For many nonprofits, December signals the end of the fiscal year, the opportunity to reflect on the past year, and a chance to start percolating plans for the coming year.
My clients embraced digital communication in 2010. They Tweeted, Facebooked and Linkedin. They honed their communications using dramatically different tools that are now available. They’ve planned events without printing a single invite and connected with their donors online. They created educational e-courses for developing nations in communities that didn't have electricity ten years ago.
So why are clients requesting meetings to kick-off printed annual reports? To all of you who believe you need a printed annual report, please reconsider. Invest the time and money in creating your annual report online. You can still have beautiful photography and compelling stories, plus you can include interactive graphs, video and animation. The best part is you can include as many lists as you want using font sizes the eye can actually read.
If you believe your public includes people for whom the digital revolution has not happened, send them a printed invitation to visit a computer and view your annual report there. In 2012, it is time to move on.
