Having spent years working in the voluntary and community sector, for and alongside some of the country’s best charities, we’ve learnt that those who are able to effectively showcase their impact to funders and investors, are by far the most successful when it comes to fundraising.
Social Vision has just produced an Impact Report for York-based charity, The Island, so we thought we’d share our Top 5 benefits of producing a good impact report, compared to a traditional charity Annual Report.
- Longer shelf life and value for money
- Your annual report is usually a snapshot of your last financial year, and is usually out of date before it’s produced. Reserve your boring bits for the Charity Commission, and invest in a nice glossy that your audiences can refer back to for years.
- Flickability
- (Is that even a word??) Presentation is key, and a well structured and designed Impact Report will allow your stakeholders to flick through it and capture essential information whilst waiting for the kettle to boil or pre-appointment.
- You will get noticed
- With so much competition in our sector, how do you stand out from the crowd? Funders who receive a professionally produced Impact Report are much more likely to view you as a more professional organisation, which reduces risk factors and increases your chance of getting funded.
- It will pull on the heart strings
- Professional photography (or video if you’re producing an online version) is key to successful delivery. Great words with rubbish pictures just won’t work. You want your audience to laugh, cry, smile or take action as a result of your Impact Report. Pictures are the best way to do this.
- Multi-audience
- Whilst the primary audience for an Impact Report is often funders, we know that they are also hugely useful tools for fundraisers, volunteer recruitment, strategic partnership building, awareness raising and internal communications.
If you’d like to discuss Social Vision producing your organisation’s Impact Report, please email joe@social-vision.org.uk and have a flick through The Island’s Impact Report for 2018:
The Island impact report - final
