Writing For Nonprofit Reports

10 Reporting Tips I have sent 100s of reports. And overtime I have found what works and what doesn't work. Here are my top 10 tips: 1. Audience Identify Key Stakeholders: Determine the specific individuals or departments who will benefit most from the report. Customize Content: Tailor the report’s content to address the unique needs or interests of different audience segments. Feedback Loop: Regularly solicit feedback from the audience to continuously improve the relevance and effectiveness of the report. 2. Timing Align with Business Cycles: Schedule reports in sync with business cycles, like quarterly financial periods. Anticipate Needs: Proactively adjust the reporting frequency during critical business phases. Automate Reminders: Use scheduling tools to automate the distribution process and ensure timely delivery. 3. Business Data Integrate KPIs: Include key performance indicators relevant to the business operations. Dynamic Data Sources: Use real-time data feeds to enhance the report’s immediacy and relevance. Contextual Analysis: Provide analytical insights, comparing operational data trends over time or against industry benchmarks. 4. Declutter Prioritize Data: Focus on the most critical data points that drive decision-making. Visual Simplicity: Use clean, simple visuals to enhance readability and comprehension. Minimalist Design: Adopt a minimalist design approach to reduce cognitive overload. 5. Reusable Template Design: Develop templates that ensure consistency and ease of adaptation for presentations. Modular Sections: Create the report in modular sections for easy extraction and reuse. Adaptable Formats: Ensure the report can be easily converted into different formats without losing its essence. 6. Format Interactivity in Digital Formats: Utilize interactive elements in digital formats like Excel or web-based reports. Print-Friendly Options: Offer a print-friendly version for those who prefer physical copies. 7. Push vs Pull Automated Alerts: Set up automated alerts for new report availability in pull systems. Customizable Push Options: Allow recipients to customize the frequency and type of reports they receive. Secure Access: Ensure secure, easy access for pull systems, particularly for sensitive financial data. 8. Comments Executive Summaries: Include an executive summary highlighting key insights and decisions. Actionable Recommendations: Offer clear, actionable recommendations based on the report’s findings. 9. Standard Brand Alignment: Ensure the report’s visual elements align with the company’s branding guidelines. 10. Self-Explanatory Infographics: Use infographics to make complex data more understandable. Layered Information: Present information in layers, with summaries leading to detailed analysis. Guided Navigation: Include a table of contents or navigation aids to guide the reader through the report. 👉 What is your best reporting tips?

ESRS Approach to Double Materiality Assessment 🌍 Double materiality has become a central concept in sustainability reporting. It combines two perspectives: how a company impacts society and the environment, and how sustainability issues create risks or opportunities for the company itself. This dual view ensures that reporting covers both outward impacts and inward financial relevance. It makes sustainability disclosures more complete and aligned with how businesses operate in practice. The European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) provide a structured framework to carry out this assessment. They set out how companies should identify, evaluate, and disclose material topics. A Double Materiality Assessment (DMA) typically begins with understanding the context in which a company operates. This includes mapping activities across the value chain and identifying the stakeholders most affected by business operations. The next step is to identify all potential impacts, risks, and opportunities (IROs). These can be environmental, social, or governance issues, and they should reflect both actual and potential situations relevant to the company. Assessing impact materiality requires looking at severity, scope, and likelihood. This allows companies to prioritize the issues where their activities create the most significant positive or negative effects. Assessing financial materiality involves analyzing the probability and magnitude of risks and opportunities. This links sustainability issues to financial performance, resilience, and long-term strategy. Both assessments rely on structured methods such as scoring systems or threshold matrices. These tools provide consistency and transparency when deciding what counts as material. When uncertainty exists, companies are encouraged to apply objective criteria such as industry benchmarks, scientific thresholds, or further stakeholder input. This ensures that borderline issues are not overlooked. The outcome of the DMA is a consolidated list of material IROs. These topics then form the backbone of sustainability reporting and must be clearly linked to strategy and business performance. ESRS provides a solid framework for this process. It helps companies balance flexibility with consistency, ensuring disclosures are both relevant to the business and comparable across sectors. The flowchart below illustrates how the DMA process comes together. Source: SAP / The ESRS Approach to Double Materiality Assessment #sustainability #business #sustainable #esg

