How to report on your social impact to improve donor engagement

The world of social impact reporting is increasingly popular, and with it comes the opportunity to improve donor engagement. While your organisation’s social impact report may be an important tool for communication internally and externally, it also allows you to build trust and engagement with your audience. You need to make sure your donors are engaged with the content you publish, so they can see just how their giving is impacting lives around the world. To get started on your next annual report or quarterly update, give some thought to these questions and best practices.

Why is social impact reporting important?

• Social impact reporting means telling your story to the community and sharing how you have impacted the world. It means communicating with donors in a way that they understand.
• Social impact reporting helps build trust with the people who support your work. When someone sees that their giving or volunteering has made an impact on people or communities, it makes them more likely to give again when you ask them.
• Social impact reports can help attract new donors if they know what initiatives are important to your organisation, as well as show that their money isn’t just going toward overhead costs like salaries or rent – that it’s actually being used on programs that matter most!

Your story is what makes you unique.

Your story is what makes you unique. And it’s the key to engaging your donors and keeping them interested, committed and generous. It’s all about gaining their trust and confidence.

When people are making a decision about whether or not they should support you, they want to know:

• Who you are – what is your mission? Where do you come from? What do you stand for?
• What difference have you made in the world so far? How have others benefitted from being involved with your organisation?
• How can they get involved with your organisation in a way that has an impact on their life/community/world and that makes them feel as though their money is well spent?

Why should your donors care about the work you’re doing?

Donors care about the impact their money has. They want to know that their dollars are going towards something that will make a difference in someone’s life, and this is where you can show them how your organisation is making an impact.

Donors care about your mission — how do you define it? How does it relate to the work you’re doing? What kind of impact do you hope to make by the support your organisation receives?

Donors care about the people you serve — the kind of clients or recipients does your organisation works with. Are there opportunities for donors to meet with clients or hear from them directly? Can you make these connections available for donors who may be interested in making a gift but unsure how best they could contribute?

Donors also want to understand how well an organisation is performing overall — not just as an entity but as a team working together towards achieving its goals. It is important for all stakeholders within an organisation (executive leadership through to staff) to have clear metrics on which they can track progress toward goals so they know whether or not their efforts are successful and what improvements need attention next time around.

Make it easy for your supporters to get involved in your mission.

Once you’ve created your report, it’s important to make it easy for your supporters to get involved in your mission. Ways to do that include:

• Make donating easy
• Make volunteering easy
• Make sharing your story easy (shareable assets are a great way to do this)
• Make getting involved (in whatever way) easy.

Making it easy for supports to get involved is a critical part of engagement once you’ve developed your social impact report. You can do this by publishing regular updates on your website or social channels with photos or videos of beneficiaries and projects they helped support.

Balance data with personal stories

When you’re reporting on your impact, there are two ways you can use data. The first is to show the extent of your impact in a number of different ways. You might be able to explain why you started working on this problem and how it affects people’s lives, or what kind of work you do and how it makes their lives better.

The second way is by using data that shows exactly what kind of difference your organisation makes in the world—but this isn’t always easy! You may have trouble getting accurate information about all aspects of your organisation’s social impact, since there are many factors involved. You might also find yourself frustrated because some questions can’t be answered with hard facts alone; instead they require research into less quantifiable areas such as emotions, attitudes and beliefs.

The reason you should care so much about social impact reporting is because it helps you share your story with the world. It tells people why they should support your work and how they can get involved in making a difference. This will make them feel connected to you, your community of givers and increase their commitment to support you for years to come.