annual report cover letter examples

6 Ways to Motivate Readers'>Your Annual Report’s Opening Message: 6 Ways to Motivate Readers

I harbor no ill will toward opening messages. In fact, I believe they can be an important component of a nonprofit’s annual report. When done well–well being the operative word–they provide context for the rest of the publication. They personalize it and make it more immediate, and they help point readers to key information and calls to action.

That said, most opening messages, those “letters from the executive director,” make me want to get out my figurative red pen and edit away (at best) or, at worst, put the publication down or close my browser window. Of course you want your annual report’s welcome to excite readers and motivate them to read from cover to cover. Here’s how:

1. Keep your opening message short

I can’t emphasize this enough. Short is a few succinct paragraphs, a half page, 200-300 words. Short is not asking your graphic designer to “make it fit,” leaving audiences to squint at six-point font. Assume your reader is scanning. Make it easy to read. Use subheadings and bullet points. Hit the high points and move on.

If this sounds impossible–if you feel like it’s your one chance to say everything to everyone–then it might be a good time to revisit your communications plan. That feeling, and the resulting letter that goes on forever, could be a clue that you’re not regularly and consistently talking with all your constituents the rest of the year.

2. Open your annual report with a simple salutation

“Dear Friends”–or something similar–is great. You don’t need to spell out each audience, unless you want to waste several lines of valuable real estate (your letter is brief, remember?).

3. Keep the tone conversational

Keep it professional and formal, yes, but not stilted or distant. Somewhere between, “Hey, what’s up?” and “Dear Sir or Madam.”

Don’t be afraid to let some personality shine through either. Conveying the director’s sincere excitement about a particular accomplishment, his or her sense of humor, or a personal note or observation–these all make your opening message and, as a result, the whole report more engaging.

4. Show awareness of the year’s challenges

I once edited a “letter from the director” for a client who had a fantastic year. Unfortunately, though, colleagues at similar organizations did not fare so well. Talking about all the great things that happened without acknowledging others’ challenges during the long, hard recession felt wrong. It was nearly a missed opportunity to show camaraderie and gratitude. Phrases such as “In spite of difficult economic times, we were fortunate to … ” can go a long way.

5. Report candidly and transparently

Not a good idea to say how great the year was if it wasn’t. You can highlight the good while still being honest about areas you know need addressing. Your donors and other supporters want to know that you’re working to improve and that their time and/or money isn’t being wasted.

6. End with a positive note and call to action

Hint at a few things you’re excited about for the coming year, keep your ending hopeful but not artificial, and invite readers to do something–join you on social media sites, sign up for your newsletter, make a donation before the year ends, volunteer at an event, respond to a survey. Instead of making them drowsy, get them engaged–not only in reading your annual report but supporting your cause.

What techniques do you use to engage readers with your annual report’s opening letter?

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How to Make a Report Cover Letter

• Cover Letters
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How to Write a Monthly Report

How to write a memorandum to a ceo to approve working documents, how to write a budget revenue report.

• How to Write a Justification Report
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Whether you're an independent contractor providing a report as part of an assigned project or a company employee drafting an internal report for staff review, an attached cover letter will serve as a brief overview of the report's contents, and can help provide clarity about the report. Report cover letters summarize the details in the report, and provide an overview of why the report was requested, and what its contents are intended to do.

Business Cover Letter Contents

Much like a cover letter you would draft to accompany a resume when applying for a job, a report cover letter in business serves a similar purpose: It provides a snapshot and states that details will follow. It should not be confused with an executive summary, which is the narrative usually found at the beginning of a report, which indicates key findings and recommendations. In other words, the cover letter tells you what's in the report, and the executive summary at the beginning of the report tells you why the information is important.

Introduction -- who the report is aimed toward, and the purpose it serves. Example:

To the Board of Directors:

Attached please find the 2018 Annual Report that the board requested at the start of the new fiscal year.

Brief summary of rationale -- why the report was requested. Example:

As requested, the report provides an in-depth overview of corporate profits broken down into six-month increments. It also provides a market summary which details cost projections and anticipated revenues moving forward, in 12-month increments.

Bullet-point overview -- a detailed list of other elements included: Example:

Additional report contents include the following:

• Breakdown of costs, revenue and earning projections per department
• Market share analysis
• New product performance metrics

Performance Report Contents

When drafting something such as performance reports that will be delivered to human resources or to a department director, the cover letter can be brief and to-the-point. Example:

Attached please find six performance evaluations of marketing department staff members. The evaluations were conduced the week of January 5, 2018. Each has been reviewed and signed by the individual employee and also by that employee's immediate supervisor. As you will read, the majority of the reports are quite positive, and several exceed expectations. Please let me know if you require additional information or documentation.

Project Report Contents

Well-written project reports are usually all-inclusive, but a cover letter to accompany the report can be helpful, when it includes details, such as a summary of purpose and next steps. Example:

Attached please find an update on the re-branding campaign project the graphic arts department is conducting. Once approved by the marketing committee, the project can move into phase two, in which we will have a focus group that will help assess overall perception and name recognition.

Take care to proof read your report cover letter carefully before attaching. The letter serves as a first impression for the report's contents, and as such, should be professional and free of errors.

• State of Michigan: Report Cover Letter
• University of Wisconsin-Madison: Writing Cover Letters

Lisa McQuerrey has been an award-winning writer and author for more than 25 years. She specializes in business, finance, workplace/career and education. Publications she’s written for include Southwest Exchange and InBusiness Las Vegas.

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Annual Report Cover Letter

Re. Annual Report for the Fiscal Year 20XX

Dear [NAME], I am [NAME], the [DESIGNATION] from the [NAME THE COMPANY]. I have been working on the compilation and final formats of the annual report for the fiscal year 20XX. I have conducted an in-depth analysis of the annual performance of the company. With the assistance of honorable [NAME-I], [NAME-II], and [NAME-III], this report has been finalized. A copy of the report has been sent to all the shareholders and stakeholders of the company who are actually or potentially annexed to the company’s internal affairs.

According to the annual report 20XX, there has been seen a surge in the annual sale of the company despite lockdown restrictions and sudden changes in the policies on the court orders for the electronics companies. It has been mentioned that the company’s sales incremented [X%] as compared to the previous three years. The company’s deal remained [X] during the fiscal year 20XX, whereas it increased to X] in the fiscal year 20XX. Please refer to annexure-II for the graphical view of the sale.

Moreover, manpower of the company was lowered as compared to the previous year as the department of technical alliances was given off to the [ANOTHER COMPANY]. The technical alliance closure made the manpower to be lowered by X% which did not bring any considerable impact on the company.

The company’s performance appraisals showed that X% improvement was shown by the other departments. The addition of ten new employees was done to the company who proved themselves to be highly competent and adroit in their relevant fields. [Refer annexure-IV].

The company’s balance sheets, cash improvisations, and cash sheets have been profoundly determined and analyzed to draw the annual report. Please refer to the compiled annual report book annexed for a complete and detailed look into the year 20XX.

Please do not hesitate to ask for any assistance. We are at your disposal to guide you through the annual report. Submit your queries to the [EMAIL ADDRESS]. We thank you for considering [NAME THE COMPANY].

Re. Annual Report Covering for the Year-20XX

Dear [NAME],

The letter has been written to highlight the main issues, events, happenings, surges, and declines in the company. For this purpose, the annual report for the year 20XX has been compiled and framed for a clear understanding.

The report has been attached to the letter, please find it in the annexure-I-XIV. The report has been kept precise and to the point. Most of the points have been indicated through graph lines, pictures, and balance sheets. Please do a thorough study of the report for a better understanding.

Overall, the year 20XX has been seen as a challenging year with a lot of hurdles and halts in the accomplishment of projects and conceiving bids and proposals due to shortfall of the economic decline, global inflation, deviation in market trends, and operational challenges due to coronavirus restrictions.

We aspire to do a lot more in the future for the coming year. The company has marked and put high and achievable goals for the future. We are committed to the delivery of quality than quantity and uplifting working standards. If you find anything erroneous or ambiguous in the report, please send our [POSITION] an email at [EMAIL ADDRESS]. We are happy to have your dedicated contributions to the company’s successes. Thank you.

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20+ Best Free Annual Report Cover Design Templates 2024

Central - Annual Cover Report

Using PowerPoint to present your annual report can make the whole process easier. No need to worry about having an eye-catching cover for a report.

Business Report Title Page PPT

This PowerPoint annual report template is a great way to solve your needs. It comes with an attractive business report title page and 263 unique slides.

SpotON - Annual Report Template

Check out this infographic PPT template. It comes with a compelling over for a report that can capture your audience's attention.

Logam - Annual Report Template

Drop your data and numbers and you're good to go with this annual report PPT template. It's got a great cover for a report along with infographics.

Report cover page templates can make or break your annual reports. Envato Elements offers the best cover page for reports for you to choose from. If this selection of report cover page templates isn't what you're looking for? 

Head over to Envato Elements and choose the cover reports that best fit what you're going for.

20 Top Free Annual Report Front Cover Page Templates to Download (2024)

Free Business Report - MS Word

Here's a multipurpose report template that can work as a simple annual report. title page Blue and green are the primary colors.

Free Annual Report Template in Word

This template comes with instructions. The aim is to assist people who are new at building reports.

Classic Academic Report

This academic cover page has large title text with subtitle text boxes and a three-heading body text section. Hexagons are the main abstract design motif of the cover page.

Simple Theme - Free Annual Report Title Page

This template uses an a standard layout to make it easy to use. The title is in black against a yellow background.

Modern - Free Report

Here's a simple report template. It includes a great cover for a report as well as easily editable visuals.

Free Annual Report Covers Template

This is a free PPT template for those who need to present their annual report on a budget. Yellow and black are the main colors for this template. 

Business Report Cover Page Template

This is a cover page template with a neutral corporate design. Customize the document with your own visuals and logos.

Free Financial Planning

You can also use this financial planning template for annual reports. The cover page is an image of mountains and includes the title and year. 

Free Annual Report - Business Case Proposal

Curvy design elements in annual report covers are used for the header and footer. These curves and fonts are in dark blue. 

Green Hexagon - Free Annual Report Cover Template No. 15

The cover page has a large hexagon at the top of the page for the title. There are other hexagons all over the page.

Orange - Free Report Cover Page Template

This cover page design has an old-school or retro feel to it. The colors used are orange, black, and white. 

Yellow 2018 - Annual Report Cover Page

Here's a cover page with geometric shapes in yellow and blueish-gray. White fonts are used for contrast on these colors. 

Red - Free Annual Report Template for Front Page Design

This cover page is designed to look like it's got arrows on it. It's a very abstract geometric design in red and gray. 

Free Annual Report Cover Template for PowerPoint

This template is for those wanting to present their annual report to stakeholders. It's a doodle theme that's simple yet creative. 

Building - Free Annual Report Front Page Design

This template has an image of high-rise buildings and below that is the document's title and a short description. The image is the primary design element of this financial cover page. 

Annual Report Cover Page Design Templates Free Download

The cover page of this template has a light green border at the bottom. You can edit it in MS Word, Google Docs, Apple Pages. 

NGO - Free Annual Report Front Page Design

Here's a minimalistic template. There's an orange circle where the title goes. Include the company logo above this shape. 

Training - Annual Report Cover Page Design 

This annual training report comes with a cover page in blue with a white border. The fonts are white. 

Health and Safety - Free Cover Page for Report

This cover page template comes with a green square at the bottom right corner. The title is above the green square. 

Corporate Annual Report Cover Template

This report cover design features a high contrast black on yellow color palette. It's simple and easy to edit.

8 Best Annual Report Cover Designs for 2024 (Premium From Envato Elements)

Annual Report Cover Design

Here's a creative and impressive financial report cover design, aptly titled Abstract Annual Report. Besides the front and back page, you'll also get 18 pages that'll help you present your data in style.

Square Annual Report Cover Template

This is an elegant annual report front page in black and gold. This InDesign template has 20 creatively designed pages for you to work with. All in all, it's a great annual report cover inspiration.

Landscape Annual Report - Report Cover Design

Are you looking to create a modern landscape-oriented design? Customize every aspect of this template effortlessly. It's a trendy and effective annual report cover idea! 

Annual Cover Report

Check out this annual report cover template! Its geometric figures give it a futuristic and modern look. Plus, its clean design adds a professional feel to your annual reports. 

Annual Report Cover Inspiration

Give your annual reports templates a vintage look and feel. Its heavy use of black and white will make people pay attention to your annual reports. Customize this financial report cover design with Adobe InDesign.

Annual Cover Report Template

This template offers an eye-catching report cover design. You can swap out the colores to fit your brand. Some features: 

• 30 customa pages
• InDesign Template
• A4 & US Letter 

Annual Report Template

When it comes to unique report cover page templates, this template hits the mark. Some features:

• Clean design
• 36 custom pages
• High-quality icons

Creative Report Cover Page Template

This unique report cover design will surely set you apart from the rest. Some features:

• 20 unique pages

You can use any free multipurpose report cover template to create annual report title pages. But lack of professional designs will lead you to create a report that's not impressive.

Work smart! Use premium professional annual report templates from Envato Elements. Get access to millions of premium creative files (including creative annual report cover ideas) with a low monthly fee. This subscription will help you improve all your creative work effortlessly. 

Get your hands on the best annual report cover designs from Envato Elements! Premium designs for a low cost! Subscribe today!

Editorial Note: This article has been completely rewritten to make it more usable for the reader.

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Free Annual Report Templates

Praburam Srinivasan

Growth Marketing Manager

April 30, 2024

Highlighting successes and failures at the end of the year lays the groundwork for a better and more fruitful new year. It’s a time to review performance, assess financial reports, and take those insights to make improvements.

One way companies do this is by creating an annual report. For public companies, this document is required for shareholders to understand the health of the business. For smaller businesses and teams, creating an annual report can also help to build better decision-making.

An annual report template lets you create your financial report in half the time. Here, we’ll share some of the best templates to build an informative annual report. You’ll find templates for progress reports, work breakdowns, and annual reports for businesses in different sectors. 🙌

Why are Annual Reports Important?

1. clickup annual report template, 2. clickup business annual report template, 3. clickup annual report work breakdown structure template, 4. clickup financial analysis report template, 5. clickup progress report template, 6. clickup nonprofit annual report template, 7. clickup llc annual report template, 8. canva modern cover annual report, 9. venngage year end annual report template, 10. annual report template by envato.

Annual reports are documents that lay out the company’s financial health and describe operations. It’s required for public companies, but can also be used by smaller businesses and private firms for internal reporting. 

Prior to the 1929 Wall Street crash , the annual report was not mandated. Following the financial implosion, regulators required annual reports from all public companies so shareholders and stakeholders could understand the financial health and operations. 📈

The corporate annual report typically starts with a letter to the stakeholders briefly outlining the main takeaways. The annual reporting process centers around collecting data and building diagrams to form a narrative that explains how the previous year went and what is expected for the future. The final parts of the report include in-depth metrics to highlight financial and operational procedures.

Most annual reports contain the following:

• A letter to shareholders
• Management discussion and analysis (MD&A)
• Financial statements 
• Audit reports
• Summary of financing and operating wins

Businesses can choose to hire outside agencies to create the annual report or handle it internally. With a template for annual reports, you can take information from impact reports and sales reports to create your own financial and operational review.

What makes a good annual report template 

Annual reports must have specific financial information to help shareholders understand the health of the company. These reports are designed to provide information on the ability to meet existing debts, profits or losses over the previous year, and operational plans. 💰

A comprehensive annual report should have:

• Detailed financial information : The whole point of this document is to meet regulatory requirements by providing in-depth financial information on revenues, profits, and losses
• A letter to stakeholders: Annual reports generally start with your organization’s mission statement and key takeaways from the previous year, so choose a template that includes a cover page for this information
• Support for data visualizations: Look for a template that features built-in graphs, pie charts, and Kanban boards to display key financial information and future plans
• Customizable fonts and graphic designs : Present your annual report in line with branding standards by selecting a template that offers customization for typography, design elements, and color schemes

10 Free Annual Report Templates

Ready to start making annual reports? You’ll need to start by gathering insights on key financial metrics and operational performance. Dive into team performance reviews , assess success on project management goals , and delve into the nitty gritty numbers when it comes to revenue, debts, and profits.

Then, use one of these pre-built templates for annual reports to quickly put all of the information together in one informative document. From all-in-one templates to progress reports and financial analysis reports, you’ll find what you need to inform your shareholders. 💪

ClickUp’s Annual Report Template takes a daunting task and turns it into a manageable step-by-step process. From gathering the correct data to presenting it in a professional annual report, this free annual report template will be your best friend when working on your most important end-of-the-year tasks.

