Annual Reports

Prior to 2005, the Alzheimer's Association, Central New York Chapter had not published a full-blown annual report. The Chapter's financials were audited each year and filed correctly, but there was no honor roll of donors, list of achievements or published financial statement.

In 2009, I heard the brilliant Penelope Burk speak at an Association of Fundraising Professionals event. She changed how our organization approached donor communications, particularly in terms of the annual report. Burk's research showed that honor rolls of donors have little ROI (people look for their name and, if something is incorrectly referenced, it impacts their giving) and no one reads the content.  

So, beginning that year we changed our approach to a self-mailing, single-page annual report. The feedback has been overwhelming.