Building an annual report process for future years
The Monash Graduate Association (MGA) had never produced a formal annual report.
While the organisation already met its financial reporting obligations, Executive Officer Janice Boey wanted something more than a compliance document. The report needed to tell the story of the organisation’s work, demonstrate value to graduate students and provide a useful overview of impact for university stakeholders.
As a representative body serving more than 33,000 graduate students across multiple campuses and study modes, the MGA supports a highly diverse community. The challenge wasn’t a lack of activity. It was deciding how to present a year’s worth of advocacy, events, research and student support work in a way that felt accessible, engaging and meaningful.
Adding to the complexity, the report needed to be completed in time for the organisation’s Annual General Meeting, while working around university shutdown periods, orientation season and the annual audit timetable.
The pressure points
Creating a first annual report meant there was no previous publication to build from.
Questions that established organisations often answer years earlier still needed to be worked through:
- what should be included
- how much detail was enough
- what information needed to be gathered
- who would contribute content
- how would the report balance the needs of multiple audiences.
The MGA wanted the report to speak primarily to graduate students, many of whom are international students from diverse educational and cultural backgrounds. The report also needed to communicate organisational impact and value to senior university stakeholders.
How we approached it
The first step was understanding the organisation’s work, operating environment and reporting goals.
Following initial briefing discussions and desktop research, I developed a page plan mapping report structure, content priorities and narrative flow. Together, we refined this into a framework that reflected the MGA’s mission, key service areas and stakeholder needs.
To streamline content collection, I created a reporting template for distribution to business area leaders. This gave managers a consistent way to provide information, achievements, data points and highlights from across the organisation.
We also worked backwards from key milestones, including university closures, orientation periods and the AGM deadline, to develop a realistic production schedule.
Throughout the project, the focus remained on creating a report that felt approachable and student-friendly while still providing meaningful information about governance, finances, advocacy outcomes and organisational impact.
Where judgement mattered
Several decisions early in the project helped avoid complexity later.
One was establishing content priorities before information gathering began. By identifying which areas of the organisation needed greater visibility and determining how much space each section should occupy, we avoided the common problem of collecting more material than could realistically fit within the publication.
Another important decision was creating a structured content collection process rather than relying on multiple contributors providing information in different formats. This reduced inconsistencies and made it easier to identify gaps early.
Language choices also required careful consideration. The MGA’s audience includes domestic and international graduate students, so readability and accessibility were important from the outset. The report needed to remain professional without becoming formal or bureaucratic.
Accessibility remained part of the process through to design review. During layout checks, I was able to identify colour contrast issues and provide guidance before publication, helping ensure the final report was accessible to a wider audience.
How things landed
The project progressed smoothly, supported by clear expectations, responsive communication and realistic timelines.
Business units supplied information by agreed deadlines, review processes were managed through tracked changes and comments, and questions were resolved quickly. With structure and priorities established early, the report developed steadily, without significant revisions needed late in the process.
The finished publication provided the MGA with its first formal annual report. The final document reflected the organisation’s voice and breadth of its work and created a reporting framework the MGA can build on in future years.
As Executive Officer Janice Boey reflected:
‘Working with Tanya on the MGA’s first formal annual report was a great experience. She made the process feel calm, organised and easy, while helping us create a report that was professional, engaging and still felt very “MGA”.
Tanya was fantastic at pulling together lots of different voices and ideas into one clear story about the impact of our work and the students we represent.’
The result
This project wasn’t only about producing a single report.
It established a practical framework for future annual reporting, including how information could be gathered and presented, and helped the MGA communicate its value to both students and university stakeholders in a consistent and engaging way.
Find out more about working with me to create your first annual report or download my free Not-for-profit Annual Report Kick-off Guide planning resource.
Tanya Hollis provides senior judgement, strong writing and calm support for small not-for-profit and social enterprise comms teams with big workloads and important stories to tell.