Start by collecting important data from the previous year’s financial statements, project milestones, and marketing reports. Next, pop into the annual report template and fill out basic information like the company name, logo, and main people involved. 

Use the Annual Highlights section to call out big wins like sales growth, market share expansion, and global ranking. Next, cover at least two notable projects, focusing on objectives and the impact on the company at large.

Finally, go over the year’s best practices that had the best results and a financial analysis for the entire year. Share the presentation with board members, teammates, and shareholders. Use key takeaways from the report to improve communication plans , lay the groundwork for increased profits, and streamline operations to meet team and HR goals .

The Business Annual Report Template from ClickUp is an easy tool to gather, document, and present financial data at the end of the year. This modern annual report template provides support for advanced graphics, charts, and data tools to share information the way you want to.

Start by creating a report overview by breaking down information into summaries of business objectives, vision, and mission. Next, cover the company strategy, including reports on growth and shares. Add charts and graphs to drive home key successes and takeaways. 📊

The next section of the annual report template is all about finances. Write a financial statement laying out where the company stands and use hard numbers to back up the claims. Add a brief conclusion summarizing the main takeaways and finish with forecasts for the next few years.

The ClickUp Annual Report Work Breakdown Structure Template makes creating annual reports easier than ever by divvying up the work. Use the template to break down your entire annual report into tasks and subtasks. Automatically assign them to the correct team member to gather analytics and build sections of the annual report.

Use the different views packed into this modern annual report template to visualize progress and see who is working on what. Use priority flags to identify work that needs to be addressed immediately. Add relationships for dependencies so the team knows which tasks are blocking others.

The built-in Gantt chart lets you quickly see the timeline for creating the annual report. Use it for a broad overview of all the tasks in progress. Open the individual task cards to get more detailed information on financial stats and reporting progress.

Use the Financial Analysis Report Template from ClickUp to craft an up-to-date and detailed report on financial health that you can use as part of a bigger annual report. Pre-built spreadsheets make it easy to fill out financial data and track changes as needed.

Start by filling out the basic company information, including your logo, business address, and contact details. Next, add graphs and charts laying out details on financial essentials. These can include things like cash flow analysis, liquidity ratios, and debt ratios. 💸

The following sections include summaries for valuation and risk analysis. Add data and narratives to keep the reader’s attention and help them understand the company’s standing. Finish off by summarizing key takeaways, tips for improvement, and a quick recap.

Use the report to give a quick presentation to internal stakeholders or share it more widely in a PowerPoint or webinar with shareholders. Custom permissions settings let you control who sees the report and whether they can edit it or not.

The ClickUp Progress Report Template is a great add-on to an annual report. It allows you to keep track of project objectives, stay on schedule, and share summaries of progress with shareholders. Use the Progress Report Template to assess individual team member success or monitor achievements for the entire department. 

Customize the sheet to evaluate a single team member or the department. Fill out the basic information, including job titles, project scope, and contact information. Next, create a performance evaluation by breaking down main goals into key metrics. 

Develop a skills assessment section in the template by coming up with key skills the team or employee should meet. Break the ranking down into three to five ratings. Finally, end the report by featuring a recommendations section where you take the evaluated metrics and assess them alongside company and project objectives.

Use the Progress Report Template to highlight wins and areas for improvement in your annual report. The Progress Report can also be used to identify cases where teams have improved operations and elevated the company’s health and success.

The Nonprofit Annual Report Template from ClickUp allows organizations to share insights into operations and financial standings. Use nonprofit annual reports to share key takeaways with the public at large or offer reporting to advocates and donors. 🤩

The Nonprofit Annual Report Template starts with a message from the executive director. Use this section to thank investors and volunteers for their contributions and make a statement on the past year’s successes.

Next, lay out the vision and mission for your non-profit organization. Be sure to explain where the company stands today and where you see it going over the next year or two. The Annual Report layout then goes on to cover key accomplishments and program activities. 

Follow up by highlighting stories of change where people made the biggest impact in the organization this past year. Dive into financial statements and share special thank-yous to donors and volunteers who went above and beyond.

End your nonprofit annual report templates by focusing on future goals for the organization. Here, you can focus on financial goals in terms of fundraising as well as upcoming projects that you want to take on.

ClickUp’s LLC Annual Report Template lets you share operational details and financial results from the past year. Use it to manage business filings, save time creating annual reports, and keep track of progress over the years.

This corporate annual report template features four pre-built sections, but you can add more as you see fit. The first section is all about project growth, including detailed financial statistics. Sections for the growing team and corporate social responsibility highlight a people-first approach to the company. 

Finally, a section on plans for the year ahead lets you add in financial forecasts and potential projects. This is a great place to get buy-in for the year ahead from key stakeholders.

Canva is known more for design than it is for annual reports. However, this tool can take a generally boring set of information and turn it into a creative annual report, ready for presentations and sharing among the company. Featuring dozens of annual report design templates, the Modern Cover Annual Report is among our favorites. 

This creative annual report template features a blue and yellow design, but you can customize it to feature your branding colors or go for a simple black-and-white layout. Personalize the fonts to use your branding style in the annual report cover. 👩🏽‍🎨

Add photos, graphics, and icons to make the design really stand out. Download the design in two clicks and instantly share it across forums from social media to your internal annual report document. 

Venngage is a professional infographic design tool that features an eye-catching Year End Annual Report Template. The vintage design features retro color palettes that you can customize to suit your company’s branding.

The six-page template starts with a cover page, introduction, and table of contents. The next few pages cover year-end highlights, industry trends, and performance. Throughout the free template, you’ll find bright colors, gradients, and charts to highlight the most important information from expense reports and other financial documentation.

This attractive annual report template is best used for businesses that want to provide short insights into the business dealings of the past year. Add more pages and deeper insights if you prefer a more in-depth report.

The Annual Report Template from Envato is an in-depth, 24-page approach to informing shareholders about the state of your business. Featuring a professional design, the final product can be shared as a PDF or email attachment. 📧

This annual report example lets you present your business in a formal and eye-catching way. Use it to share quarterly business reviews , key wins, and financial statements with relevant parties. 

Change all the colors throughout the document in one place to match your branding. Use the built-in free fonts to change the text to meet your brand guidelines. The design works best in Adobe InDesign and features layered and vector functionality for elevated designs.

Update Shareholders with Annual Report Templates

With a simple annual report template, you’ll update shareholders on the company’s health and financial situation faster than ever before. From gorgeous, customizable designs to simple, informative layouts, there’s a way to share your information the way you want to.

Sign up for ClickUp today and start creating a comprehensive annual report that’s sure to be informative and engaging. Browse more than 1,000 templates to gather data for financial reporting and leverage the 15+ views and customization tools to monitor success throughout the year. When you’re ready to craft an annual report, there are several template options from ClickUp to get the job done. 🌻

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How to Prepare an Annual Report

• 16 Dec 2021

Investors must carefully analyze the financial health and performance of any business they consider funding. To do this, they turn to several financial statements that offer glimpses into the organization's inner workings.

Few financial statements are more highly anticipated each year than a company’s annual report, which not only summarizes its performance for the preceding year but charts a course for the one ahead.

With this in mind, knowing how to prepare an annual report is essential for anyone interested in a leadership position. Whether you’re an aspiring entrepreneur, functional lead, or member of your organization’s C-suite, learning how to prepare an annual report can help advance your career.

Here’s a look at what an annual report is, its key components, and steps you should follow to create one.

Access your free e-book today.

What Is An Annual Report?

An annual report is a document that describes a company’s financial condition and business operations for the previous year.

Any publicly traded business is required by law to prepare and publish an annual report, which helps current and potential investors decide whether to provide funding.

Businesses not publicly traded can still prepare an annual report if they have private investors who must be apprised of their performance or are in the process of securing private funding.

Components of an Annual Report

An annual report typically consists of the following documents or sections:

• Letters to shareholders
• Management’s discussion and analysis (MD&A)
• General corporate information or business profile
• Operating and financing highlights
• Financial statements

Usually, an annual report is split into two halves. The first half contains the company’s narrative in the form of the letters to shareholders, management’s discussion and analysis, general corporate information, and operating highlights—all of which tell a story about how the company performed and worked toward its goals. The second half of the report strips out narrative components and presents data, which investors are encouraged to analyze to draw conclusions about the company.

1. Compile the Business Profile

The business profile is the section of the annual report where you summarize key information about your business. It typically includes information about:

• Your company’s key products or services
• Your company’s mission and vision
• The board of directors and other business officers
• Your investor profile
• Your competition
• Opportunities and risks

This section is also sometimes referred to as the general business information section of the annual report.

When writing this section, remember your goals: to quickly provide new, current, or potential investors the information needed to understand your business and industry.

2. Generate Key Financial Statements

The purpose of the annual report is to provide data and analysis regarding your company’s operations and financial performance. As such, the financial statements it contains are essential.

Important financial statements include your company’s:

• Income statement
• Cash flow statement
• Balance sheet
• Statement to shareholders

While you can compile the report’s other sections before generating financial statements, it’s best to avoid doing so because your letters to shareholders, management’s discussion and analysis, and other narrative elements should be backed by financial data. Not creating financial statements first makes it possible to tell an inaccurate or incomplete story you’ll later need to correct.

3. Select Operational and Financial Highlights

After generating financial statements, select highlights for your report’s narrative elements. Incorporate a mix of operational and financial highlights. Some examples include:

• The launch of new products or services
• The opening of new facilities
• Major contracts or partnerships
• News about mergers and acquisitions
• Rate of revenue growth
• Whether the company turned a profit or loss for the year

4. Write the Management Discussion and Analysis

While the financial statements included in the annual report allow investors and analysts to analyze your business, the management discussion and analysis section offers you and your team the opportunity to present an internal analysis of financial performance and statements.

The MD&A section also typically contains information regarding key issues your company faces, such as compliance with laws or regulations, systems and controls recently put in place, and new or emerging risks.

While the MD&A section is more subjective than financial statements, it must meet the standards set by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). This includes ensuring the MD&A is balanced, based on fact, and has both positive and negative information.

5. Write the Letter to Shareholders

The final step is to write the letter to shareholders. This letter is drafted by the CEO, chairperson, or company owner and offers a high-level overview of the business’s operating activities and finances for the previous year.

The letter to shareholders ultimately acts as the introduction to the entire annual report and is the first piece of information investors review. While each component of the annual report is essential, the letter to shareholders is one of the most important to get right.

One of the Most Important Financial Documents

The annual report is one of the most crucial financial documents your company produces.

While doing so is typically a team effort spanning multiple departments, knowing what goes into preparing one is a vital skill for aspiring business leaders and entrepreneurs.

Do you want to take your career to the next level? Consider enrolling in Financial Accounting —one of three courses that comprise our Credential of Readiness (CORe) program —and discover how you can learn key financial topics that enable you to understand business performance and potential.

About the Author

Business growth

Business tips

11 annual report design examples and how to design your own (with template)

But the report isn't just fun and creative—it also tells a story. It says, "Not only are we confident in our performance and our brilliant communication, but we also care deeply about our customers and the world at large." How does it do this? Through bold, colorful statistics about employee benefits and the company's social justice efforts.

The primary purpose of an annual report is to analyze your organization's performance over the year, but it's also an opportunity to share your brand's identity with stakeholders, whether those be customers or investors. After looking through dozens of reports, I unpack my favorites below, as well as how to live up to their caliber.

11 captivating annual report examples

The following organizations have proven that annual reports aren't just a bunch of numbers to nod and smile at.

1. 2022 Everlane Impact Report

For sustainable fashion retailer Everlane, it's just as important to communicate ethical goals and accomplishments as it is to report on financial success.

From a design perspective, natural tones dominate the report, echoing the brand's commitment to eco-friendliness. No hot pinks or neon turquoises in sight—just forest greens, deep-sea blues, earthy browns, and other natural tones. Overall, the report successfully models how to use design to communicate brand image.

If your brand is committed to an ethical cause, be transparent about how you're tracking toward that cause.

Keep your color scheme consistent with your brand image.

2. The Trevor Project's 2020 Annual Report

The report uses large headers, bullet points, highlights, and strategic bolding to present how they're working to innovate, educate, and advocate for young members of the LGBTQ+ community.

Not all data evokes sunshine and butterflies, and The Trevor Project's report uses a clean, streamlined design to keep the focus on what matters most to them.

Keep copy light and succinct wherever possible.

Call attention to your most important points through bolding, headers, and bullet points.

3. Mailchimp's 2020 Annual Report

The report highlights the company's success statistics, philanthropic efforts, fun facts, and some customer case studies, creating unique, colorful worlds for each of these sections.

Mailchimp is known for innovative communication solutions, and their annual report design is no exception. Overall, the company reminds us that business and fun don't have to live in totally separate realms.

Implement interactivity to keep your readers engaged.

If doing so aligns with your brand image, creatively convey data using color and animation.

4. USAA's 2021 Annual Report to Members

The report's Business Snapshot page is inspiring and professional, using large text and bolding to communicate some of the organization's must-know stats from the year. Even if you didn't read the text on the page, the color scheme alone makes it clear that USAA is a military-serving institution.

The report also includes a timeline walking through how the organization has grown over a century—a feature that, for obvious reasons, makes an impact. Not too many brands can boast a hundred years of serving their customer base.

The report's imagery evokes an emotional reaction, depicting tender moments between servicemembers in uniform and their families. All in all, the report's endearing photography, bold typography, and use of colors associated with the military (like deep navy blue) effectively communicate USAA's mission.

If your organization has a long history, use that to your advantage with timelines.

5. adidas Annual Report 2020

The user's entire browser transitions with every scroll, each view summarizing a key takeaway and offering a link to additional details. This keeps things simple for the user while still making all important information easily accessible.

a didas is known worldwide for its influence in the athletic footwear and clothing industry, and its report's bold use of red and black, as well as its moving imagery, echo this reputation.

If relevant, include photography of your audience or market.

Get creative with UX both in your report's landing page interface and in any supplemental tools you share.

6. Google Diversity Annual Report 2022

You may think that Google, being one of the most successful tech giants in the world, doesn't have much growing to do. But their report's tone suggests they do—and they're working to improve every day.

Much like adidas, Google summarizes its most important efforts and wins while offering a link to a more extensive PDF report. Through and through, the report is clean and easy to digest.

In a unique take on the letter from leadership, Google's report embeds a video in which Chief Diversity Officer Melonie Parker discusses the company's progress in hiring and creating products with diversity in mind.

Overall, the report's clean, clear, and data-driven design speaks to the company's mastery of technological expertise and human communication alike.

Keep your voice and tone consistent with your brand image while aiming to sound human and approachable.

Use creative content formats (like videos) to communicate with your audience.

7. Conservation International's 2021 Annual Report

The report's cover reads: "Not a moment to lose," followed by the deadlines the world has to get its act together. In a brilliant continuation of this theme, the report shows page numbers in a digital stopwatch format, as if each page represents a second in the countdown toward climate disaster.

Anxiety inducing? Yes. Effective? 100%.

The report also incorporates breathtaking photography of nature and wildlife, showcasing what the organization aims to protect.

Design a cover that grabs your readers' attention from the start.

Evoke an emotional response using real-life photography.

8. World Bank's 2023 Annual Report

The report leans heavily on storytelling photography that humanizes the brand and the ideas within the report. It does an excellent job presenting its achievements as well as its mission to support countries in times of crisis, help develop their infrastructure, and improve the quality of education and health care worldwide. The cover and the first few pages tell a story that I didn't expect from a government entity. I expected pages oversaturated with charts, a heavy focus on revenue, and very little relatability. Instead, they managed to change my perspective on the organization almost immediately.

When bureaucracy is the name of the game, design and engaging content usually take a backseat. This is a mold that World Bank manages to defy and reshape.

Use your report as an opportunity to debunk any common misconceptions about your brand.

Speak to your achievements as simply and directly as possible.

9. Habitat for Humanity's 2022 Annual Report

Habitat for Humanity also goes the extra mile with its delivery, providing both a downloadable file and a dynamic webpage that highlights key points from the full report. This gives busy stakeholders access to an overview that they can quickly digest.

Get creative with your report delivery method. Highlight the most important points from the report through interactive or dynamic webpages.

Prioritize real stories and examples, as they create a personal connection with the reader, making your brand more approachable.

10. Salesforce's 2022 Annual Report

I was particularly impressed with its clever use of margins—instead of filling up the void with colors and shapes that may or may not stimulate the reader, Salesforce filled the space with achievements and stats instead. These little nuggets of information are eye-catching, effectively summarize important contents, and keep the reader engaged.