The 4 Card Storytelling Framework 🃏 You know what separates good financial reporting from great financial reporting? It's not the numbers...it's how you tell the story. 🎬 Watch the FULL video about financial storytelling right here 👉 https://lnkd.in/eNMjWwPV After years of presenting to boards and executives, I've learned that most finance professionals get the data right but miss the narrative completely. They dump spreadsheets on people and expect them to figure out what it all means. But here's the thing...your audience doesn't have time to decode your data. They need you to connect the dots for them. Now before you start crafting stories, remember that great stories require great data. If your numbers aren't reliable, your narrative falls apart. Make sure your data integrity and controls are solid first. ➡️ AUDIENCE (ACE) See every presentation needs to start with who you're talking to. A CEO cares about burn rate, runway, and investor readiness. They want clarity, control, and confidence in financial decision making. A board of directors focuses on different metrics entirely. They're thinking about growth trajectories, market positioning, and exit strategies. Think about that difference...same data, completely different focus depending on your audience. Your CFO dashboard shouldn't look the same as your department head reports. ➡️ KEY METRICS (KING) This is where most people stop, but it's just the foundation. Revenue of $420K and 72% gross margin tells part of the story. Cash flows of $327K with 7 months runway tells another part. But raw numbers without context are just numbers sitting on a page. Your audience needs to understand what happened in the business through both financials and KPIs. The key is presenting metrics that matter to your specific audience, not every metric you can calculate. ➡️ QUESTION WHY (QUEEN) Here's where the real storytelling happens. Revenue grew but margin shrank because of higher COGS from recent hires. Burn rate increased due to R&D spending. ARR growth came from enterprise segment, not SMB. You need to add context, ratios, and comparisons that help your audience understand the story behind the numbers. How does our 72% gross margin compare to industry median? What changed from last period? Are we hitting our targets? ➡️ JUMP INTO ACTION (JACK) The best financial reports don't just explain the past...they guide the future. Cut low ROI ad spend and reallocate to partner channels. Pause hiring until new revenue milestones hit. Run margin analysis on top 10 clients. Give your audience clear next steps they can act on immediately. Build the plan for what should happen next, with specific timelines and ownership. === That's my approach to turning financial data into compelling business stories that drive decisions. What's your experience been with financial storytelling? Let me know in the comments below 👇

I’ve been eyes deep in reports and briefings for the last few weeks and here are some things I’ve noticed about the ones I’ve found most compelling: 1) ‘How does this work?’ guides are incredibly useful for policymakers. Establishing the foundations before showing what’s new and needed is a great service. 2) I’ve really appreciated people stating their operating assumptions. Trying to work out an organisation’s hidden premises wastes a lot of time - if you have some first order principles it’s really helpful to share them. 3) Being clear who you’re speaking for stops me trying to guess. Is this analysis based on your frontline work, the involvement of people with experience of the issue or your analysis of the literature and international examples? Please tell the reader! I’m always particularly impressed when people are honest about the limitations of their research too. It's great to acknowledge other experts, organisations and resources. 4) Using statistics is wonderful but please be clear what timeframe they relate to and whether they are UK-wide. 5) Disaggregated data is the best data! Highlighting gaps between different groups of people - and how your proposals will close them if they are unfair - helps to focus minds. 6) Beautiful design, data visualisation and proper editing really makes things memorable and therefore impactful. Please don’t scrimp on this bit! 7) And finally please be clear about what readers can and should do. If you can’t imagine the reader putting something on their to-do list as a result of reading your report then you’re probably not clear enough about what you’re asking for. Huge thanks to everyone who is generating evidence, doing analysis and generating policy recommendations. It’s so appreciated and hugely important.

I've seen so many nonprofits wait until the last minute to collect stories they need for their next fundraising campaign. You’re a week or two away from launching your next big campaign, and your marketing director sends the team an email. “Anyone have any stories to illustrate…?” Suddenly, everyone is scrambling. Someone remembers a client who said something powerful… but it was 6 months ago. Mayyyyybe there’s a photo somewhere. The staff member who oversaw that really cool project? They’ve left. It doesn’t have to be this hard. If storytelling is one of your most powerful fundraising tools, then you need a system to capture stories all year long – not just when you need them. My recommendation? 1️⃣ Set up a shared “Story Bank” CRM. This is a central place where everyone can drop in client stories, donor quotes, Board anecdotes, or milestones as they happen. Use something like Airtable or Notion where the information can be searchable by program, date, and theme. 2️⃣ Create a routine rhythm of having your team add to the Story Bank on a monthly basis. This doesn’t have to be full-blown stories – just moments & emotions that can be fleshed out later. 3️⃣ Commit to sharing stories. A Story Bank that just collects stories and is never used isn’t of much value. You need to actually tell the stories you collect. Commit to sharing a story at least once or twice per month. The truth is, your nonprofit is already creating plenty of meaningful moments and success stories. You just need a system to collect & share them. What is your organization doing to collect Impact Stories?  What tools do you use to aid in the process?

