Getting the report over the line while making the next one easier
An Australian migration settlement service* came to me for help with its annual report. They were already 3 months behind their planned start date. Staff changes had left them without an internal marketing person to lead the work and the report was due at their Annual General Meeting in about 8 weeks.
They wanted a fresher report with more impact and had already reviewed the previous report and found areas to improve. The challenge was to turn those ideas into a practical plan within a tight timeframe.
The pressure points
Starting late, wanting big changes and managing internal change made this a challenging brief.
The person coordinating the project held a broad operational role. They had overseen the report before, but marketing and communications were not their focus. They needed someone who could bring the project together without needing constant direction.
A key issue was uneven input from business area managers. Some gave far more content than could fit. Others needed encouragement to respond at all.
There was also uncertainty about data collection. This made it hard to compare impact from one year to the next.
How we approached it
Because the deadline was tight, I recommended against major changes to the report format. Instead, I suggested we build a clear process that could be used in future years.
We started with a realistic project timeline. I mapped the report to the organisation’s service areas and created a content template to help staff provide more consistent information.
We also agreed on a core set of impact data points for each service area. These could then be tracked from year to year.
The project manager followed up internal content submissions. I was ready to step in and gather information if needed, but this was not required. The templates made it easy for contributors to understand what was needed.
As the content came in, I set it up in one source document ready for editing. This included formatted headings, agreed word counts, anchor links and notes on accessibility to make the layout process easier for the graphic designer.
Where judgement mattered
Experience helps when the pressure is on. I knew how long content gathering and review cycles could take, so I built that into the timeline. This helped the project manager feel more confident and in control.
One important conversation was about readability. The previous report had been written at a postgraduate reading level. For an organisation working with people from diverse backgrounds and literacy levels, this could make the report harder to access.
Some senior leaders worried that plain English would make the report seem less serious. They believed government and other funding bodies expected a more formal style.
I rewrote sample executive reports to show that simpler language could make the content easier to read, without losing meaning or substance.
Accessibility also shaped decisions about colour contrast and font size. A previous report had reduced the font size to fit in more copy. This time, we kept to the agreed word counts and used accessible font sizes.
When the graphic designer received the final file, he was surprised at how well the content fitted the layout.
How things landed
The project met its deadline with no late-stage disruptions. The project manager said the process felt calmer and more controlled than they had expected, especially given the late start.
The organisation also gained more than an annual report. They now had a project timeline, a content plan, a submissions template and agreed data points for the following year.
This gave them a clearer process for future reports, whether they chose to refresh the publication again or keep the same format.
The result
This project was about more than producing a publication. It was also about building capacity.
When time is short and the aim is to do better than last year, the answer is not always to reinvent the report. Often, the most useful step is to improve the process and structure behind it.
The groundwork meant the next report could start earlier, with clearer expectations and a system already in place.
Find out more about working with me to create your annual report process or download my free Not-for-profit Annual Report Kick-off Guide planning resource.
*The client is this case study is de-identified as they haven’t given permission to be named.
Tanya Hollis provides senior communications judgement, strong writing and calm support for small not-for-profit and social enterprise comms teams with big workloads and important stories to tell.