Keep the report's style and color scheme consistent with your branding and public image.

Make use of otherwise empty space on the page to deliver key information in digestible pieces.

11. Subaru's 2022 Integrated Report

Sure, it's packed to the brim with information, but its presentation, utilizing charts, graphs, and creative roadmaps, keeps stakeholders engaged.

Be flexible in how you communicate information—it doesn't have to be a wall of text.

Annual report template

It's one thing to be impressed by an annual report—it's another thing to create one. I had my designers put together an annual report template that you can use as a foundation to build your own.

How to design an annual report

If you want to impress your audience with your annual report, you can't cut corners. Here are some tips on how to live up to the above examples.

1. Include all relevant sections

Before worrying about your report's look and feel, confirm it contains the following sections:

Letter from the CEO or other leaders: This is leadership's opportunity to briefly tell stakeholders your organization's story and summarize some key wins, as well as what's to come moving forward.

Table of contents: Annual reports tend to be 30+ pages long, but nobody has time to read an entire report from cover to cover. Make things easier for your readers by including navigation like a menu or a table of contents.

Organizational overview: Hopefully, you spent more than five minutes developing your organization's mission statement. Now's your time to share some highlights about who you are and what you do with your stakeholders.

Financial summary: Every annual report should include the organization's financial statements, breaking down your profits or losses over the year for stakeholders and potential investors.

2. Captivate with the cover or landing page

Your report's cover should tell a visual story that grabs the reader's attention and sets the tone for the rest of the report.

While many of the above reports execute this well, I'd argue Conservation International's cover edges out the others. It ropes readers in with nothing short of a stark warning, then proceeds to lay out what they're doing to protect the Earth (and what still needs to be done).

3. Include data visualizations

Even educated professionals and subject matter experts prefer organized, color-coded charts and graphs to numerical data that reaches the nth row of an Excel spreadsheet. This holds especially true for potential investors who may know very little about your industry.

Of course, it's important to implement data visualizations in moderation and to add context to the ones you include, keeping your report readable and accessible to everyone.

4. Implement interactivity

Have you ever listened to a tour guide talk about an exhibit for 20 minutes without asking the audience any questions? I almost have, but I fell asleep after 15.

When something encourages action, it's more likely to hold a user's attention. Mailchimp's report integrates a moving character, pop-ups, clickable elements, and mini-games to keep the user scrolling and engaged.

5. Bring attention to what's important

An annual report's format and structure should call attention to its key points. Your goal shouldn't be to fill every bit of white space with text. Add a summary page before each section highlighting what's to come. Use large fonts, color, and bolding to call attention to your organization's most impressive stats.

6. Surprise your readers

While stylistic consistency is important, don't be afraid to mix up your formatting frequently throughout your report. A sudden color shift, a fresh new data visualization, or a cover page with a lot of empty space can keep readers engaged and wondering what's to come. Nobody likes a boring report—surprising elements can add some excitement while still telling your brand's story.

Corporation vs. non-profit annual report design

Your annual report design should look different if you're a non-profit than if you're a corporation. Non-profits are heavily mission-focused and should aim to fundraise with their annual report design, perhaps using emotional imagery and inspiring goals. Corporations, on the other hand, should center their reports around their progress toward profit goals and should command the attention of investors.

Regardless of what type of organization you are, remember to leverage your strengths in your report. Do you have a long history like USAA does? A timeline of your progress over the years could be a powerful visual. Do you operate in several countries? Consider adding a map that illustrates your expansiveness.

Streamline reporting with automation

Annual reports pose an opportunity to get creative with how you communicate your brand's identity, but they also serve an important purpose: impressing your audience. As you get started, remember to strike a balance between creativity, content, and clarity.

Related reading:

This article was originally published in September 2022 and has since been updated with contributions from Hachem Ramki. The most recent update was in October 2023.  

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Luke Strauss

Based in sunny San Diego, Luke is a digital marketer with 3+ years of experience developing and executing content strategy for eCommerce startups and SaaS enterprises alike—Airtable, Zoom, and yes, Zapier—to name a few. When he isn’t diving into a keyword research rabbit hole, you can find him at a music festival, thrifting, or spending time with his friends and family.

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Resources for Your Growing Business

How to write an annual report: 4 tips for getting started.

Connecting with shareholders, investors , and the public is key to growing your small business. Your annual report communicates the strength of your business, so your current shareholders can feel confident knowing how your business operates. It’s also a chance to build new relationships with investors and clients by showcasing your management, financial performance, company mission, and goals. 

Learning to write strong annual reports is important for delivering required year-end documents, but it can also help you forge personal connections. Explore the essential components of the annual report, as well as strategies for adding a creative touch that sets your business apart.

Key Takeaways

• An annual report communicates your business affairs to stakeholders and the public
• It typically includes mission goals, financial position, structure, and strategies
• Depending on the size of your business, you may be legally required to provide an annual report
• A good annual report can also be used as a marketing tool
• Aim to create an annual report that’s clear, honest, and engaging

What this article covers:

What Is an Annual Report?

What to include in an annual report, how do you write a good annual report, why is an annual report important.

• Frequently Asked Questions

To write an annual report, the business operations and the financial position are listed, summarized, and recorded. The annual report is a financial document businesses provide to shareholders, potential investors, and analysts. It is the best source of information about the business performance and financial well-being of a business.

Publicly traded companies are required to file annual reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission. However, small businesses and non-profit organizations also prepare yearly reports to connect with customers and provide information about yearly operations, past performance, and future goals.

The annual report is an integral part of corporate reporting. Since the annual reports are based on specific legal requirements , the items included in the report vary.

Most annual reports provide a fundamental overview of the business over the past year. The sections typically included in an annual report are an opening letter from the chairman, a business profile, an analysis by management, and financial data.

Chairman’s Letter

Annual reports usually start with an introduction and a letter from the company’s chairman, primary owner, or CEO to the shareholders providing a snapshot of the significant developments in the past financial year, company initiatives, and a brief summary of the financials. Key elements included in this section are the challenges that the business faced, its successes, and insight into the growth of the company.

A table of contents follows the section.

Business Profile

This section includes the vision and mission statement of the company, details of directors, officers, and registered and corporate office, investor profile, the products or services that are the main source of revenue for the business, competitor profile, and risk factors of the business.

Management Discussion and Analysis

The section provides an overview of the business performance over the past three years and discusses profit margins, sales, and income

If the business has launched a new product or service or there are drastic shifts in sales and marketing efforts, this section should include them. The other topics of discussion include new hires, business acquisitions, and other information that the management thinks would benefit the stakeholders.

Financial Statements

The financial statements are the most important part of the annual report that allows current and future investors, shareholders, employees, and other business stakeholders to determine how well the company has performed in the past, its ability to pay off its debts, its cash flow, and its plans for growth. The statements that are included are:

• Balance sheet
• Cash flow statement
• Income statement
• Statement to shareholders

These statements show whether the company has made a profit or loss in the past year, how much earnings it has retained, and the proportion of revenues to operational expenses the previous year. Apart from the financial statements, information about the market price of shares of the company and the dividends paid have to be provided.

Looking for an easier way to organize your accounts? FreshBooks’ bookkeeping software lets you manage your own bookkeeping with easy filing methods and specialist support. Click here to get started.

Other elements included in the year-end report are:

• Notes to accounts with details about the accounting policies
• Comments by auditors on the financials of the company.
• Disclaimers about forecasted income and expenses
• Stories, infographics, and photographs

Annual reports are important elements of a brand’s transparency and accountability. However, rather than writing a ponderous document that only a few can understand, businesses are creating annual reports that speak to a broad group of people.

These reports communicate the values and goals of the company’s mission and brand. Producing a highly visual and narrative-driven interactive annual report can help businesses connect with shareholders, investors, and customers. Aim to include visual elements throughout the entire report to keep the document engaging.

Determine the Key Message

Annual reports are a perfect opportunity to highlight your accomplishments and the impact of these accomplishments. The investors and employees want to know what you did and why you did it. By connecting your business activities and your accomplishments to the final goals and mission statement, businesses can build trust and foster long-lasting connections.

Finalize Structure and Content

One of the most difficult parts of writing an annual report is deciding what to include and leave out. It’s important to map out the report’s content and structure.

Apart from the basic elements such as the introduction, chairman’s letter, business profile, and financial statement, the annual report should have a storyline that defines the report’s overall structure and shapes the content around a narrative thread. This makes identifying and cutting out information that does not actively move the story forward easier.

Use clear, precise, and unambiguous writing. Maintain a professional and unbiased position throughout the document. The content of the annual report should be transparent and honest. Don’t inflate accomplishments or disguise the losses that you faced.

Make writing your annual report easier by keeping clear and detailed records as you go. FreshBooks’ accounting templates help you organize your expenses, income, and receipts so you’ve got everything ready for the end of the year. Click here to start your free trial and learn how FreshBooks can help make accounting easy.

Use Compelling Design

A well-designed, engaging, professional report can be used as a marketing tool by a business. Ideally, readers should be able to scan through the document and get the relevant information they need. Here are some pointers for a good annual report design:

• Use headings and subheadings
• Devote space to photographs, infographics, and other compelling visual elements
• Keep the text short and simple
• Use a bold and complimentary color scheme and layout techniques that are in sync with your brand
• Emphasize key areas with colored text boxes, quotes, and captions

Plan in Advance

Creating an annual report is a long-term process that requires an organized system for recording and tracking data, media clipping, photographs, and a list of business achievements. While a number of companies create the annual reports in-house, others may hire a design firm to compile, proofread and finalize the document.

Ready to create a clear and compelling digital annual report? FreshBooks’ reports feature lets you explore report templates, performance tools, and accounting details so you can write your reports in-house. Try it free to begin your annual report today.

Both public and private companies use annual reports to provide important business and financial information to customers, investors, employees, and the media. Here are some reasons why writing annual reports is necessary for businesses:

• Provides an opportunity to highlight a company’s key achievements, expectations for the coming year, and overall goals and objectives
• Gives information on the company’s financial position
• Introduce you’re the key members of the business to stakeholders and the general public
• Tells shareholders and employees the company’s strategy for growth in the coming year
• Useful as a decision-making tool for managers

The annual reports keep your critical business information up to date. A failure by public companies to update the investors and the state might result in late fees or even the dissolution of your company.

Writing an annual report is essential for communicating your business position to shareholders, investors, and the public. Depending on the size of your company, you may also be legally required to produce annual reports for the Securities and Exchange Commission. 

Your annual report should include four main components: the chairman’s letter, a profile of your business, an analysis of your management strategies, and your financial statements. Adding creative elements like graphic design and a narrative can also help your annual report double as a marketing tool. Learning to create a strong annual report is essential for guiding management decisions in your company and connecting to those who support and grow your business.

FAQs on How to Write an Annual Report

How do you write an annual report for a small business.

Writing the annual report for a small business follows a similar process as writing for a large company – you should include a chairman’s letter, business profile, management analysis, and financial statements. However, since you’re writing for a smaller business, you also have more flexibility to be creative. You can tailor your report to shareholders or make it a public-oriented document that you can use to market your small business.

Who Prepares the Annual Report?

Companies may have their own in-house writing and design team, or they may choose to hire an outside firm to prepare their report. Teams usually include accounting, writing, and graphic design professionals. 

Which Things Should be Avoided while Writing a Report?

Avoid leaving your annual report to the last minute, trying to mask challenges your business has faced, or overloading the report with details and jargon. The aim is to be clear in your communication – be upfront about both your successes and losses, and write with accessible language that’s understandable to all your readers.

What are the 5 Basic Structures of a Report?

A good report can be structured in a simple 5-part setup to showcase your company’s performance. These sections are:

1. Introduction

3. Comments and disclaimers

4. Conclusion

5. References 

You’ll start with a brief overview, then provide the body of information. Comments and disclaimers should explain any claims or facts, then summarize your information in the conclusion and cite any external references.

What are the 4 components of an annual report?

There are 4 key components to include when writing an annual report:

    1. Chairman’s letter

    2. Business profile

    3. Management analysis

    4. Financial statements

You can also include creative elements like stories, infographics, and photographs to make your report more visually engaging to your target audience.

Kristen Slavin, CPA

About the author

Kristen Slavin is a CPA with 16 years of experience, specializing in accounting, bookkeeping, and tax services for small businesses. A member of the CPA Association of BC, she also holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Simon Fraser University. In her spare time, Kristen enjoys camping, hiking, and road tripping with her husband and two children. In 2022 Kristen founded K10 Accounting. The firm offers bookkeeping and accounting services for business and personal needs, as well as ERP consulting and audit assistance.

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How To Write An Annual Report

Updated June 24, 2024 by Xtensio

Presenting a well-designed, comprehensive annual report is more important than ever. Corporations, small businesses, and nonprofits use the digital annual report template to give shareholders and other key stakeholders information about the organization’s activities and financial performance in the previous year. It is a comprehensive overview of the organization’s mission, year-end highlights, projects, financial information, and industry highlights.

Use this step-by-step guide to create your annual reports, easily. This guide will highlight the key aspects of a modern annual report template, from structuring your content to using compelling visuals. Let’s learn how to create a meaningful and impactful financial report that drives stability, and commitment to stakeholders.

Follow along with our FREE End of Year Report template .

Xtensio is your team space for beautiful living documents . Create , manage and share business collateral, easily.

Table of Contents

Your guide to creating a branded annual report for your organization.

Annual reports are a crucial part of your business and its yearly operations. The annual report is a financial document that businesses provide to shareholders, potential investors, employees and analysts as a source of information about the past year’s performance and financial well-being. By effectively conveying your organization’s performance, achievements, and future goals, a good annual report can strengthen relationships with investors, employees, and customers.

Generally, the first half of an annual report is devoted to company information, industry trends, and other important business news, while the second half usually contains financial data. Sometimes companies are writing annual reports to use them as a marketing tool or a reminder to shareholders of their business achievements.

A creative annual report template will allow you to:

• Provide investors and shareholders with a thoughtful and visually appealing annual report design to share information on key milestones, mission statements, company’s financial status, and business performance.
• Highlight your company’s key achievements and goals for the coming year.
• Introduce key team members who joined during the previous year.

The annual reporting process should include members of all the departments within your company to get a full view of your organization’s financials and cash flow. Loop your team in to edit. Share the link so your managers and key external stakeholders are always updated.

It’s important to select the right report template as there are a number of annual reports online that you can edit or use. Let’s see what a strong annual report should contain!

Create your annual report header and table of contents

Introduce your annual report with your company or your client’s company name and logo, add the year you’re reporting for, and update the folio color scheme and background to match your company branding. You can also include an introductory quote or notable figure that has fueled your year.

Your creative annual report will provide a fundamental overview of the business for the previous year. Typically, the annual report contains categories such as a letter from the company CEO, data regarding the business’s finances and information about business activities. Use the table of contents to outline what the report will cover.

Quick Tip:  Once you set up your header section, you can  save a custom template  to easily repurpose for your ongoing annual reports.

Introduce your report with a message from the CEO

This is your cover page. Talk about your company’s mission and vision. How would you describe your company as a whole? What were the major goals for the previous year? How about your vision looking towards the future?

Some things to include in the CEO message:

• Talk about the history. Talk about how the company began. What was the inspiration behind the company? Were there significant figures or people that were involved in starting the business together? How has it progressed into what it is today? Give a general overview of the company.
• Who is your company? Talk about what type of people you guys are. How would you describe your company as a whole? Are you a team of innovators, curious thinkers, and generalists?
• Explain yearly targets. What were the major goals? Did your team reach these goals, or did the strategy change? Maybe you had specific growth goals that shifted as marketing and sales strategies come together.
• Describe your company’s future. Talk about where the company wants to be today and tomorrow. Think about the major goals that your company is determined to reach and what type of impact it is looking to make.

Highlight year-end achievements

Detail key business growth using numbers, clients’ names, partnerships, etc.

• Yearly growth: What major sales did your team make this year? Highlight key business growth using numbers, clients’ names, partnerships, etc.
• New products: Did you introduce new products or services this year? Showcase what your team accomplished this year in terms of launching new products and services.
• Marketing initiatives: Here’s your chance to show stakeholders what you’ve done to attract new customers. Did you start a monthly webinar series, or launch a new workshop or campaign?
• Company accomplishments: Give an overview of any awards, accomplishments, or major lists you were included in this year. Were you ranked as the top place to work? Do you have high customer satisfaction?

Detail key financial data

This is what your shareholders really care about in the annual report. Showcasing your company’s financial statements allows current and future investors, shareholders, employees, and other business stakeholders to determine how well the company has performed in the past, its ability to pay off debts, and its plans for growth. You could include financial statements such as:

• Revenue growth
• Balance sheet
• Cash flow statement
• Income statement & profit
• Customer growth statement

Quick Tip: With Xtensio’s pie/donut chart, you can enter data points and easily switch between bar and donut graphs to visualize the data however works best for your specific purpose.

