5 Tips for Creating More Engaging Fundraising Reports
By Jay Love of Bloomerang
Your nonprofit may regularly send out fundraising reports, such as an annual report, to your audience. If these reports aren’t engaging, you’re missing out on a prime opportunity to steward your supporters in ways that speak directly to their interests and giving motivations.
Often, nonprofit donors don’t want much more from your organization besides updates about how their donations were used, delivered in an engaging and readable format. This guide explores five tips for creating more enticing fundraising reports that meet your audience’s expectations and support future fundraising success.
1. Segment reports to speak directly to different audiences.
One of the most common missteps nonprofits make when designing impact reports is not customizing them based on their audience’s needs and interests. When designing your fundraising reports, ask yourself: What does each core audience want to gain from reading this?
By tailoring your reports to different audiences, you can directly address their most pressing interests and questions, increasing the chances that they’ll connect emotionally with your reports. Here are a few examples of different audiences and ways you can include distinct sections in your report that speak to their interests:
Advocacy-minded donors: These individuals would be interested in hearing about how your nonprofit has advanced its policy aims or influenced legislation in your region or country. Provide timely updates about your advocacy work’s progress, including any coverage you’ve received from external sources and news organizations.
Donors who were once beneficiaries: These supporters want to hear about how your mission continues to positively impact others in your community. Therefore, your report should include a variety of beneficiary testimonials showcasing the real stories of individuals affected by your mission.
Finance-minded donors: Donors concerned about your organization’s fiscal responsibility want to see charts and graphs depicting how you use your funding to drive your mission.
Non-donors such as volunteers and event attendees: These individuals will be interested in hearing about your organization's progress in fields that aren’t directly related to individual donations. For example, event volunteers will want to know the fundraising total and mission impact of your latest silent auction event.
Prospective donors: Prospects are interested in hearing about how your nonprofit works and uses donations to further its charitable goals, and how donors fit into the giving puzzle. Incorporate donor spotlights, financial information, and mission-related background information to answer prospects’ common questions.
Use your nonprofit’s CRM database to explore donor data and identify key segments based on commonly shared characteristics and interests. Identify three to five overarching audiences to develop tailored sections for your fundraising reports.
2. Choose interesting stories to feature.
Stories are not only more memorable than facts alone, but they can also increase conversion rates by 30%.
Browse your CRM database for intriguing, outside-the-box stakeholder stories that still demonstrate your organization’s impact. Ask yourself these questions to find stories that will stand out in your fundraising reports and resonate with supporters:
How are community members leveraging your nonprofit’s support in unique ways? Seek out stories that offer a new perspective or a creative element that will grab your audience’s attention. For example, you may include stories about how a community member used your nonprofit’s financial support to start a thriving small business selling personalized candles.
What unique challenges or obstacles did the individual in the story overcome, and how did your organization help? Identify stories that show your nonprofit's critical role in community members’ lives. For instance, you could discuss how your organization provided mentoring and tutoring support to students in need and how that helped them overcome educational barriers and eventually earn a college scholarship.
What primary groups compose your beneficiary audience? What core demographics compose your nonprofit’s audience, and how can you showcase diverse stakeholder stories in your fundraising reports? Incorporating stories highlighting the broad range of human experiences in your nonprofit’s community will ensure you share narratives relatable to your audience.
To make your storytelling more compelling, include images, video clips, and direct quotes from interviewees throughout your reports. Be sure to ask for permission from the people being interviewed and respect their wishes if they want to remain anonymous.
3. Design personalized reports.
Some report types, such as individualized impact reports for major donors, should be personalized with unique information about each recipient. This shows major supporters that your organization values their individual contributions and appreciates their enormous impact on your mission.
One way to make these reports more engaging is by taking notes from the ever-popular Spotify Wrapped yearly data roundup. Tailor this idea to your nonprofit’s communication needs by creating a “Giving Wrapped” report recapping each donor’s contributions and impact for the year through metrics and data visualizations.
Customize these reports with:
Donors’ names: Include donors’ names in your email subject line and the body of the report itself. For example, your email subject line could read, “Michelle, your Giving Wrapped 2025 is ready!”
The specific impact of their unique contributions. For example, include a chart that shows the donor’s lifetime giving value and how many beneficiaries their gifts have supported.
References to other past involvement. Include additional data points based on each donor’s unique contributions to your mission, such as the number of events they attended, social media posts they shared, or new donors they helped bring on board.
Here’s an example of what your Giving Wrapped data report may look like:
Use your online fundraising tool to pull relevant data about every supporter’s involvement. Include information about fundraising totals, giving frequencies, and any special donations, such as event gifts or peer-to-peer fundraising donations.
4. Create an interactive experience.
Because of the vast array of user-friendly report creation tools available, your nonprofit can offer a more engaging format than a simple printed pamphlet. By making your reports more interactive, you’ll enhance the reader experience and deliver information in a more memorable format.
Consider creating interactive experiences such as:
Interactive data visualizations that allow viewers to toggle between different data points, such as years or locations
Donor journeys that visualize the journey of a donation after supporters give and how it’s used to further your mission
Interactive videos that allow viewers to click on different types of stories that interest them most
Consider creating multiple formats for your fundraising reports to appeal to different audience preferences. For example, Bloomerang’s nonprofit annual report guide highlights postcards, self-mailers, and videos as common report types.
Use a multichannel strategy to make each variation interactive. For example, your postcards and self-mailers should include QR codes that recipients can scan using their phones to read the digital version of your report. Your videos should link to multiple channels that supporters can use to connect with your organization, including email and social media.
5. Unveil your plans for the future.
Building sustainable nonprofit revenue relies on your ability to convey to donors why they should support your organization long-term. Share your plans for the future to show donors that your organization is dynamic, growth-oriented, and worthy of ongoing support.
Use your annual fundraising reports to:
Preview upcoming events or campaigns. Generate excitement for upcoming initiatives by spotlighting fun events or campaigns you have on the calendar. Highlight ways supporters can get involved through fundraising, volunteering, or advocacy.
Show how unrestricted funds help set you up for success. Use your annual report to show donors how unrestricted gifts help promote your organization’s long-term success. For instance, explain how you can build a stronger foundation for achieving your mission by buying new technology and hiring more staff members.
Project a positive outlook. Maintain an upbeat attitude throughout your report. Donors will feel much more motivated if you have a hopeful outlook. Don’t gloss over challenges your organization faces, but share your plans for meeting obstacles with a tactical strategy.
Your fundraising reports should be holistic recaps of your organization’s year and forward-thinking projections of the progress you plan to make next year. Donors will be more likely to stay on board when they see your organization has a comprehensive plan for becoming even more effective and efficient in the future.
With these tips, your nonprofit can create fundraising reports that act as donor stewardship and retention tools. Track metrics relevant to your reports, such as email open rates or video views, to assess your report's effectiveness in engaging your audience. You can also survey recipients to get feedback about what they liked and disliked about the report. Use these insights to continually improve your impact reporting approach over time.
This guest post was written by Jay Love.
Jay has served this sector for 33 years and is considered the most well-known senior statesman whose advice is sought constantly.
Before founding Bloomerang, he was the co-founder and CEO of eTapestry for 11 years, which at the time was the leading SaaS technology company serving the charity sector. Jay and his team grew the company to over 10,000 nonprofit clients, charting a decade of record growth.
He is a graduate of Butler University with a B.S. in Business Administration. Over the years, he has given more than 2,500 speeches around the world for the charity sector and is often the voice of new technology for fundraisers.
