Purpose-Driven Annual Reports

Your annual report is a mighty ambassador. Are you using it to its full potential?

Properly planned annual reports can be workhorses in branding, marketing, recruitment, philanthropy, employee engagement, lobbying, immunization against loss of tax-exempt status, and many other important pursuits.

Often annual reports are seen as a yearly obligation and a burden. If we step back each year, plan ahead and engage them in our overall strategy, annual reports can be invaluable.

Analyze your audiences and current communications challenges and then examine the possibilities for all that your annual report could accomplish. Set clear objectives and communicate them internally, long before you begin seeking input for content. This guidance will help protect your organization from becoming narcissistic and bombastic when generating content. It will also drive your report toward fulfilling its intended roles.

 More than a decade of conceptualizing, writing and judging annual reports has taught me a major truth: A disciplined process that engages organizations in providing content based on a well-defined purpose yields excellent, effective annual reports.

— Tom DeSanto