bigger impact.

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The Two Most Significant Investments I Made This Year

The last couple of weeks we've been talking about end-of-year budgeting, looking ahead to 2018, and some wise places to consider spending some of that hard-earned cash. Those decisions aren't easy, but sometimes they totally pay off.

First, we compared social media scheduling tools. It's only been a couple of weeks, but I'm already seeing a good ROI from Smarterqueue! Then, last week, we talked about the pros and cons of co-working spaces for those of us in nontraditional office environments. It's a hot topic in my corner of the world, and may be in yours as well.

This week, as we wrap up this series, and November, I wanted to discuss the two most significant investments I've made in my business this year. They may just surprise you, especially considering one of them is free!

Getting Accountability

If asked in a job interview—yes, I would describe myself as a self-starter. I've always been a pretty determined person, full of hopes, goals, and dreams, and the initiative to pursue them. So, working from home as a solopreneur was not a problem. I've had friends who said they'd get distracted easily or never get anything done, and yes, that does occasionally happen. But, for the most part, I'm good at checking things off my list. (And I love checking things off my list!)

However, I think there are times when a little accountability can benefit us all. It's certainly worked for successful programs like Alcoholics Anonymous, Weight Watchers, and many others. Even the most motivated of us need a little extra skin in the game from time-to-time.

So, this summer, the opportunity to have an "accountabilabuddy" presented itself, and I jumped at it!

Jen Gordon and I met through a mutual friend, and hit it off immediately over breakfast. A few minutes into our conversation, she told me that she'd read my website and wanted to hire me for her launch. However, after talking about her skills and knowledge, I knew I could benefit from her expertise as well. So, I proposed that we meet twice a month for three months to exchange insights that would help us both build our businesses.

That three months is still going strong six months later! It has been the absolute, best, hands-down decision I made in my business this year. We are each flying solo, so we act as sounding boards for each other, share what we're learning, offer suggestions, and hold each other accountable for deadlines both big and small. 

It's very unstructured for the most part, but we each leave with our action steps that we'll be responsible for at our next meeting. And we check in with each other throughout the month as needed.

This summer I did a two-part series about "working ON your business, rather than IN your business" because it's just so darn easy to get "admined" to death by all the little things that need to happen. So, it can be really difficult to maintain vision for large goals and initiatives at your organization. Having Jen around helps me get the small things done, while staying focused on the big picture—and she's there to ask me about both.

I would highly encourage you to find someone that you can develop this relationship with. Much like a mentor, these people don't often fall from the sky. But they are certainly worth the search!

Even if you're at a larger nonprofit or social enterprise, I still think having an accountability partner could be really beneficial. If you lead a team, you can still use peer-to-peer feedback. And it's good to have someone that will let you vent and be yourself, which you may not get when you lead a team, or an organization. Plus, an outside perspective is always helpful, because we often don't see our work as clearly as someone from the outside. 

If I could give you any advice as you start thinking about the New Year, I would tell you to find an accountability partner. Think about it, and someone may come to mind. Or ask around to friends, family, or even in Facebook Groups. And be patient if it takes some time. You'll get so much out of this relationship, and it will be worth the time and effort it may take to find him or her!

 

Getting Help

Despite my best efforts, I just can't do it all. I don't have the time, skills, or experience needed to accomplish every task on my plate. And, while helpful, endless hours of research on Google may not be the best use of my time. So, once-in-a-while, I have to ask for help. (And I have a really hard time asking for help.)

Over the past year, that's mostly been in hiring others to do some of the things that I'm less capable of doing or don't have time for. Yes, there may absolutely be times when you can get someone to help you for free, like a volunteer or intern, or even by bartering, which is also essentially what Jen Gordon and I do in our accountability partnership.

However, sometimes you just have to suck it up and pay someone. Yes, those decisions are harder for some of us than others, but I don't think they should ever be off-limits. Why? Because hiring someone, even in a short-term capacity, can:

• free up your time,

• potentially create something better than you could've created on your own,

• expand your network,

• increase your knowledge,

• provide that much-needed outside perspective,

• and let you focus on the things that need your personal attention.

Those bullets are part of the speech I give to my clients, but I occasionally have to give it to myself as well. :)

The two, big areas that I've paid for additional help this year are in graphics and managing my social media accounts. Mad+Dusty beautifully executed my branding and design, and on several occasions, I've also hired them to help out with smaller projects. One of the cooler things they've done for me is create templates in Canva that I can use again and again. (Ex: social media and testimonials) That way, the "short-term" project has some staying power, and allows me to build on what they've done professionally. So, consider an option like that when you need some graphics help. Have your designers create some templates, or at least some simple designs you can mimic when you don't have the ability to hire them for every little project that comes along.

And hiring someone to manage my social media just wasn't on my radar six months ago because it was something I already knew how to do. I'd never call myself a social media expert, but I feel pretty comfortable with it, and even give advice to clients about the subject. 

But the truth was that it just took too much of my time. And we all know that time is money! I needed to do more writing, finding clients, and taking care of tasks that genuinely required my attention. Social media just didn't fit the bill. So, this month, I've been in a 30-day experiment to see what my friend Jen Wilder could do with my channels. (I know a lot of talented Jens. :) Additionally, I've had her set up my social media scheduling tool, Smarterqueue. Again, something I knew I could do, but my time was better spent elsewhere. And it's been another great investment!

 

Your Turn

I can honestly say that these two items were the best investments I've made this year for Signify. They're allowing me to grow and scale, and setting the stage for a better 2018. I would also recommend the same types of investments for you.

Find someone that can hold you accountable, and return the favor. And hire out some of the tasks that need to come off your plate for whatever reason. 

And did you catch the other take-away? Both of these were experiments. We all feel a lot more comfortable taking risks when they have an end date. With Jen Gordon, we were only testing the waters for three months. We reassessed, and both agreed that we wanted to continue.

With Jen Wilder, it's been so fantastic learning from her, seeing her in action, and having her set up SmarterQueue. Right now, I just don't have the cash to pay her as an ongoing contractor, but you'd better believe I'll have some more experiments for her in the future!

What's your action step? Or what were your best investments this year? I'd love to hear!

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I'm Kristi Porter, and I started Signify to provide writing, consulting and strategy services to nonprofits and for-profit organizations with a social mission, primarily through copywriting, marketing and business communications. I believe that cause-focused organizations like yours are the future of business. You're proof that companies can both make money and do good. And I'm here to help you get noticed and grow. When you succeed, we all win.

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