The recent regulatory guidelines, viz RBI Master Directions of Nov 2023 and SEBI Cybersecurity and Cyber Resilience Framework (CSCRF) of Aug 2024 lay added importance to cyber resilience, business continuity and disaster recovery, incident response and recovery from cyber incidents. Boards are being increasingly attentive and seeking deeper insights on the organizations' preparedness to respond to and recover from cyber incidents. Being part of the Boards of regulated entities, I saw this quarter's IT Strategy and Technology Committee meetings, as well as the Board meetings delve deep and enquiring with the security and technology leadership and sometimes, directly from the MD/CEO, on : 1. Cyber incidents reported, their impact and root-cause assessments. Note : for the organizations, these were mostly hits or false positives. 2. Resilience scores, with Q-o-Q and Y-o-Y comparatives 3. Business Continuity Drills and results 4. Disaster Recovery exercises and results 5. Health check report on the primary as well as the recovery sites, including cloud DR assessments 6. Cyber / technology risk assessments 7. Compliance and reporting (technology) 8. Ongoing governance and improvement around the Cyber Crisis Management Plan (or similar plan, by whatever nomenclature it's defined) 9. Adequacy of technology & security resourcing and training 10. Data protection, with special emphasis on vendor / third party access to critical data & resources and controls around the same The above were some of the top discussion points, but not the only ones. As Boards are made more and more involved and responsible over governance of the organizations' cyber security, resilience, technology governance and risk assurance, Board members will engage more regularly on discussions about cyber risks, inquire of the management their capacity-capability-readiness to respond to and recover effectively from cyber incidents. And above all, the Board would like to ensure compliance to all the relevant regulatory provisions, including on technology and #cybersecurity. To all Technology and Security leaders - the message is very clear, the regulators and the Boards would like to see much more than mere tick mark exercise, specially if you're a regulated entity. - read through each clause in the directions & circulars from regulators - assess thoroughly your current status, including process, operations, technology architecture, procedures, documentation et all - perform risk assessment - technology and operations, over each part of your business - conduct data flow analysis, ascertain your data protection strategy - analyze your third party / vendor connections at all business touchpoints Once you analyze your current state, compare with the requirements given by regulatory directions. Then, step-by-step, put in the measures, updates, upgrades. These are critical steps and require expert acumen - take help from external experts, as required. #technologygovernance

Most "editing advice" over the internet is s**t You've heard it all before: "Take a break and then edit your content."  "Read your content out loud." "View it on a different device." Sure, those tips are good to start with but not to live with! Here is my 3-part editing process that covers everything you need to know - 1) Developmental editing 2) Copy editing   3) Proofreading I tackle them in that order - big picture stuff first, then zeroing in on the details. For the developmental edit, I evaluate: • Does this really answer what the reader wants to know?  • Does it accurately reflect my perspective/stance? • Are all the key points and arguments fully fleshed out? • Is the narrative structure and flow logical? • Is this catering to the right knowledge level? Then I move into copy editing mode to smooth out: • Paragraph transitions and flow • Use of active vs. passive voice • Removing redundancies  • Ensuring I've explained the "why" behind the "what" • Adding clear takeaways throughout Finally, I proofread with a picky eye for: • Spelling, grammar, awkward phrasing • Proper spacing and formatting of the posts The editor's mindset is moving from "this is good for the readers mostly" to "what's missing?" Following these 3 editing stages helps me catch all the big issues and polish the finer points. What does your editing process look like? I'd love to hear your tips and tricks!