Create an overview of your market & industry

Create an overview of where your market stands by outlining a few of your competitors. Where does the market stand? What did your competitors do well last year? Where did they fall short?

Use the competitive analysis template to do a deep dive into your competition.

Introduce your leadership team

Putting a face to your company is important, especially if you’re using your annual reports as a marketing initiative to gain new interest from investors. Add a high-quality cover photo for each team member and describe how each team member plans to help reach your company vision.

• What is their background?
• How did they come to start or join this company?
• What are they responsible for?

Highlight key projects and say thank you

Give your investors more to explore what your company has been up to over the past year. Include links to case studies or major projects that align with your growth goals. Describe what you achieved in each project and how it highlights your yearly goals.

And finally, close the report by giving credit to employees, partners, clients, and investors. Tell them how much their support and dedication have helped your company reach this year’s goals

Share your annual report as a link, monitor & evaluate

When you’ve finished creating your annual report with Xtensio’s editor, you can send the live link to your folio to share it as a responsive webpage (and add password protection). The annual report template is adaptable just like other Xtensio tools , it can and should be repurposed, revisited, and revised regularly throughout the year – we recommend quarterly.

What Types of Annual Report Templates Does Xtensio Have?

With Xtensio’s easy to use and flexible editor, you can customize your entire report to meet most annual reports requirements! Not a small business or enterprise? You can also create these creative annual reports;

• Nonprofit annual report template
• Green annual report template
• Church annual report template

Design, manage and share beautiful living documents… easily, together. Explore Xtensio

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• Customize to match your branding.
• Share with a link, present, embed or download.

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How to Create a Standout Nonprofit Annual Report + Template

For nonprofits like yours, a thoughtfully written and well-designed annual report can be an invaluable fundraising tool. It can be used to cultivate new relationships with donors, sponsors, volunteers, and other community members. Plus, it helps recognize and  retain  those who have helped you make progress toward your goals over the past year.

With so much at stake, it’s critical to take the creation of your annual report seriously and seek guidance on how to make it a useful resource for your organization’s community. To help you get started, this guide will cover all you need to know about nonprofit annual reports, including:

What is a nonprofit annual report?

Nonprofit annual report template & elements to include, choosing a format for your annual report, nonprofit annual report best practices, our favorite nonprofit annual report examples.

These tips and strategies will put you well on your way to creating a digestible, engaging annual report that inspires your audience to continue supporting your organization’s work. Let’s dive in!

An annual report is a document designed to highlight your nonprofit’s major accomplishments, build confidence in your organization, inspire readers to support your mission, and thank the donors and volunteers who make your work possible. 

Nonprofits typically compile and release these reports every year, although they aren’t always mandatory. On a national level, the only document you’re required to file to maintain your organization’s 501(c)(3) status is an annual tax return via  IRS Form 990 . However, some state governments request a copy of nonprofits’ annual reports to maintain their charitable solicitation registration in that state, so make sure to stay up-to-date on  your state’s filing requirements .

Benefits of Creating an Annual Report

Even if your nonprofit isn’t required to file its annual report with your state, there are advantages to compiling one.  For most nonprofits, the ultimate goal—and the ultimate benefit—of their annual report is simple: retaining current supporters and acquiring new ones.

To accomplish this goal, your annual report must fulfill several smaller purposes, each of which benefits your organization’s long-term health:

• Educate your audience about your mission.
• Demonstrate the impact your organization has made.
• Build trust through financial transparency.
• Show appreciation for your current supporters.

Additionally, although annual reports reflect on the past year, they can also establish a framework for your nonprofit to move forward and achieve more in the year to come!

Annual Reports & Prospect Research

It’s common for nonprofits to include the names of their major donors and the projects they contributed to somewhere in their annual reports. This information can help feed charitable giving databases that you can use for prospect research.  DonorSearch , for example, culls hundreds of annual reports to collect data on major donors’ giving history.

While your annual report can cultivate better relationships with existing donors and encourage others to support your cause, you can also use the information from other nonprofit reports to fuel your prospect research. Prospect research professionals can find a wealth of ideal prospects for your nonprofit just by looking at the annual reports of similar organizations. 

Let’s say that your nonprofit works to reduce food insecurity for children in your area. If a local hospital highlighted a major donor in their annual report who contributed to the hospital’s pediatric intensive care unit, your organization might want to target that person as a potential major donor, since you can infer that they’re likely interested in helping children.

If you’re creating your nonprofit’s first-ever annual report or looking to switch up your format, it can be useful to work off of a template. The template below is a representation of a page of your annual report or a shortened digital version you can deliver via email. The use of graphics and images provides a suggestion for how to effectively divide up the space and produce a more visually appealing layout:

This template includes the four most essential elements of a nonprofit annual report, which we’ll discuss in more detail in the following sections.

1. Clear Mission Statement

Dedicated, long-time supporters and individuals who are brand new to your organization’s community will both read your annual report. Each of these groups of readers should be confident in their understanding of your organization’s mission before diving into the data, which is why you should write out your mission statement at the beginning of the report.

Keep your mission statement to one or two sentences to help it stick in readers’ minds, and ensure it includes the most important details about why your organization does what it does every day. One nonprofit that does this particularly well is the  American Red Cross , whose mission statement reads, “The American Red Cross prevents and alleviates human suffering in the face of emergencies by mobilizing the power of volunteers and the generosity of donors.”

You can also include your vision statement alongside your mission statement. Your vision statement is a sentence that describes the future state your nonprofit is working toward—i.e., what you hope the world will look like when your mission is accomplished.

2. Major Achievements From the Past Year

The majority of your annual report should focus on the activities and projects your organization completed over the past year, from hosting fundraising events to coordinating volunteer efforts to delivering services in your community. Reflect on your organization’s audience and what would be most interesting to them, but make sure to share your biggest accomplishments!

First, use your  fundraising tools  to break down your achievements into statistics your readers can easily understand. You might report the total amount your donors gave, the number of hours your volunteers worked, or how many social media followers you gained. Then, format that data using graphs and visualizations to make it easier for readers to understand, and supplement the numbers with photos and true stories about your work to further emphasize your impact.

3. Financial Information

It’s no secret that your donors want to know how your nonprofit is using their money to further your mission. Being honest and transparent about your spending and fundraising builds trust with your existing supporters. Plus, it shows potential donors that your nonprofit can manage funds responsibly and effectively, which can make them more likely to give.

However, some high-impact donors who are very financially literate will want to see detailed records of your nonprofit’s financial status, while others would prefer an easy-to-follow, summarized version of the data. To accommodate both of these preferences, include graphical representations of key financial information in the body of your annual report, then attach detailed  financial statements  as appendices for donors who want to learn more.

4. List of Major Contributions

In addition to showcasing your nonprofit’s success, your annual report is also about thanking those who helped you achieve those goals. The best way to do this is by listing out and thanking your  major donors , board members, and organizational leadership.

Additionally, include a general statement of thanks to your volunteers and donors at all levels. Although you should have a more personalized thank-you cadence for each supporter when they contribute, a general shoutout will make them feel appreciated and seen by your organization!

Once you add each of the elements listed above to your annual report, you’ll need to decide how to present the information to your nonprofit’s community. While most organizations publicize their annual reports on a dedicated page of their websites, how you further publicize it will depend on your audience’s preferences.

A combination of hard-copy and digital annual report materials will generally reach the widest audience. Here are some popular formats in each category to consider:

Hard Copy Annual Reports

• Traditional bound book:  These can be anywhere from a few to 100 pages long and are great for compiling a large amount of information in a substantial, tangible way. No matter how long your report is, make sure to keep the content engaging and break up the text with plenty of visuals.
• Postcard:  If you’d like to maximize digestibility, postcards are a good choice. With well-designed infographics, pictures, and statistics, supporters can very quickly understand how your organization did last year. Because of space limitations, you’ll have to sacrifice some copy, so if you want to tell detailed stories or include a long list of donors, choose a longer-form option.
• Brochure:  Still considered a quick read, brochures are a middle ground between a postcard and a book. The folds in a brochure create natural divides to easily section your information and design.

Digital Annual Reports

• PDF:  If you want the space that a book offers but don’t want to spend the money or use tons of paper to print it, PDFs are a good solution. You can make them as long or short as you like, embed other digital content like links, videos, and PowerPoint presentations, and easily upload them to your website or attach them to an email.
• Video:  Video annual reports show, rather than tell, your audience what your organization has accomplished. Make sure your final video comes across as professional in its editing and  production , and recruit outside help if necessary.
• Interactive website:  Consider building a webpage or mini-site that houses an interactive version of your annual report. Your audience could click through a photo gallery, expand graphs for a more detailed view, and play multiple short videos, making for an immersive experience.

If you use multiple formats, think about who the primary audience is for each type. Newer, lower-level supporters will likely be happy with condensed versions of your annual report like videos or postcards, while important stakeholders will want to see more comprehensive information in a book or PDF.

Now that you know what to include in your annual report and your options for formatting it, you’re likely ready to dive into creating your own. As you compile the report, keep these six best practices in mind.

1. Start With a Clear Plan

The first step for every successful project at your nonprofit is creating a plan, and your annual report is no exception. You’ll likely need the help of multiple team members or departments to assemble all of the information, as well as compile and design the document. 

First, determine your report’s audience. This will likely include your current supporters as well as prospective donors,  corporate sponsors , and grantmaking foundations. If you have to file your annual report with your state government, they’re also part of your audience.

Then, consider your purpose and strategy. At its core, your annual report should persuade your audience to support your cause. However, you might have smaller objectives, such as highlighting a new project or attracting more local sponsors, that align with your nonprofit’s strategic plan. Because it’s difficult to cover everything your organization has done in a year in a single document,  focus your report on three to five core themes that point readers back to your objectives.

Finally, turn to the action aspect of your plan. This part of your strategy may include: 

• Delegating responsibilities and creating timelines for team members.
• Interviewing supporters, leaders, and beneficiaries.
• Compiling and formatting financial data.
• Collecting  key metrics  from fundraising campaigns.

When your nonprofit has a clear plan, the process of creating your report will go more smoothly, and the end result will be more impactful.

2. Highlight Your Supporters

As we’ve mentioned before, your annual report is a chance to showcase the good your nonprofit has done. That being said, it’s easy for nonprofits to simply celebrate  their  accomplishments and forget to mention the support that made them possible.

Rather than focusing solely on your achievements, highlight how different projects and programs were realized because of your supporters’ contributions.  Every form of support your organization received was essential to your success, so thank them for their monetary gifts, in-kind donations, volunteer time, event participation, advocacy for your cause, and more.

By showing donors and volunteers that your accomplishments were possible because of their support, they’ll know that you’re aware of everything they do. Plus, it demonstrates to potential donors that your nonprofit is built on the support of passionate people and encourages them to join that community.

3. Recognize High-Impact Contributors

In addition to discussing your supporters’ accomplishments generally, set aside space in your annual report to draw extra attention to the supporters who went above and beyond for your cause. Besides the customary list of major donors and the initiatives they supported, consider including stories about some of these donors or other individuals who have been especially impactful to your cause, such as a loyal volunteer or a long-serving board member.

High-impact supporters like this deserve much more recognition than a simple, generic thank-you message, and your annual report is a great place to publicly show your gratitude. When donors feel appreciated and valued in this way, they’re more likely to continue engaging with your nonprofit long-term.

4. Engage Readers With Compelling Visuals

Compiling all of your efforts and data from the past year and condensing them into a single document provides a lot of information for current and prospective supporters to read! This is where strategically placed visuals come in.

Along with capturing and keeping readers’ attention, annual report visuals have many benefits, such as:

• Breaking up blocks of text to make the report more skimmable.
• Transforming complex data into easy-to-understand graphs.
• Translating your mission statement into a tangible need that your audience can develop a passion for.

Incorporate a combination of graphical data visualizations and relevant photos into your report, and make sure to get subjects’ consent if the pictures include any people. For online reports, make some of your visuals interactive for increased engagement.

5. Be Truthful & Transparent

While your annual report is primarily about highlighting your success, it’s important to be honest about your organization’s progress. Sometimes your projects won’t go as planned—and that’s okay! 

By briefly mentioning your missteps and how you plan to correct the issue in the future, you’ll show your audience that you’re proactive in solving problems.  Make sure to address:

• The causes of your setbacks (if you know what they are).
• The changes you plan to make in the future based on the information you currently have.
• How you’ll gather and incorporate feedback from your supporters as you address these issues.

Touching on setbacks will paint a full picture of the previous year’s progress and demonstrate to donors that despite your challenges, you were still able to make significant strides in furthering your mission.

6. Inspire Your Audience to Take Action

Once you’ve effectively conveyed your mission and achievements in your annual report, many readers might be wondering, “What’s next?”

Dedicate space in your annual report to let readers know how they can support your cause. At minimum, include a link or QR code to your online donation page depending on what format you choose. You might also direct readers to other ways they can get involved, such as:

• Signing up to volunteer
• Registering for the first fundraising event of the new year
• Taking advantage of  corporate philanthropy programs  like employer matching gifts or volunteer grants

Additionally, mention other places where readers can learn more. Include your organization’s website URL, phone number, mailing and email addresses, and social media handles so your audience can stay in touch with you.

To show you these strategies in practice, we’ve compiled a list of our top five nonprofit annual reports. If you still aren’t sure where to start with creating your organization’s annual report, these examples might just spark some inspiration!

The Nature Conservancy

The Nature Conservancy  (TNC) describes itself as “a global environmental nonprofit working to create a world where people and nature can thrive.” For their 2022 annual report, they chose two eco-friendly formats: an interactive website and a PDF that their international community of readers can download in English, Spanish, or Mandarin.

Some highlights of TNC’s report include:

• A concise explanation of their “2030 Goals” strategic plan with accompanying graphics.
• Articles on each of their key projects that highlight their donors and partners, along with relevant photos and opportunities to learn more.
• Multiple formats for their financial data, including a summary bar graph, a letter from the CFO, and a detailed accounting report.

Read The Nature Conservancy’s full annual report .

National FFA Organization

The  National FFA Organization  (FFA stands for Future Farmers of America) is “the premier youth organization preparing members for leadership and careers in the science, business and technology of agriculture.” FFA compiles a digital annual report that can be viewed as a downloadable PDF or on a dedicated mini-site.

Some highlights of FFA’s 2022 annual report include:

• An organized three-part structure based on the pillars of the nonprofit’s 2022-2025 strategic plan: Evolve, Engage, and Empower.
• A timeline highlighting the most important activity or achievement of each month.
• Branded graphics that compile and summarize statistics about all of the nearly 9,000 local FFA chapters.

Read the National FFA Organization’s full annual report.

World Vision International

World Vision International  (WVI) is a faith-based nonprofit organization that works to respond to poverty, provide emergency relief, and promote social justice around the world. Its eye-catching 2022 annual report is available as a downloadable PDF on their website.

Some highlights of WVI’s annual report include:

• Large photos of smiling beneficiaries—several of which are accompanied by testimonials—to put a face to the impact data featured.
• A strong emphasis on the impact of supporters’ participation in the child sponsorship program.
• Graphs showing the organization’s increase in total revenue over the past six years and a detailed but easily readable summary of annual expenditures.

Read World Vision International’s full annual report .

Smithsonian Institution

The Smithsonian Institution’s  mission is to promote “the increase and diffusion of knowledge,” which it does through the 21 museums and one zoo under its control. Because there are so many cultural organizations within this one nonprofit, it produces an extremely comprehensive annual report book each year.

Some highlights of this organization’s 2022 annual report include:

• The statistics in the first spread of the book that highlight the audience’s impact right off the bat.
• First-person perspectives from staff members at many of the Smithsonian’s cultural organizations.
• A thorough and well-organized list of corporate sponsors and major donors.

Read the Smithsonian Institution’s full annual report .

Boston Children’s Hospital

Some large nonprofits, such as higher education or healthcare organizations, may benefit from producing multiple annual reports each year that each focus on one of their areas of work.  Boston Children’s Hospital , one of the largest pediatric hospitals in the United States, creates separate reports for each of its individual programs to better highlight the progress and supporters of each one. A few examples include:

• Neighborhood Partnerships
• Family Advisory Council
• Office of Community Health

Not only do all of these reports include high-quality data presentations and storytelling, but their visual design appeals to each program’s audience. For example, the Office of Community Health uses a dark color scheme when discussing serious health data, while the bright colors in the Neighborhood Partnerships report give it a welcoming feel. However, all of the reports still feature the Boston Children’s Hospital logo to unify them.

