case study
Impact Report Creation
The challenge:
Bringing teams together to tell the impact story of a nonprofit’s year–including strong writing, design, and storytelling to drive end-of-year fundraising.
The result:
Beautiful storytelling that shared a year of impact, painted a vision for the future, and drove a multimillion dollar fundraising season.
the challenge
Impact Reports require strategy, storytelling, & stakeholder management
Efficiency and collaboration were the cornerstones of crafting Every Mother Counts’ 2021 Impact report.
Across the project, we brought together four internal teams, each with specialized focuses on different areas of the nonprofit’s work. Then, we leveraged a dynamic founder’s relationships and perspective to fine-tune messaging and outreach.
From brainstorming sessions to content creation workshops, we fostered an environment of creativity and cooperation. Each stakeholder’s input was carefully considered, ensuring that every aspect of the organization’s achievements was captured.
The result? A comprehensive and compelling report that not only highlighted accomplishments but also underscored the team’s commitment to maternal health worldwide.
SPOTLIGHT: OUR BACKGROUND
We have been developing impact reports for nonprofits and foundations since 2014.
step 1: discovery
Running a discovery process to find the “story of your year”.
Organizations often cherish their “Big Moments” throughout the year, yet weaving these activities into a compelling narrative for end-of-year can be a challenge.
At Every Mother Counts, we tackled this challenge together with the whole staff. Gathering for several workshops, we embarked on a journey to uncover the team’s most vivid memories from 2021, organizing them into cohesive themes.
As our team actively engaged in this reflective process, a powerful motif emerged: transformation.
From this realization, we dove deep into collaborative exploration and focused writing sessions, crafting a narrative that not only honored in on achievements but also celebrated the organization’s journey of growth and evolution.
Step 2: impact
Sharing impact, while also building urgency.
Balancing success stories with a vision of future projects is a cornerstone of our Impact Report creation strategy.
For Every Mother Counts, the organization was excited to share its “big wins,” but also needed to keep an eye on motivating audiences to continue supporting the cause over the next year.
To achieve this with its 2021 Impact Report, we began the content hierarchy with a reflection on the organization’s total impact over the years…and then transitioned to a “look ahead” to it’s future goals.
We painted a picture of Every Mother Counts’ “vision for a better world”, firmly couching all activities into that long-term vision.
Step 3: storytelling
Ensuring storytelling respects and centers community voices.
Respecting and reflecting the perspectives of community-based partners is a fundamental principle guiding our storytelling.
To uphold this principle during Impact Report creation, we engaged in extensive conversations with multiple partners and maintained constant communication with their Programs teams. By granting these teams an opportunity to review the content for accuracy and tone before broader content reviews, we ensured that our Impact Report was rooted in authenticity and empathy.
This collaborative approach not only strengthened the accuracy of our storytelling but also deepened understanding of the communities the nonprofit serves. By prioritizing the voices and experiences of grantees, we were able to create a report that truly resonated with the audience and accurately reflected the impact of collective efforts.
Step 4: marketing
Creating a marketing strategy that drives engagement.
As the report evolved through the stages of design, development, and creative refinement, our focus shifted towards strategizing its dissemination.
Collaborating across teams, we identified key audiences ranging from high-touch major donors, to policy advocates, to mass online audiences, and friends of the organization. Working hand-in-hand with each team, we crafted tailored messaging and strategies to effectively engage each unique audience with the report’s content.
At the same time, we crafted a major social media and email marketing campaign to leverage the content into meaningful fundraising. Every decision, from distribution channels to messaging tactics, was carefully calibrated to maximize its impact and support fundraising objectives.
results
performance indicators
Key results for Every Mother Counts
The fully-digital report captured the attention of the nonprofit’s audience.
We wrote 16 ‘snackable’ new case studies featuring community partners.
The impact report kicked off a fundraising season, ending in more $1M in donations.
Read the Impact Report for yourself.
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