For my research colleagues who are new to academic publishing: The manner in which one responds to reviewers' comments can indeed make or break a scientific paper. This is a great example of how a paper on the verge of rejection can be turned around. As an Editor, I couldn't be happier for the authors, reviewers, and the academy. The review process is as important as the writing process itself. Reviewers often provide invaluable insights that can strengthen your work, yet some authors, despite presenting novel ideas, struggle to articulate their responses effectively. A well-considered reply not only addresses the reviewers' concerns but also demonstrates your commitment to refining your research, and engaging with science and intellect. Remember, the goal of the review process is not merely to defend your original manuscript but to enhance its quality and impact. Approach reviewer feedback with an open mind and a willingness to engage in constructive dialogue.

💡 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝘂𝗹𝗲 𝗼𝗳 3: 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘀 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗟𝗲𝘁’𝘀 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝘁 — 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 73 𝘂𝗻𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘀, 8 𝗺𝗲𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮 𝗵𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀. If your audience doesn’t see value in 10 seconds, they’ve already moved on. That’s why I live by the 𝗥𝘂𝗹𝗲 𝗼𝗳 3 when designing MIS reports, dashboards, or executive summaries. Because 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺 isn’t a luxury — it’s a 𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘺. ✅ 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗥𝘂𝗹𝗲 𝗼𝗳 3 𝗜 𝗳𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄: 1️⃣ 3 𝗙𝗼𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 – Not everything. Just 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 that decision-makers need to know right now. 2️⃣ 3 𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝗤𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗔𝗻𝘀𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱 – Eg. 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘱? 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘥? 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘹? 3️⃣ 3 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗡𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽𝘀 – Clarity is 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳. A report should never just inform — it must 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 🧠 I’ve seen this work wonders in C-suite presentations and weekly MIS decks. The impact? More decisions. Less confusion. Zero info overload. 𝗕𝗼𝗻𝘂𝘀 𝘁𝗶𝗽: 𝘋𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 — Top ⅓ for insights, middle ⅓ for diagnostic data, bottom ⅓ for actions. 🎯 Because at the end of the day, a report that’s not understood is as good as unread. 🔁 Now your turn: 𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩’𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙜𝙤𝙡𝙙𝙚𝙣 𝙧𝙪𝙡𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙙𝙚𝙨𝙞𝙜𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙧𝙚𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙪𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙪𝙥𝙤𝙣? #DataDrivenDecisionMaking #MISReporting #ExcelDashboards #ReportingStrategy #RuleOf3

⚡ Why Digital Communities Deserve a Seat at the Impact Table ⚡ I’ve spent years moving between two powerful worlds that don’t talk to each other nearly enough: The social impact sector—where change is measured in lives touched, systems shifted, and futures reimagined. And digital community building—where connection is decentralized, peer-led, and often dismissed as “just engagement.” My career path has been a learning curve instead of a staircase. I’ve seen what happens when people come together with shared purpose, online and off: From building in-person support spaces for survivors, to moderating digital communities, to supporting systems-change collaborations across the Global South at Catalyst Now. And now, back in the impact sector full-time, the disconnect is glaring: 1. Social orgs often treat digital platforms as broadcast channels. 2. Tech teams focus on engagement or growth, but rarely connect that to long-term impact. Meanwhile, Digital communities are becoming the new civic infrastructure. - They’re where people find belonging. - They’re where narratives shift. - And they’re where movements start. Let's break down one of the most famous examples: The #MeToo movement began with a hashtag but became a global, decentralized community of survivors, advocates, and changemakers. What started as a digital conversation turned into real-world action: legislation, organizational reform, cultural shifts. That didn’t come from content strategy—it came from connection. 📖 Read the case study from The Opportunity Agenda: https://lnkd.in/dhKW85Fh So why aren’t we measuring that? 🗯️ What would our systems look like if we tracked trust, identity transformation, co-created solutions, not just clicks and comments? If you're building or researching at the intersection oftech, community, social change I’d love to hear from you. What’s working in your space? What digital communities have created measurable change? How are you measuring real impact, beyond marketing metrics? #DigitalCommunities #SocialImpact #SystemsChange #MeToo #CommunityBuilding #ThirdSpace #ImpactMeasurement #TechForGood #CurlyCareers #CommunityManagement ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi, my name is Avani and I write about community, my life experiences and synchronicity. If you see this post, please drop me a comment. Let's have a conversation, and become a community for one another. 🔥 We are here to change the world. May the bridges we burn light the way. 🔥 (image courtesy Global Fund For Women)