Final Thoughts

An annual report is an effective tool for closing out your nonprofit’s year. It empowers you to highlight your achievements and recognize everyone who has helped you along the way. With the tips and strategies in this guide, you can create an effective annual report that donors look forward to receiving every year.

Remember that annual reports from other nonprofits also provide value to your work. The information within those reports can offer deeper insights that you can use to identify and build relationships with prospective donors.

To learn more about boosting your nonprofit’s fundraising performance, check out these resources:

• Major Gifts: A Guide to Securing Large Donations . Dive deeper into the process of securing major gifts from the donors you’ll feature in the list of major contributors in your annual report.
• Your Annual Fund: A Definitive Guide to Boost Your Strategy . Your nonprofit’s annual fund provides a financial foundation for all of the initiatives you report each year. Discover the best strategies to fill this fund.
• Fundraising Intelligence: Using AI to Enhance Philanthropy . Explore how to leverage AI-powered tools to fundraise and report on your organization’s activities more intelligently.

Introducing Enhanced CORE

Introducing Enhanced CORE by DonorSearch — your organization’s gateway to AI. Our AI-powered fundraising platform is the perfect entry point for organizations looking to harness the power of predictive artificial intelligence. Join us in embracing the future of fundraising with confidence.

9 Great Annual Report Examples (And Why They're Great)

Josh breland.

After using Anedot:

Table of contents, 1. focus on the family, 2. navy seal foundation, 3. charity water, 4. samaritan's purse, 5. wounded warrior project, 6. midwest food bank, 7. feeding america, 8. compassion international, 9. ducks unlimited.

Every year, your nonprofit has the opportunity to inform, celebrate, and motivate your community of supporters with a great annual report.

Sadly, many nonprofits struggle to produce an annual report that communicates the hard work and impact of the past year.

Below are 9 annual report examples that will inspire and guide you to your best annual report ever.

9 Annual Report Examples

View Annual Report

Why this nonprofit annual report is great:

They clearly communicate their mission.

They communicate impact with detailed numbers.

They are transparent with their budgeting and resourcing.

They use social proof (testimonials of impact).

They use high quality people-centered images throughout.

They include partnerships (logos).

They recognize their top supporters.

They keep the report brief (Approx. 5-10 minute read time).

They use limited copy per page (very readable).

They use the power of storytelling to draw in the reader.

→ Learn about the best software for nonprofits in 2021

They end with a motivating call to action.

→ Learn how to collect cash donations at a food bank !

They celebrate their volunteers.

They include partnership (logos).

They include partnerships.

They recognize their top volunteers.

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How to Listen and Capture Powerful Stories to Grow Your Nonprofit

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Church giving checklist (best practices to grow church giving).

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Blog Business 90+ Annual Report Design Templates, Inspirational Examples & Design Tips [2024]

90+ Annual Report Design Templates, Inspirational Examples & Design Tips [2024]

Written by: Sara McGuire Jan 15, 2024

Annual reports may sound boring, but they don’t have to be. With an appealing design, annual reports can be a powerful promotional tool by drumming up enthusiasm for your company or organization./

You don’t need to be a graphic designer to create a compelling annual report design that will impress your stakeholders. All it takes is the right report maker tools — and the right annual report design templates.

Keep reading for our 55+ top annual report templates and examples (free and paid included), plus some design secrets you can apply right away.

Click to jump ahead:

Company annual report example [with templates], corporate annual report design templates, small business annual report design templates, nonprofit annual report design templates.

• Marketing annual report design templates
• HR annual report design templates

Government annual report design templates

• Actual annual report design examples
• Annual report design takeaways

FAQs about annual report design

Short on time? Here’s our video cheat sheet on how to create an annual report:

Annual reports serve as comprehensive snapshots of a company’s performance, highlighting its achievements, challenges, and future prospects.

Crafting a compelling annual report goes beyond mere financial statements; it is an opportunity to narrate the company’s journey and present a transparent view of its operations to stakeholders.

When creating your company annual report, utilize visually appealing graphs, charts and infographics to present complex financial data in a digestible format. By combining data-driven visuals with concise explanations, you can effectively communicate the company’s financial performance and growth trends.

Consider including testimonials from satisfied customers, partners and employees to provide a human touch to the annual report. Sharing real-life experiences and success stories can reinforce the company’s credibility and showcase its positive impact on various stakeholders.

Don’t forget to articulate the company’s future vision and growth strategies, outlining the roadmap for continued success and expansion. Emphasize the company’s goals, targets and innovative approaches that will drive future growth.

Corporate annual report cover design

What overarching theme would you use to describe the past year?

When creating an annual report cover page, ensure that it reflects the theme. Right off the bat, readers will get a sense of the story you’re about to tell.

The cover page design will prime them for the rest of the information to come.

You should also make sure your annual report cover page reflects your business brand. For example, this free annual report template uses different icons of people and pets as it’s for an animal rescue organization:

Pro-Tip:   Venngage’s Brand Kit feature makes it easy to import your logo, brand colors, and fonts with a single click! Upgrade to Business to test it out.

Geometric annual finance report design

You don’t need to exclusively rely on images to set a visual tone, however. You can also use color!

In the free annual report example below, a vibrant color scheme is introduced on the cover page. Each of the following pages then features a single color from the original palette, maintaining a cohesive look unexpectedly.

Here’s another good example of a creative annual report template:

Fresh and creative annual report design templates stand out from traditional alternatives.

Modern financial report design

The budget season can be a confusing time for businesses. How much has been spent in the past year? How much should one predict for the upcoming year?

A modern annual report, like this example, simplifies the process for the finance department. By using pie charts  and  bar charts , the report shares a wealth of information at a glance.

For financial projections for the following year, you can use this free annual report template:

Your annual financial reports don’t have to be one pagers like the report infographics above. They can stretch into two or more pages like this financial statement analysis template — with the first page being the cover page, perfect if you want to export and use it in a presentation:

Notice we said you could use this in a presentation? With a Venngage Business plan, you can download your annual reports in PPTX format — and use them with your desired presentation platforms like PowerPoint or Google Slides.

Pro tip:  Use the real-time collaboration  feature to make your annual report with teammates. Get instant feedback and share comments in real time. Learn more about how to use the feature here.

Bright corporate annual report design

You don’t have to use neutral colors or corporate blue just because everyone else is. Show how unique your business is by using a bright, bold color scheme in your annual report.

Annual report design templates, like this example, make no apologies for their bright colors.

A financial report, like this template, would be a great fit for a bright report design. Though packed with numbers, the clean layout makes it easy to read and understand.

Detailed highlights annual report design

You may have sections that include a lot of text or a lot of data visualizations . That’s okay as long you organize it well.

This detailed highlights annual report example uses a portrait layout and dynamic text formats for all the content.

The sections in these  annual report templates  consist of multiple data points but remain easy to read.

Colorful year-in-review report design

Many companies hold a year-end meeting to go over key metrics, achievements, and goals. Create a slick  presentation  of an annual report infographic that will hold your team’s attention.

Bright colors, gradients, bold  fonts ,  charts , and  images  are all elements of a successful  presentation design  or data infographic :

Simple year in review annual report design

Icons  are the perfect way to visualize ideas and highlight points. You can use icons to emphasize specific points on a chart or to draw attention to important text.

Take a look at how icons are used in creative annual report design templates, like this example:

Annual shareholder business report design

This simple annual report design uses simple icons to differentiate between different types of shareholder returns:

Related :  50+ Business Report Templates Every Business Needs

Financial budgeting annual report infographic design

Flow charts are perfect for visualizing processes, timelines , and connections between information. Simple flow charts can be used in a presentation slide, while more complex ones can take up one (or even several!) pages.

Our flowchart maker can help get you started with creating handy flowcharts. 

Take this report template that uses icons to make the points in the flow chart more memorable:

Corporate company report infographic design

If your charts require some added context, be sure to include a brief description.

For example, take this report presentation slide that uses a description box with the same blue as the bars on the chart to indicate that the audience should read the paragraph to fully understand the chart:

Marketing analysis and business strategy report template

Pair dark colors with bright colors for a bold design. Not only do contrasting colors look good, but they can also help you highlight important information.

For example, showing an important statistic in a bolder font than the other text on the page will help it to immediately jump out at readers.

Take a look at how contrasting dark shades and light shades are used in this free annual report template:

Basic company growth infographic report design

Part of creating an effective slide for your simple  annual report presentation is finding the right balance between text and imagery.

Drawing an invisible “line” down the middle of your slide is an easy way to guide your design.

Put your chart or photo on one side of the slide and text on the other, and voila:

Quirky illustrated annual report design

Images and icons are perfect for helping to tell the story of your business’ past year. You can use icons to create a quirky graphic illustration!

For example, this report design template uses icons to create a little city scene in the page header:

Infographics are great for turning data into engaging visuals that anyone can understand. Plus, there are a ton of ways that you can integrate them into your reports, especially if you mix them with well-designed icons.

Check out our  beginner’s guide to creating infographics  for more tips.

Bold annual report charts design

Grab readers’ attention with a big, bold header  font . While you will probably want to keep the rest of the text in your report relatively simple, your headers are places where you can get more creative.

Take this simple annual report template that uses a slightly funkier font in its title:

Corporate performance annual report design

Often enough, what an annual report design is missing most is some color.

Pick a bright color. It could be your brand colors  or a color that reflects the theme or “mood” of your annual report. And use that as the page background.

This green annual report template with a green background similarly uses white boxes to help the text stand out from the background:

Pro-Tip:  Use the Venngage chart maker  to create comprehensive charts for your annual report. Import data from an XLSX or CSV file and start editing your chart.

Customer service annual report design

Annual reports have a bunch of different topics to cover. A small thing that you can do to help the reader navigate through the labyrinth of info is to use an intro page or section.

A bit of context will give readers a clearer understanding of what the section covers. It could be as simple as a single sentence, or a short paragraph.

Creative annual report templates, like this example, give you plenty of wiggle room:

Corporate customer activity report design

If you want to separate your page into sections, using colored headers is an easy way to do this. Just draw a block line across the page to help your header pop. You could even color-code your headers to make a simple annual report page more readable.

This report design template uses a simple white background with bold blue headers:

Bold one-pager industry report design

While your full annual report may be pages and pages long, a one-pager that summarizes key information is a great accompaniment to create. Pull the most important or noteworthy information and make that the focus of your one-pager.

You could, for example, choose to hone in on our key metric and visualize it in a chart, like in this free annual report design template:

Retail year-end annual report design

In each section of your annual report, you’re introducing a new topic. To help introduce the new section, use a decorative section header that illustrates the topic of the section.

For example, this free annual report template for a retail business uses images in the headers that reflect key pieces of information from each given section:

Branded year-end annual report design

Since your annual report tells the story of your company, make sure that the design reflects your brand’s personality . That can mean more than just incorporating your brand colors. Use font styles and images that reflect your brand’s personality.

For example, this annual report design has a light and playful look. The style is appropriate for a family-friendly burger joint, with rounded fonts and plenty of icons:

Bring color back into your annual report

In case you hadn’t noticed the recent graphic design trends , but bold colors are making a comeback. This isn’t something only hipsters are using. Massive companies like Salesforce and Zendesk are embracing the trend too.

This annual report design uniquely embraces colors through the use of images and icons. The three main colors (blue, yellow, hot pink) repeat throughout the report design, making it pop:

Vibrant engineering report design

Ditch the dull office color grays for an engineering report that’s bright and attractive. Vibrant colors draw much more attention than something that looks formal and plain.

The key to using vibrant colors is to leverage contrast to make your text pop. You don’t want to lose your content in the bright colors of the background. This vibrant engineering report template uses grey and black backgrounds wherever there is text, to offset the bright teal throughout the design. However, for charts and other data, the vibrant color works just fine.

Business executive report design

When it comes to design, repetitiveness and consistency are two different things.

When your report design is repetitive it means each page or slide looks like the one before. That’s boring . 

When there is design consistency, it means certain design elements appear throughout your report. It provides a sense of order as the content continues to change. That’s fun . 

Take a look at the executive annual report template, for example. Every page looks different and shares distinct information. However, the icon tile pattern appears throughout. It’s a neat design touch that’s engaging and looks professional, without getting boring.

Modern annual report overview infographic design

It can be hard to keep readers engaged in a long, multi-page document like an annual report. But you don’t have to keep it that long — your report can be a one-page infographic too. Just like this template:

Visual infographic annual report design

Use icons and illustrations to draw the readers’ eyes to certain parts of the page. That could mean including an icon in the page header, using a row of icons to divide off a section of the page, or using illustrations to make concepts easier to understand.

This report template incorporates the peach theme into both the visuals and color scheme:

Small business budget report design

If one of the pillars of your business is creativity, reflect that in your annual report design. Play around with unusual page layouts and surprising design elements. Our post on presentation layout ideas should help spark your creativity.

Take this annual report template that follows a zig-zag path and uses circles to present data in a quirky way.

Yearly company performance report design

For a more minimalist annual report design, use a neutral background and use bright accent colors to highlight important information. For example, you could use color to highlight keywords, key data points, and header text.

Take a look at how different shades of red and orange are used in this free year-end report template:

This template also uses colors to create a harmonious design — the colors used in the table coordinate with the ones used in the top photo:

Here we’re going to show you loads of examples for nonprofit annual reports , church annual reports, nonprofit annual report infographics, nonprofit treasurer reports, and more. Let’s dive right in!

Colorful gradient nonprofit annual report design

Your  nonprofit has a compelling story to tell , but overloading your annual report with images can cause it to get lost in the shuffle.

Instead, consider adopting a more minimalistic design approach and letting your text shine.

This nonprofit annual report template below puts the text front and center with bold, modern typography.

A vibrant gradient overlay prevents the design from looking stale, especially when paired with images. The overall effect is fresh and modern.

Illustrative nonprofit annual report design

When designing a nonprofit annual report, be sure to put what matters to your brand front and center.

This example dedicates a whole page to the people it has helped, and how. Plus it makes use of charts to highlight its financial success.

Simple nonprofit annual report design

One of the most essential inclusions in your nonprofit annual report is the impact of your work. Whether your organization is dedicated to helping people, animals, or the environment, look for opportunities to showcase the difference you’ve made over the past year.

You can always use charts and infographics for data visualization , but your annual report will have a bigger emotional impact by featuring the real people or communities behind the statistics.

The nonprofit annual report template below puts a face to the organization by featuring one of the individuals they’ve supported right on the cover page.

Illustrative church annual report design

When you create your church’s annual report design, ditch the business-y look for something fun and playful.

Aim to reflect your community and space. You can do that with the diverse set of icons from our icon library. Illustrated icons of people and buildings add a playful touch to your design. You can also use icons as labels or headings for different sections.

Don’t forget to add charts and graphs where you need them to visualize your data.

Vibrant church annual report design

You can also take a modern design approach with your church’s annual report. Bold color overlays paired with stock photos are a current trend. That simple touch elevates your report design to that of a professional designer.

This church annual report template stands out through the use of color, stock photos throughout, and icons. The use of purple for overlay, headings, and icon colors helps to tie everything into a cohesive design.

Church engagement annual report design

Infographic reports are a great way to summarize your church’s annual report. These types of infographics highlight the most important takeaways about your church’s performance over the year. An infographic report can be sent out to your email list, included in presentations, or even printed out and shared in meetings.

Here’s an easy-to-edit church infographic annual report, pairing icons with financials to make data jump off the page. One quick scan and your readers have a good idea of how productive the past year was.

Modern nonprofit infographic report design

A nonprofit infographic report helps you summarize your nonprofit annual report. You end up with a neat, captivating visual that can be shared with board members, donors, and your social media followers.

To reflect the nonprofit’s entire impact that year, this nonprofit infographic report crunches the numbers and visualizes them.

A great stock photo, high-contrast colors, and a few choice icons help the data jump off the page. Even with a quick scan, readers of the nonprofit infographic report can tell that the past year was a winner.

Nonprofit annual report infographic design

At the heart of every business and organization are the people who built it. Help tell the story of these people by using emotionally evocative photos.

This nonprofit infographic annual report combines the image of a woman holding a child with actual statistics behind their work. A white semi-transparent overlay ensures that both the image and text are visible, while the icons provide visual interest.

Equality nonprofit treasurer report design

Your nonprofit treasurer report design should be anything but boring. You’re sharing important financial information, and want to make sure the information is clear and easy to understand. That’s why the design quality of your treasurer report matters.

A high-quality stock photo makes for a great report cover when it’s the right one. Consider your nonprofit’s mission, and try to tap into the human element, when choosing your cover photo.

