11 Tips to Make Your NGO’s Annual Report More Engaging
Written by Mate Tagaj
8 min read
Published on Dec 03, 2024
Updated on Jan 30, 2025
NGO Annual Report: Nothing about them sounds that glamorous, right? We’re all thinking of the dense text blocks and dry numbers that we’ve all seen over and over again.
But, what if you could make your next annual report design a little different?
What if, instead of a boring document that people skim over, you could turn it into something that not only informs stakeholders but also inspires them?
Here at Boostern, as a digital annual report design agency, we specialise in helping organisations create award-winning annual report designs that resonate with their audiences and become strategic communication tools.
If you want to find out how you can do the same to yours, here are our top tips:
#1 Tailor The Message to Your Target Audiences
The first thing you should do is understand who you’re communicating with.
Just like a segmented email can improve open rates for your newsletters, NGO annual reports with tailored messaging get more engagement if they’re written with key target audiences in mind.
#2 Tell a Story With Your NGO Annual Report
Yes, facts and figures are important, but they aren’t going to ignite passion in your readers. People connect with narratives, so make sure to tell a story that your readers will be interested in.
Frame your report around a central theme or story that reflects your organisation’s mission and impact. It’s also a good idea to use infographics, charts, and interactive elements. They help to present complex data in a clear and engaging way.
#3 Don’t Hold Back on Making Your NGO Annual Report Design Visually Appealing
Presentation matters. In fact, a visually appealing and well-designed NGO annual report is far more likely to be read and remembered by your audience.
If you don’t have the resources in-house to create an eye-catching report, consider hiring an agency to help you. It’s worth investing in high-quality visuals and a clean layout for print and web that you can reuse.
Although the visuals are important, don’t forget about accessibility. Your report should be accessible to everyone. For instance, in print, basic accessibility requires using readable fonts, high colour contrast and a consistent, well-structured layout with headings and subheadings. On the web, to meet the basic accessibility requirements, besides the points mentioned above for print, you should also include alt text for images and use structured HTML with proper headings and ARIA labels to ensure the site is navigable with a keyboard.
#4 Quality Over Quantity
No one is going to read an 80-pager NGO annual report, so be strategic with the content you choose to include. Focus on including quality content that delivers value to your audience, rather than pages of figures or endless descriptions that may not mean much to external stakeholders.
Remember, people are busy, so keep your report concise. Avoid jargon and include a clear CTA that inspires readers to get involved with your organisation.
For example, a way to keep things simple is to ask yourself: What’s the reason for this information being in the report. If you don’t have a reason, don’t include it in the report!
#5 Implement a Multi-Channel Approach
While there’s still a place for printed creative annual reports, in 2025 you should keep up with the evolving times. Try adopting a multi-channel approach by creating a digital annual report.
A printed report is a good way to communicate important achievements and updates. However, you could make it much more engaging by turning it into a microsite. For example, we worked with the European Multiple Sclerosis Platform (EMSP) in 2021 and 2022 to condense their 50+ pager reports into interactive microsites. These digital annual reports allowed people to access the same content in a more user-friendly, interactive format.
Some of the elements that were most effective included:
- An interactive map
- Document download features
- Blogging feature
- Interactive charts to display important information
- Micro-animations
So far, you’ve done all the hard work of planning, researching, and writing the content for your report. Now it’s time to make a few adjustments to broaden its reach as far as possible. What’s more, combined with Google Analytics and Hotjar, your online report will tell you much more about reader interaction than you could ever imagine.
#6 Track the Success of Your Work
Don’t just publish your report and forget it. There is so much data you can collect once it’s been published to not only track its performance but also to understand more about your audience and what resonates with them.
For your web-based report, analytics will tell you how many people accessed your report and what they engaged with. Similarly to social media, where you can track shares, comments and clicks.
If you want to go one step further to get more qualitative data, you can use Hotjar. It allows you to record their sessions or survey them directly on the page to gather feedback about your content. This will help you plan for your next report accordingly.
#7 Include Strong Calls To Action (CTA)
You’ve got someone to read right to the end of your report. Great! But what should they do now?
Instead of simply informing stakeholders of what you’re doing, inspire them to take concrete steps by including clear calls to action (CTAs) within the report.
This can include CTAs like:
- “Sign up” to your newsletter
- “Register Now” for your next big event
- “Share the Impact” on social media
- “Download” the full report
- “Donate” to your organisation if you engage in online individual fundraising
- “Get Involved” in a certain project or with your organisation’s work
- “Become a member” if you are looking for new membership applications
- “Contact Us” if you wish to provide a direct way for visitors to get in touch for more information.
By providing seamless paths to involvement, you empower your audience to really get involved with your organisation.
#8 Start Planning Early
At Boostern, we’ve created plenty of NGO annual report designs. One thing that we always try to do is begin planning as early as possible.
Things like gathering numbers or key quantitative project achievements, producing videos, shooting professional images, or sourcing quotes from key stakeholders are examples of things that are best done sooner rather than later. It may seem like you’re getting ahead of yourself at first. However, the hard work will pay off when you don’t have to rush before the deadline.
Pro tip: Hiring a professional photographer and even a videographer for your annual in-person events, or planning highly visual communication deliverables into your projects are great ways to level up your next annual report design.
#9 Embrace Transparency
An annual report isn’t about just sharing the good news. Don’t shy away from the challenges you’ve faced over the year – if there’s been any! You don’t need to dwell on it, but briefly acknowledge any setbacks or areas for improvement.
Additionally, transparency for many organisations also means compliance. This is your time to include your financial statements, balance sheets and sponsor acknowledgements in a much more digestible format.
Not only does this transparent approach demonstrate honesty, but it also gives you something that you can work on and come back to in your next annual report (hopefully with an improvement!).
What’s more, it sets your organisation up for compliance with strict funding requirements. It allows you to easily showcase and share your financial numbers with potential and existing sponsors or in grant applications.
#10 Show Gratitude
An annual report is a comprehensive reflection of your organisation’s achievements, made possible by the support of individual colleagues, partners, volunteers and providers.
By highlighting their contributions, the report not only celebrates successes but also strengthens relationships, making supporters feel valued and appreciated.
It’s an opportunity to showcase their faces, link to their LinkedIn profiles and show how their efforts directly impacted your mission, reinforcing the vital role they play in the organisation’s journey. Acknowledging this support in a formal, published, printed and web-based report elevates the sense of community and inspires continued involvement and generosity.
+1 Collaborate With Experts
Annual reports are one of the most important pieces of content your organisation will publish each year, so make sure it counts!
If you need some help getting things over the line, we’d always recommend calling in the help of professionals like Boostern to plan, write, design and build your report on the web. With our experience and your knowledge, we’ll be able to create a document that stands out from even the best annual reports that get published every year.
To find out more about our services, and how we can help you with your NGO annual report to become one of your best annual reports, get in touch with our team today!