This nonprofit treasurer report template uses a photo that shows a sense of togetherness and unity. If your report’s cover photo is generic and unrelated to your organization, it’ll be less likely to engage your audience.

Purple nonprofit treasurer report design

You can think outside of the box, even with your nonprofit treasurer report design. You can use stock photos and color to create something eye-catching and interesting.

This nonprofit treasurer report template uses stock photos throughout the design and applies a purple overlay on each page to pull the design together. This way, while the content, layout, and visuals change, a single color helps unify the design.

Simple nonprofit treasurer report design

If toying around with bold and creative designs is outside of your comfort zone (for now), you have nothing to worry about. You can still come up with impressive designs for your reports.

This simple treasurer report template just uses bold colors for each page and flat icons. It’s straightforward, but still eye-catching. The conservative use of text on each page, along with the large fonts and negative space make the report easy to read.

Simple nonprofit budget report design

Your organization’s operating budget is crucial information. It impacts the entire planning of all your activities for the coming year. So it has to be very clear, simple to understand and accessible to your staff.

You could just share a boring spreadsheet, but that won’t impress anyone. This nonprofit budget report template has an official, on-brand design. It incorporates the organization’s logo, flat colors, and bold fonts for a document that’s super clear. It also highlights important values to make them easier to distinguish from other figures that are listed.

Purple nonprofit annual report design

You don’t have to use super complex data visualizations to make the information engaging. If you’re not a data visualization expert, you run the risk of confusing your readers.

But a simple data visualization can be engaging, and helpful in communicating more clearly , like how this nonprofit template uses half pie charts to show its funding sources and expenses:

Nonprofit impact report design

Make use of contrasting colors and bold text to highlight the impact of your nonprofit organization:

Marketing annual report design templates

Year-end marketing report design.

This annual review design template uses different style charts. Because the colors are repeated, however, the charts look consistent and professional.

For a more in-depth guide to picking the best charts for your data, click here.

Corporate advertising annual report design

If you want to emphasize certain pieces of information or break up an expanse of text on your page, color blocks are an easy fix. Pick a neutral color that will allow text to stand out, like grey or a light shade.

This annual report template uses red and grey color blocks to create various page layouts:

Fun corporate marketing report design

Have fun with your marketing report design.

You can draw creative inspiration from your brand. Consider your brand’s voice or your brand’s visual collateral.

Does your brand use professional stock photos, sophisticated icon art, or playful, illustrated icons? Are the colors in your branded content vibrant, subdued or neutral?

These are all factors that should influence your marketing report design. This corporate marketing report template presents highly relevant information in a way that is aligned with the brand.

Real estate market report design

When you create a detailed, in-depth marketing report , organizing information simply is a challenge. You want to avoid creating a report that is dense and difficult to scan.

This real estate marketing report template is a great example of balancing a lot of content through design. It uses a layout that alternates between text-heavy sections, and sections reserved for data. This helps you create a report that is predictable and manageable for your readers.

Social media marketing report design

In the Venngage editor, you can access massive high-quality stock photo libraries from Pixabay and Unsplash. Whatever you’re looking for, expect to find the perfect stock photo for your design.

Just check out this marketing report template below. This social media marketing report template looks sharp and professional because of the color palette consistency throughout the design – both in the content and the stock photos.

It makes for a very cohesive, finished look that appears less DIY, and more, “professional designer”. Don’t take my word for it, either. Try it out yourself and ask your team what they think of the final product.

Trendy social media campaign report design

This modern annual report template is another great example of choosing a color palette based on your stock photos. The hues of brown and teal tie into the stock photography used in the design.

Plus, since it’s a coffee brand, the warm brown tones make for a very fitting color palette choice.

Dark social media trends report design

Here’s one last, great example of how to use stock photography to inform your design.

This dark social media report template uses a crisp, high-quality photo of a smartphone screen. The title slide doesn’t even use an overlay to subdue existing colors.

The rest of the slide design incorporates black, and other bold colors throughout. This makes for a very commanding, attention-grabbing look. Plus, it’s easier to decide on a color palette once you’ve got the perfect stock photo lined up.

Social media marketing report design

Was your team’s main goal this year to reach for the stars? Did you turn your small team into a village? You can use images in your design to symbolically reflect those themes.

For example, this annual report template uses an engaging cloud background:

To learn more about marketing strategies for nonprofits and setting goals, check out our Complete Nonprofit Marketing Guide .

Digital marketing report design

Typically, you’re trying to pack a lot of information into your annual report. The readability of your annual report will have a lot to do with the design.

Color coding your information is a simple way to offer visual cues for readers to follow. Pick colors that have a logical association with the information.

For example, this annual report template uses colors to represent each social media channel. The colors reflect the brand colors of each social media channel, making the meaning easily recognizable for readers:

SAAS email marketing report design

Even with the right use of colors and icons , your page may feel a little blank. It may seem like it’s missing something because there’s so much space.

In those instances, incorporate a border design to create a sense of movement, dynamism, and texture. You can apply a border through the use of the icon library, or you can choose abstract stock photos to create background borders. That’s exactly what this SAAS email marketing report template does.

HR annual report design templates

Employee progress annual report design.

Bright and vibrant colors add a lot of energy and pizzaz to designs, but on a white background don’t stand out well. Rather than switch your color palette of choice, try a light background color. Not only is it a nice change from traditional black and white reports, your colors easily pop from the page.

This annual review template a variety of colors to distinguish multiple categories for employee evaluation . It also uses handy  pie charts  to visualize key performance metrics.

Year-end human resources report design

Check out this year-end HR report template. The playful icons and tiles are a sharp contrast to the background and grab your attention. The bright accent colors throughout the report design allow individual sections to stand out.

Bright employee annual performance review design

For your employee reviews to be consistent and fair across the board, you need to follow a structure. That’s why it’s a good idea to use an employee review template (check out our blog post with 12 performance review examples for ideas).

A simple table layout works well for this. This annual performance review template below, for example, has a clean and clutter-free design, with clearly labeled spaces to provide feedback to employees.

You can even color-code the sections to make them easier to read and understand. For example, look at this simple employee review template:

Modern national agency annual report design

Consistent branding across all of your government communications is important.

One way that you can ensure this is by using not only your company colors but also colors that communicate the “feel” of your company or organization.

This annual report template divides the sections in half and uses the brand color to highlight key information.

Year in review infographic annual report design

Sure, this year may have been a lot of work, but there was some fun to be had too, right? An annual report is the perfect place to highlight how your business has grown, financially and culturally.

This simple one-page annual report template highlights both work and the “fun stuff”:

14 tips on how to design an annual report + more templates

Want to see how visualized reports fare in real life? Here are the top examples of visually appealing and engaging annual reports you can draw inspiration from.

OzHarvest is a nonprofit that redistributes food to charities from restaurants and the like. They wanted to make sure their shareholders saw key numbers like how many meals were saved, their core message, and their mission.

By using big fonts and creative visuals like word clouds and charts, they can bring that key information forward. This is a good lesson in not being afraid to take up lots of space on a page.

In another example, a handful of families supported by the St. Louis Children’s Hospital were featured in their annual report. This helps put faces to the names and show that their donors and stakeholders are helping real people with real struggles.

This annual report example from Maine Tourism uses a ton of colors you would see in nature. If you haven’t been to Maine, the outdoors is a pretty big part of their identity.

All over this annual report, you can see natural colors in the greens and browns, but also the orange in lifejackets and fires, or the blues in lakes and the Maine sky.

Also, please note: there is no rule out there that says you have to use lots of colors. As we can see in this annual report example for a real estate company.

The designers used a bold red to bring attention to important charts or trends:

Click here for 35+ simple background images to add impact to your report.

If you want to create a memorable annual report you may need to change the way people look at things. Or in this case, they did it by physically changing the way the annual report was laid out.

As you can see in the example from Environment Waikato, they start this by creating a landscape-oriented report. Then, they take it to the next level by switching the way the text is printed on multiple pages. This causes the reader to change their perspective on the content.

Some annual reports take one of their most important values or mission statement and hide it at the bottom of the page. That means most people will skip over it without even noticing!

That isn’t the case with this annual report example from  PEN Canada . They make sure you can’t miss what they stand for.

Each of these pages celebrates a different part of their vision. By using a large bold font they can illustrate that they aren’t messing around at all. The  contrasting colors  make it jump off the page as well.

You can also add an interactive or tactile component to your annual report design to make it stand out.

In this annual report example from Craft Victoria, they use their cover to add an extra little surprise for the readers. The cover can be transformed into a tactile experience with small triangular tabs.

The triangle motif also carries throughout the rest of their report, making for a cohesive design.

Now, onto some concrete annual report design tips:

Infuse your company or organization’s culture into your annual report design

Everyone probably knows what U-Haul is (if you don’t, they’re a moving company). The designer incorporated their business’ service into this creative annual report design.

First, it’s delivered like a package to the reader and it looks exactly like a moving box you would find at one of their stores. Plus, there’s bubble wrap! Then the table of contents is modeled after a packing sheet, using the same icons and visuals throughout.

Each page uses images and visuals that remind people that at the heart of everything, they are a moving company.

Create custom illustrations using icons

When you’re working within a tight budget, commissioning custom illustrations can be pricey. But you can use icons to create custom illustrations.

Pick icons to make up the pieces of your illustration, then arrange them into a little scene. You can use this same tactic when it comes to creating an effective annual report template.  Keolis  has done this in their annual report design to illustrate statistics.

Our post on icon stories will show you exactly when and how to create them.

Make each page stand on its own with unique designs

I know I just said that you should pick a singular theme and stick to it like a few points ago. But for every rule, there are a few exceptions.

In this annual report example from the STW Group, the theme changed from one page to the next.

This can work in an annual report because you’re covering multiple different topics in one document. That being said, you should still maintain some consistency throughout your annual report design, like the same color scheme or basic page layouts.

Organize your information into sections using borders

If you have multiple topics or components that you want to fit together on one page, using borders or block backgrounds in your annual report templates can help keep your design organized.

For example, take a look at how  RLI Corp  uses blocks of bold colors to help each section stand out on the page. This makes it easier for readers to scan the page for different topics.

Pick a design motif and use it throughout your entire annual report

This annual report example from Brunel shows how much impact a confident design motif can have on your design. In this case, they used big, red fonts for all of the headers, with the header text overlapping onto the body text.

It’s an unconventional design choice but it works because it’s consistent. If you’re going to use an unusual design motif, commit to it and use it throughout your entire report.

Another creative annual report example is this one from Grupo Bimbo. They use think lines to direct your eye. These direct readers from point to point on the page, which is another way to tell stories visually.

Visual cues like lines and arrows can improve the flow of your page design immensely. They’re useful for any design project you are working on. Whether it be an  infographic  or an annual report template, these subtle lines are a must-have.

Give your annual report template a thematic motif

Was the year marked by a lot of progress? Did you overcome some major obstacles? Design an annual report that reflects the year’s overarching theme.

If you’re struggling to create your own nonprofit annual report template, try looking at some of the themes that run throughout your company’s mission, product and culture.

The designers at the Hall Family Foundation used their volunteers as inspiration. Most of these people are the lifeblood of any non-profit so it made a lot of sense to start there!

They focused on a handful of action words that helped describe what these volunteers do. As you can see, a visual theme was created from those words that are featured on nearly every page.

Additionally, the annual report has these words printed on the cover, so the reader notices the theme from the beginning. This is a great way to introduce readers to your company or organization’s values.

Label your graphs, charts, and other data visualizations

Forgetting to label your charts is a common mistake that many writers make. But forgetting to label your charts can  make your information confusing or misleading .

The designers at Capaccio Paestum avoided this trap by labeling all of their bubble charts and bar graphs. Additionally, when you use labels as they did, it helps even the newest stakeholder understand them in seconds.

Or take this annual report from Orgalime, which uses very straightforward but beautiful pie charts and bar graphs. Each example tells you what you need to know and makes it easy to compare between data sets. Simple but effective!

Include full-page data visualizations

Using the same annual report example from the  Croatian Post , you can see how big data visualizations can make your annual report just that much more engaging.

If you have a particularly important set of data, like your company’s financial growth over the past year, you can feature that in a creative data visualization. This is an opportunity to incorporate engaging design elements like icons, pictograms, image frames, and bold color schemes.

Mix up your font sizes and weights

Consistency is a basic tenet of good design. But you can find ways to add variety to your designs while still maintaining consistency.

The people at  Austria Solar  mix up their font sizes and weights in this annual report example. But they still maintain consistency by using the same color scheme throughout the report.

Check this guide out if you want to  learn more about selecting and using fonts .

Optimize your annual report for digital viewing

While tangible reports are nice, more and more people are opting to publish them and read them online.

The people over at  Mailchimp  have been doing this for a few years. Seeing as they’re a SaaS company, it fits their brand well and allows their report to reach a wider audience.

Plus, when creating an annual report virtually, you can include things like  GIFs, videos, and other moving parts !

Take a look too at what The Warehouse did on a few pages of their annual report. They use an introductory page to lead readers into each new section.

Like the designer behind this real annual report for the fake company, Ace Airlines did on multiple pages.

Seamlessly incorporate photos into your design by making them grayscale

While photos certainly add to your annual report’s story, they can also distract from the text on the page. But if you use grayscale images or images with a color overlay, they can integrate much more seamlessly into the design of the page.

Take a look at how the Associated British Foods’ annual report integrates images into their pages.

Set a visual tone from cover to cover

In this annual report from Target, they set the tone the first time you look at it. On the cover page, they show exactly what the report is going to be all about: freshness.

The designers use pictures of fresh fruit and veggies throughout the report to give it a feeling of abundance. This puts the reader in that frame of mind from the beginning, showing them what to expect from the business.

Here’s another example. The designers from BHA took some of their important stats and combined them with icons. Combined with the primary color backgrounds, the design looks modern and in line with current design trends.

Additionally, because of the icons they selected, they can prep the reader for what the info is going to be about. For example, using the microphone icon to show that there were 2.7 million voices behind this annual report.

Let your company’s history influence your design

Everything about this annual report from Kennedy Space Center looks like it would be at home in the 1970s.

The annual report was published in 2010, but the design calls back to the center’s history, from the color scheme to the retro photos.

It all comes together to create a fantastic annual report example that NASA enthusiasts will love.

Go big or go home with your annual report

This year is all about taking big risks with your design projects. But I wasn’t thinking that would lead to something like Ablynx created for their annual report!

They decided to go big with their data visualizations, literally. Instead of designing them in a design tool like Venngage, they created them in the real world.

Using sticks, yarn, and earth they build the graphs and charts that will adorn their annual report. This is one of those things that their readers won’t forget anytime soon.

Another creative way to organize your annual report is to differentiate the sections by using different-sized paper. In this annual report example from GIA, they do just that.

When a reader moves from one section to the next they physically have to change the size of paper they are reading. It’s an unexpected and engaging way to frame your different sections.

Annual report design takeaways

Annual report design isn’t going anywhere. Even if you don’t have any design experience, you can create an appealing annual report by starting with an  annual report template  and applying some of the following design elements:

• Cover images that tell your company’s story
• Eye-catching background color to make annual report templates pop
• Decorative section headers
• Color blocks
• Color-coded data
• Different style charts
• Interesting page layouts
• Full-page data visualizations

How do you create an annual report?

The best way to get started is to use an annual report template . This will serve as a handy framework and drastically reduce the amount of time spent creating your report.

If you’re concerned that a template won’t make your annual report design look unique, don’t be! Once you incorporate your information, visuals, color schemes, and fonts, your annual report will look like a custom design.

All of these elements can be customized in the one-page annual report templates above. Plus it’s easy to change the charts and graphs to reflect your data

Read on for annual report design tips and 55+ templates. Click any of our templates to enter our online report maker tool to customize it. No design know-how is required.

What is included in an annual report?

Annual reports typically contain information like:

• A company or organization’s mission statement
• A company or organization’s growth (financially, product-wise, culture-wise)
• Various business segments
• Information about the company or organization’s directors and executive officers
• A company or organization’s impact on specific communities
• Milestones and success stories

The below annual report includes a summary of success stories from the chief, impact on specific communities, and a look to the future:

A lot of that may sound like dry information…but it doesn’t have to be.

If your annual report is visually engaging, it will grab the attention of your readers. You can visualize data, incorporate your branding principles , and express your team’s personality throughout the design.

For a more detailed look at what to include in an annual report, check out our  annual report guide.

What is an annual report?

An  annual report  is an in-depth, comprehensive report that provides an overview of a business’s achievements and key metrics from the preceding year.

Think of it this way: an annual report is a perfect opportunity to tell your business’s story. Your annual report design can help you tell that story.

In some cases annual reports are mandatory, in other instances, they are marketing tools used to generate interest in your brand. Not only are they meant to generate interest among shareholders or investors, but they also present an attractive brand to employees, clients, and broader audiences. Your business is on a journey, and your annual report design helps you tell that story effectively. 

For an in-depth guide on what an annual report is, and all the different types, check out our explainer post: What is an Annual Report? .

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• 15+ Project Plan Templates to Visualize Your Strategy, Goals, and Progress
• How to Create a Business Plan to Inspire Confidence in Investors (+ Business Plan Templates)

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Nonprofit Annual Report: Creating Your Best One Yet! (+ 15 Examples!)

Imagine: it’s the end of the year and you’re celebrating all you’ve accomplished with your team. You sit down at your desk, do a couple of good chair stretches, get ready to write up your nonprofit annual report and… you blank.

So much has happened this past year, so where do you even start? What should you include? What should you leave out? How should you structure the document? 

Making a nonprofit annual report can feel like a big undertaking! After all, it highlights all of your organization’s success, celebrates donation impact and lays out all the numbers to promote transparency. Plus, the story an impact report tells is key to promoting donor stewardship.

But don’t panic—we’ve got the answers and the tools to make it simple! 

Here’s everything you need to know about writing an annual impact report, complete with a nonprofit annual report template.

What is a Nonprofit Annual Report and What’s its Purpose?

A nonprofit annual report is an end-of-year document that highlights your organization’s achievements from the past year. From celebrating campaign success to sharing benefactor stories to producing financial transparency, your annual report is a snapshot of how you’ve supported your mission.

This document also serves as a great big thank you for donors and volunteers! After all, your successes would not have been possible without them. Highlighting what you’ve achieved together is key to fostering donor stewardship.

A nonprofit annual report is similar to an impact report or donor report, but there are a few key differences:

• Annual reports lay out your accomplishments from the past year. They’re sent a couple of months after the financial year ends and provide a full overview of how you met your goals.
• Impact reports are typically sent out quarterly and are somewhat less common of a practice than annual reports. An impact report example could be highlighting the success of each quarterly campaign, which motivates your donors to support the next one.
• Donor reports are shorter, more frequent and very personalized. A donor impact report highlights—you guessed it!—donation impact and keeps your donors in the loop about what their support is helping you achieve.

Nonprofit annual reports aren’t technically required—an Annual Filing or filling out Form 990 are the only end-of-year documents you need to produce. However, that doesn’t mean annual reports aren’t important!

We won’t deny that making your annual report is a time commitment, which can feel difficult to spare during the rush of the end of year giving season. But with the way these reports build trust, donor stewardship and excitement for the year to come, you’ll feel the impact in both your wallet and your community.

10 Key Elements to Include in Your Nonprofit Annual Report

A year is long, and no doubt you’ve achieved all sorts of wonderful things! Here are some tips on distilling that information into what’s most useful for an annual impact report.

On a broad level, consider:

• Tone. Nonprofits typically benefit from being warm and personable—but they also need an element of authority! Your audience should trust that you know what you’re doing.
• Audience. Consider who you’re talking to. For example, if your demographic of donors are typically younger, they might prefer something more informal.
• Branding. Lay out your report in your organization’s branded fonts and colors. The document is celebrating your nonprofit, so it should wear your nonprofit’s clothes!

Now, the details! Here are 10 key elements to include in your nonprofit annual report:

1. Start with a table of contents

If this list includes 10 elements, you can probably imagine that there’s quite a bit of information your annual donor impact report will include! Make the reading experience smooth by including a table of contents.

Some of your dedicated supporters will want to read through the report front to back. Others might have specific areas of interest. For example, if one reader donated a huge sum to a specific campaign, they might just want to see how it played out.

A table of contents lets your readers know how to find the information that’s most interesting to them personally!

2. Add a letter from the President or Board Chair

Letters or messages from the Executive Director and Chair of the Board are standard fare in an annual report! After all, it’s super important for those leading the organization to sign off on the state of affairs and share their own pride in your accomplishments.

The opening letter can introduce the theme, summarize the content and give a personal touch to the report.

Your introduction should be:

• Short. A few succinct paragraphs will do the job. You don’t have to fill a page.
• Conversational. Don’t be afraid to let some personality shine through! Aim for a professional, but warm and friendly tone.
• Self-aware. If significant events are impacting your audience, organization or cause, briefly acknowledge that they’re there. Even a short nod to difficult circumstances, like, “Losing our building to a fire was incredibly challenging, but we’re still fighting the good fight,” can assure your audience that you’re in touch. 
• Candid. It’s okay to acknowledge setbacks and challenges. In fact, it’s not a good idea to say how great the year was if it wasn’t! Your donors and supporters don’t expect perfection, but they do expect transparency.
• Positive. Be honest, but project a hopeful, positive attitude. Hint at a few things you’re excited about for the coming year. Stay upbeat!

Short and sweet gets the job done in this executive message from Sarnia-Lambton Rebound .

3. Put the mission front and center

Your annual report is, above all, an opportunity to showcase your mission. 

It might feel redundant to emphasize your mission to people who’ve already supported it, but your supporters spend much less time thinking about the details of your mission than you do! They joined your organization for a reason—remind them what it is.

Include your mission statement in the report so the contents can directly show how your work is actively pursuing it.

The Voluntary Sector Reporting Awards (VSRAs) established Best Practices in Charity Annual Reporting . They recommend:

• Clearly stating the organization’s mission and tying it back to your activities throughout the report.
• Linking performance objectives and targets back to the mission.
• Disclosing your organization’s risks, issues and challenges in the context of the mission.
• Telling the reader how your organization governs itself and how that governance structure reflects your mission.
• Skipping out on individual committee reports in favor of a broad-based report that tells the organization’s story as a whole! The committee reports can be posted to the website if they are considered important disclosures.

Sarnia-Lambton Rebound reminds their supporters of their mission right from the beginning.

4. Highlight your major achievements

Don’t overwhelm your readers with every single detail—instead, choose your absolute highlights to celebrate in your annual impact report!

Gather a committee (or work with your board of directors!) and ask yourselves:

• If we could only tell donors about one thing we accomplished this year, what would it be? Don’t worry, you’ll be able to tell them about more than one! But see where the consensus is about your greatest successes.
• What are our key messages? The accomplishments you choose tell a story. What is it? 
• Is there a theme that might be fitting? How do your key messages relate to each other? Is there a theme, like growth, perseverance, hope or family?
• How do these accomplishments relate to our mission? Spell it out, even if it feels very obvious! Again, clarity is key so that your supporters know exactly how you’ve helped support your constituents.

Navos shares their year’s accomplishments with quick facts and engaging graphics.

5. Drive more impact with storytelling

The best way to showcase your accomplishments is through storytelling . A long list of achievements or collection of facts might be exciting to you, but it won’t necessarily capture your donors’ hearts.

Telling a story helps associate emotions to events . Choose which stories best highlight your accomplishments and your overall mission.

A good nonprofit annual donor impact report story:

• Tells the truth. You can simplify a story and change details to protect privacy. However, the bones of the story should be true. After all, you’re using it as proof that you deserve support!
• Focuses on a central character. As I mentioned before, it’s easier to connect with the story of one person than a group. Use one named person as the subject of your story.
• Uses the person’s own words as much as possible to tell the story. Quotes and first-person narratives are most compelling.
• Shows a change as a result of the nonprofit’s action and the donors’ gifts. Use a storytelling structure with a beginning, middle and end to show what changed.

If you created a new program, introduce readers to the problem it solved via one person’s story. A great example is this one from Nuru-International , which focuses on the story of Josphat, a single farmer. 

6. Present data in a visually appealing way

Nothing makes peoples’ eyes glaze over like a long block of text! If you want to engage your readers, it’s essential to present your data in a way that’s visually appealing.

Your nonprofit annual report could include:

• Attractive infographics. This will help your readers take in data at a glance! For example, breaking where your fundraising money went into a pie chart lets your readers see their donation impact without needing to dig.
• Compelling photographs. A picture’s worth a thousand words, right? With the right photo, all you need is a simple caption to get your point across.
• Consistent fonts. Don’t make your readers dizzy with a bunch of cluttered fonts! Stick to your branding all the way through to guide their eyes.
• Headings and subheadings. These features keep your impact report accessible and easy to scan. Make it easy for your readers to find what they’re looking for.

While the data itself is super important, how it’s laid out has an equal impact! If you know all the data but aren’t sure how to make it pretty, consult with your marketing or design experts.

7. Be transparent with a financial statement

It’s important to share your financial information in a way that makes sense to your audience. Give them an overview of where the revenue comes from and how it is spent.

You could do this with traditional financial statements, visual charts and graphs or infographics. By using plain English and clear visuals, your readers should understand the meaning behind the numbers in your annual impact report. Most importantly, they should always connect back to your mission, vision and values!

Aurora Cultural Centre promotes accountability, but doesn’t overwhelm their audience with their financial statement.

They also demonstrate what your numbers mean with visual organizers like charts and graphs.

8. Celebrate your donors

Many organizations decide to print the names of the year’s donors and the levels of their gifts in their annual report. This is a way to say thank you and show donors that they’re part of a large community of supporters!

Still—it’s a list of names, which means it’s likely to be skimmed. People look for their own names, but rarely read the entire list. Consider interspersing quotes and photos to get more value out of the pages.

And of course, make sure all spelling, titles and giving levels are correct. Double and triple check!

9. Recap events and milestones

Think of your nonprofit annual report as a celebration of your year’s greatest hits. What were the events you’re still talking about? What campaign moments had your whole team cheering?

Your members, donors and supporters have not had the same inside look into the organization as you. No matter how much they care about your mission, it’s very likely that they missed something during the year!

Brag away, and really lean into the impact these milestones had for your community. If these milestones link back to fundraising, lean into talking about donation impact.

10. Call to action: Keep the party going!

The work doesn’t stop with the annual report—in fact, it’s just beginning! The best impact report should inspire your donors to keep getting involved with your nonprofit.

Give them a next step with a strong call to action, reiterated throughout your report. 

For most organizations, this will be an ask for donations, but don’t limit yourself! Inviting people to volunteer, follow your social media or advocate for your cause is just as good of a way to help your organization grow.

SC Thrive closes their report with more ways to get involved.

A Sample Annual Report Table of Contents  

Setting up a table of contents is a great way to lay out expectations for readers—and to give you some structure starting out!

Annual reports are structured differently depending on the format and your organization’s goals. A traditional, printed report typically looks something like this:

• Welcome Letter/Introduction
• Summary of Highlights
• Financial Information
• Multiple Stories of Accomplishment

When it comes to your table of contents, you can either keep things simple and straightforward or get creative. Check out this annual impact report example from Feeding America .

This beautifully branded table of contents is attractive while also being super informative! You can easily see how long each section is at a glance.

How To Choose an Annual Report Format

With all of the room here for creativity, you might be wondering how to begin structuring your annual donor impact report.

Should it be printed and mailed? What images should you include? Is it really necessary to have every donor’s name listed? 

While the answer to a lot of these questions will depend heavily on your organization, here are a few things to consider throughout the process. 

Online Vs. Printed?

Before the age of the internet, annual reports were documents to be printed and mailed.These days, simply going digital is becoming more popular.

This is because posting your annual report online:

• Is more environmentally-friendly
• Saves you admin time
• Makes them easier for prospective members to read

If you have a group of donors who expect to receive a printed piece, feel free to make that option available upon request. It might also help you to conduct an online survey to get an idea of what your audience is looking for. After all, these reports are meant to connect you with your supporters!

What About Visuals?

As we mentioned earlier (and demonstrated in the Feeding America example!), visuals can be incredibly beneficial to your annual report. They keep the report dynamic, accessible and skimmable. Plus, who doesn’t love a good branding opportunity?

Note that digital annual reports also make it possible to use as many full-color images as you like! Another benefit to taking the online route.

15 Nonprofit Annual Report Examples to Get You Started

Want a little inspiration? Here you’ll find examples from charities, membership organizations and chambers of commerce. We’ve included organizations big and small, so there’s something for everyone! These are 15 of our favorite annual impact report examples:

1. Feeding America

What we like (again!):

• This annual impact report example is beautifully designed with a cohesive and engaging motif throughout. Text and easy-to-read visuals alternate.
• Real photos accompany the stories of people who benefit from the organization’s work, with a “special thanks” section which acknowledges the people who made it possible.
• Financials are creatively done with stacked plates.
• Lots of space is used to display the logos of corporate partners—they’re not squeezed onto one page, but spread over 23 pages.

2. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

What we like:

• This annual impact report example has viewing options for either a pdf or interactive report hosted on issuu.com.
• Striking visuals of scientific accomplishments, complete with comprehensive explanations for supporters who might be less familiar with scientific terminology.
• The financial section is done with engaging, branded visuals and graphs.
• The impact is broken down by the scientific field it is relevant to.

3. Buffalo Niagara Partnership

• This annual report is a slideshow embedded on the organization’s website.
• Sponsors and partners are given priority by placing their gratitude content on the third page of the report. There is also recognition space in the last few pages.
• Lots of photos with brief but descriptive captions, avoiding lengthy blocks of text.
• The webpage where the annual report slideshow is embedded also houses a summary video and yet another list of key sponsors.

4.  BC Cancer Foundation

• Instead of making a webpage, The BC Cancer Foundation has created an entirely separate website just for the annual report. Different sections of the report are accessible through links in the header, which stays in place as site visitors scroll through.
• The website is full of moving photos and animations, creating an engaging experience for the visitors. 
• A large “Donate” button is always present in the top right corner, inviting people to donate as they read the inspiring stories within the report. 
• Each section is collapsed to save scrolling space, but visitors can expand content if they’re interested in reading it in full. 

5.  Save the Children

• This annual impact report example is done as an interactive online slideshow. Viewers can not only click through slides, but also click to read captions, play video and audio content or click through mini galleries of photos. 
• The report is full of moving stories and powerful photos. Because this is a report from 2020, the lead page shows a child with a mask, marking the way COVID shaped the year for the mission.
• Statistics are displayed over photos rather than just as graphics. 
• Messages from the organization’s advocates are recorded as audio and can be played by clicking on their photos.

6. Florida Farm Bureau Federation

• This annual report is hosted on issuu.com.
• The annual report is framed with the theme “Rooted in Resilience,” with each section broken down into what that means. For example, being rooted in policy, community, membership, leadership, etc.
• There is a consistent plant-based theme and branding strategy.
• The report ends with photos of people working in grassroots initiatives.

7. American Dance Festival

• This annual report is hosted on issuu.com, with the option to download the slides. The link can be easily accessed from their About page on the main website.
• The numbers and stats are broken down in an attractive and readable graphic.
• Stunning images of the dancers in action are highlighted throughout the report.
• ADF Fund contributors are listed at the end, broken down by their level of giving.

8. It Gets Better Project

• The It Gets Better Project has an attractive branded annual report with optimistic messaging that reflects the organization’s mission, vision and values.
• A media representation timeline shows the full year’s reach and impact in an easy-to-understand visual.
• The financials are broken down into straightforward numbers in a colorful chart, and include a pie chart to further represent what it looks like.
• The report ends with a Year Ahead section which expresses hopes and plans for the future of the organization.

9.  Salt Lake Chamber

What we like:  

• This annual impact report example is housed on a dedicated page on the organization’s website.
• It starts with a video message from leadership.
• The “Highlights” section contains brief paragraphs, with links to read more. 
• The report contains lots of embedded videos from events and award presentations. 
• Public policy and membership statistics are clearly represented with engaging graphics. 

10.  Raising Readers in Story County

• This annual report has a unique infographic format. It’s very concise—only three pages!—but still showcases just as much impact as more lengthy reports. 
• It includes achievements from the past year, program highlights, impressive statistics, quotes from parents and list of supporters. 
• The design of the report is visually appealing and is representative of the community this organization serves: young children and their parents. 

11.  Greater Chicago Food Depository

• This annual impact report example is housed on its own website, with a bar on the right hand side to show visitors’ progress through the homepage. Plus, the homepage ends with a call to get involved. 
• Many video elements: a welcome video from leadership, a video background on the homepage and video snippets to accompany impactful stats.
• Stories are presented as headlines and brief descriptions, with links to read them in full on other pages of the website. 
• Sections like “About Us”, donor lists and financials can be found on other pages of the website through links in the header.

12.  The Humane Society

• This annual report includes lots of large, impactful photos.
• Because this report is from 2020, it highlights the impact of the initial COVID-19 outbreak on the mission.
• It contains a spread summarizing the organization’s top achievements from the past year.
• Every story reminds us of both the short- and long-term visions that the story supports. 
• There are lots of interesting facts and statistics throughout the report.
• The last page of the report is a brief summary of financials (a more detailed version can be downloaded from the organization’s website). 

13.  ChildFund

• This annual report is full of impactful stories about donors and people who have benefited from the support. 
• It has lots of powerful photos and mini stories in their captions.
• Engaging graphics showcase statistics and impact.
• Colorful fonts reflect the fact that the beneficiaries are children.

14. Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce

• This nonprofit annual report contains a page with a summary of key objectives and achievements from the past year, as well as how they align with the organization’s mission. 
• There are lots of statistics and photos to accompany them.
• The report provides statistics about important areas of the organization such as membership, events, communications, resources, advocacy and partnerships.

• The report starts with the organization’s reach and scale, their mission and values and their code of conduct and policies. 
• Each impact story is accompanied by a few key statistics and a quote from someone who’s seen the organization’s impact first-hand. 
• Worldwide impact is shown by visually connecting each country’s story to where it is on the world map. 
• Full spread photos divide the report into sections. 

Your Annual Report Checklist

Before you get started on your annual report, it can be majorly helpful to create a checklist of everything you need to know to make it happen.

Your checklist should help you determine your:

• Team members: Is there a project leader, committee or board support?
• Objective: Who’s your key audience, and what action do you want your report to inspire them to take?
• Format: Digital, print, video? A bit of everything?
• Outline: What do you want to include, and what will your Table of Contents end up looking like?
• Key messages and themes: Which accomplishments do you want to highlight? What is the story that this report tells?
• Budget: How much do you want to put into expenses like content development, graphic design and distribution?
• Production schedule: What’s your target release date, and what workback schedule do you need to hit it?

For more detail on what you might need, we’ve made an easy-to-follow annual report checklist to take away the guesswork!

Nonprofit Annual Report Template to Get You Started!

Don’t fear your annual report.

Creating an annual report can feel like a big task, but remember that all the information you need is already available! You already know how to tell a good story, communicate impact and show gratitude to donors. All that’s left is to follow a structure and get creative.

(And download our annual report checklist if you want a little extra help!)

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Benchmarks & insights for growing revenue and constituents.

60+ Cover Letter Examples in 2024 [For All Professions]

No matter where you are in your career, or what job you’re applying for, submitting a cover letter with your resume is a must . 

Done right, a cover letter will effectively complement your resume and explain to the hiring manager in more detail why you’re the right person for the job.

Writing a cover letter, however, is easier said than done. 

You have to effectively demonstrate that you’ll be able to perform the responsibilities listed in the job description and that you’d be a better fit for the company compared to other candidates. 

And unless you’re a professional writer, this can be a very hard task.

Fortunately, we created these cover letter examples to inspire you and help you get started with your own cover letter!

Let’s dive in!

21 Cover Letter Examples 

#1. career change cover letter example .

Here’s what this cover letter does right:

• Has an ideal length. This cover letter includes all the relevant information for the hiring manager without getting into too much detail.
• Relevant introduction. The candidate explains that they’re changing careers and why they want to work in this new field from the get-go.
• Explains their related experience. The candidate explains how their previous experience in retail sales can help them succeed in PR.

Check out our guide video guide to learn how to write a Cover Letter that gets you HIRED!

#2. Recent Graduate Cover Letter Example 

• Personally greets the hiring manager. The candidate has taken the time to find the hiring manager’s name and address them by it, which makes the opening of the cover letter much more personal.
• Wraps up with a call to action. The candidate wraps up the cover letter by suggesting a meeting with the hiring manager, which makes them more memorable.
• Explains why the candidate is the right person for the internship. In this cover letter for an internship , the candidate explains how they’ve previously interned in a different firm, which gives them the experience to succeed in this role.

Have you just graduated from college? Make sure to check out our guide on writing an entry-level cover letter from start to finish! 

#3. Middle Management Cover Letter Example

• Use of bullet points. The candidate presents the information in a concise and reader-friendly way, making it easy for the hiring manager to find their key achievements. 
• Formal closing. The candidate has used a formal and polite tone to conclude their cover letter, which combined with a call to action makes them look professional and passionate about getting the job. 
• Explains how the company would benefit from hiring them. The candidate outlines exactly what they could do for the company, which not only highlights their skills but also shows they’ve done their research on the company’s needs. 

#4. Business Manager Cover Letter Example

• Detailed header. In addition to the must-have contact details, this candidate has also included their professional Twitter and LinkedIn profiles, making it easy for the hiring manager to look more closely into their career. 
• Concise and to the point. This candidate has used short paragraphs and bullet points to make the cover letter easy to skim through. 
• Wraps up with a call to action. By letting the hiring manager know they’ll be contacting them soon, they’re more likely to make an impression.

Check out this article for a complete writing guide and an inspiring business manager resume sample. 

#5. Ph.D. Cover Letter Example

Here’s what this cover letter does right: 

• Attention-grabbing introduction. In the opening paragraph, this candidate explains why they’re passionate about pursuing a Ph.D. in great detail. 
• Explains the candidate’s qualifications in detail. The candidate builds on their passion by explaining how they’re also qualified for the degree because of their education history and academic achievements. 

#6. Senior Executive Cover Letter Example

• Professional and minimalistic template. This senior executive has used a professional but minimalistic template that lets their work experience do the talking. 
• Achievement-oriented opening paragraph. Right from the get-go, this candidate explains what makes them so good at their job, effectively grabbing the hiring manager’s attention.  
• Wraps up with a call to action. By suggesting to have a meeting and discussing how they can help the company meet its goals, the candidate stands more chance to make a positive lasting impression. 

#7. Architect Cover Letter Example 

• Modern resume template. This architect has picked a template that perfectly matches his industry, as it is professional and modern at the same time. 
• A personal greeting to the HR. They address the hiring manager by their first name, which helps make a better first impression. 
• Measurable achievements. By quantifying their achievements, the candidate proves their achievements instead of just claiming them.

Struggling with your architect resume ? Check out our full guide!

#8. Business Analyst Cover Letter Example 

• Detailed contact information. The candidate has listed both their LinkedIn and Twitter profiles, providing the HR manager an opportunity to learn more about the candidate.  
• Mentions what the candidate can do for the company. This cover letter doesn’t just explain why the job would be great for the candidate, but also how the candidate would benefit the company. Win-win, right? 
• Error-free and reader-friendly. It’s super important for the cover letter to have no spelling or grammatical errors and be reader-friendly. This candidate made sure they did both.

Need a resume alongside your cover letter? Check out our guide on how to write a business analyst resume . 

#9. Consultant Cover Letter Example 

• Professional cover letter template. Being an experienced consultant, this candidate has picked a professional template that doesn’t steal the spotlight from their achievements. 
• Experience and achievement-oriented. The candidate has effectively elaborated on their top achievements relevant to the job. 
• Highlights the candidate’s passion. To show they want the job, this candidate has also explained how passionate they are about their profession.

For more advice on landing a job as a consultant, check out our guide to writing a consultant resume .

#10. Digital Marketing Cover Letter Example

• Creative cover letter template. This digital marketer highlights their originality by picking a creative cover letter template. 
• Lists the candidate’s awards. The candidate has taken advantage of the cover letter to list their most noteworthy awards in the industry. 
• Concludes with a call to action. As they used a call to action to conclude their cover letter, the HR manager will be more likely to remember them.

Want to take your digital marketing resume to the next level? Check out our guide!

#11. Graphic Designer Cover Letter Example 

• Detailed contact information. The candidate has included additional contact information such as their website link, as well as their LinkedIn and Twitter profiles.  
• Ideal length. This cover letter is concise, which means that the HR manager is more likely to read it from start to finish.  
• Draws attention to the candidate’s strong points. Although this candidate is a recent college graduate, they’ve managed to effectively show that they have enough knowledge and experience to do the job right.

Read this guide to write a graphic designer resume that’s just as good as your cover letter!

#12. Administrative Assistant Cover Letter Example

• Minimalistic cover letter template. The candidate picked a well-designed but minimalistic template for their cover letter. 
• Focused on skills and achievements. This cover letter is packed with the candidate’s skills and achievements, proving he can be an excellent employee. 
• Formal closing. Politeness can go a long way and the candidate has used this to their advantage to make an impression. 

Our article on how to write an administrative assistant resume can help you take your job application to the next level.

#13. Front Desk Cover Letter Example

• Modern cover letter template. This template incorporates memorable colors and clear lines, which make the cover letter very visually appealing. 
• Attention-grabbing introduction. Using an attention-grabbing intro, the candidate is more likely to make an impression. 
• Calls the HR to action. By including a call to action, the candidate is reminding the HR of their immediate availability. 

#14. Human Resources Cover Letter Example

• It is concise and to the point. The candidate doesn’t dwell on unimportant details the HR won’t be interested in. 
• Uses a traditional cover letter template. The cover letter design is more on the conventional side, which fits the industry better. 
• Highlights the candidate’s strong points. The candidate has rich work experience and they use the cover letter to elaborate on it. 

This HR resume guide can help you get your resume just right.

#15. Sales Agent Cover Letter Example 

• Attention-grabbing cover letter template. As a salesperson, this candidate knows how important first impressions are, so they’ve picked a catchy cover letter template. 
• Has an ideal length. At the same time, they’ve also made sure to keep their cover letter at just the right length. 
• Lists the candidate’s career highlights. The candidate has made perfect use of the space by mentioning their most impressive professional achievements. 

Check out this sales agent resume guide to create an attention-grabbing sales resume .

#16. Receptionist Cover Letter Example

• Modern but minimalistic cover letter template. The template’s design hints the candidate is creative but professional at the same time. 
• Uses a catchy introduction. The candidate has used an attention-grabbing opening paragraph to catch HR’s attention. 
• Concludes the cover letter formally. The candidate proves that they’re polite and well-spoken, a quality very much important for the role they’re applying for. 

Take your receptionist resume to the next level with this receptionist resume guide .

#17. Information Technology Cover Letter Example

• Mentions measurable achievements. Numbers make an impact, which is why this candidate has included measurable achievements. 
• Lists both soft and hard skills. The candidate has mentioned a great mix of soft and hard skills, showing how well-rounded they are. 
• Contains relevant contact information. The candidate’s GitHub, website name, LinkedIn, and Twitter profiles are all great additions to the resume. 

Looking for tips to help you write a great IT resume ? Check out our guide!

#18. Real Estate Cover Letter Example

• Ideal length. Short and to the point, this cover letter is bound to get noticed by the HR manager. 
• Wraps up with a call to action. This candidate reinforces the HR to call them back through a final call to action. 
• Mentions the right skills. On top of their sales accomplishments, the candidate touch upon important soft skills such as customer service and communication . 

This real estate resume guide will help you take your resume from good to great.

#19. Teacher Cover Letter Example

• Mentions relevant contact information details. This candidate has included optional (but relevant) contact information details, such as their LinkedIn, Quora, and Medium profiles. 
• Achievement-oriented. The candidate has elaborated on their achievements in more detail throughout their cover letter. 
• Highlights the candidate’s passion. For some jobs, being passionate is much more important than for others. Teaching is one of these jobs, which is why this candidate explains their passion for the job. 

Our guide on how to write a teacher resume has all the tips you need to land the job.

#20. Project Manager Cover Letter Example

• Leverages a catchy introduction. Through a catchy introductory paragraph, this candidate is sure to grab the HR’s attention and get them to read the rest of their cover letter.
• Lists measurable accomplishments. This candidate explains exactly what they’ve achieved using numbers and hard data. 
• Personally greets the HR. A personal greeting sounds much better than “Dear Sir/Madam,” and the candidate knows this. 

This guide on how to write a project manager resume can help you perfect your appication.

#21. Paralegal Cover Letter Example

• Minimalistic cover letter template. This cover letter design looks good but doesn’t steal the show from the candidate’s abilities.
• Mentions the candidate’s academic achievements and extracurricular activities. Although the candidate is a recent graduate, they’ve used the cover letter to explain they have enough skills and achievements to do the job.
• Lists measurable achievements. The candidate proves they did well in their internship by mentioning quantifiable achievements.

Check out this paralegal resume guide to perfect yours.

40+ More Cover Letter Examples and Guides 

Couldn’t find a cover letter example for your field? Do not worry.

Below you can find a number of other cover letter examples for different fields and industries:

• Acting Cover Letter Examples
• Accounting Cover Letter Examples
• Administrative Assistant Cover Letter Examples
• Architecture Cover Letter Examples
• Attorney Cover Letter Examples
• Barista Cover Letter Examples
• Bartender Cover Letter Examples
• Business Cover Letter Examples
• Business Analyst Cover Letter Examples
• College Student Cover Letter Examples
• Computer Science Cover Letter Examples
• Construction Cover Letter Examples
• Consultant Cover Letter Examples
• Customer Service Cover Letter Examples
• Data Analyst Cover Letter Examples
• Data Entry Cover Letter Examples
• Dental Assistant Cover Letter Examples
• Digital Marketing Cover Letter Examples
• Elementary Teacher Cover Letter Examples
• Engineering Cover Letter Examples
• Executive Assistant Cover Letter Examples
• Finance Cover Letter Examples
• Graphic Design Cover Letter Examples
• Healthcare Cover Letter Examples
• Human Resources Cover Letter Examples
• IT Cover Letter Examples
• Law Cover Letter Examples
• Management Cover Letter Examples
• Marketing Cover Letter Examples
• Mechanical Engineering Cover Letter Examples
• Medical Assistant Cover Letter Examples
• Nurse Practitioner Cover Letter Examples
• Physician Cover Letter Examples
• Project Manager Cover Letter Examples
• Receptionist Cover Letter Examples
• Retail Cover Letter Examples
• Sales Cover Letter Examples
• Social Work Cover Letter Examples
• Software Engineer Cover Letter Examples
• Substitute Teacher Cover Letter Examples
• Teacher Assistant Cover Letter Examples
• Team Leader Cover Letter Example

What is a Cover Letter? 

A cover letter is a one-page document that you submit as part of your job application, alongside your resume . 

Its purpose is to introduce you and briefly summarize your professional background. On average, your cover letter should be from 250 to 400 words long .

A good cover letter can give the hiring manager more insight into what makes you a good candidate and help them make up their mind about whether they should invite you for an interview. A bad cover letter, though, will get ignored (at best) and lose you the job (at worst).

So, to make sure this doesn’t happen, it’s essential to know how to write a convincing cover letter.

The first thing to remember is that a cover letter is a supplement to your resume, not a replacement. Meaning, you shouldn’t just repeat whatever is mentioned in your resume and call it a day. 

Optimally, you should use your cover letter to shed more light on your skills and qualifications, as well as explain anything you didn’t have space for in your resume (e.g. a career gap or why you’re changing careers).

If you’re writing a cover letter for the first time, though, putting all this together might seem pretty tough. 

Fortunately, you can follow our tried-and-tested format to make the experience much easier:

• Header - Input your contact information.
• Greeting the hiring manager - Open the cover letter with a “Dear Sir or Madam,” or use the hiring manager’s name if you know what that is.
• Opening paragraph - Grab the hiring manager’s attention by getting straight to the point. Mention what your professional experiences are, and what role you’re applying for.
• The second paragraph - Explain why you’re the perfect candidate for the job. Mention your top 2-3 achievements, your top skills, why you want to work in that specific industry, and whatever else is relevant.
• The third paragraph - End your cover letter with a call to action. E.g. “I would love to meet personally and discuss how I can help Company X.”
• Formal closing - Something like this: “Thank you for your consideration. Best, John Doe.”

Here’s what this looks like in practice:

9 Tips to Write a Cover Letter (the Right Way)

Now that we've covered the basics, let's talk about cover letter tips . Below, we'll give you all the knowledge you need to take your cover letter from "OK" to "great."

#1. Pick the right template

A good cover letter is all about leaving the right first impression.

And what’s a better way to leave a good impression than through a professional, well-formatted, and visual template?

You can simply pick one of our tried-and-tested cover letter templates and you’ll be all set!

#2. Add your contact details on the header

The best way to start your cover letter is through a header. 

Here’s what you want to include there:

• Phone Number
• Name of the hiring manager / their professional title
• Name of the company you’re applying to

Optionally, you can also include the following:

• Social Media Profiles - Any type of profile that’s relevant to your field. Social Profiles on websites like LinkedIn, GitHub (for developers), Medium (for writers), etc.
• Personal Website - If you have a personal website that somehow adds value to your application, you can mention it. Let’s say you’re a professional writer. In that case, you’d want to link to your content portfolio site or blog.

#3. Greet the hiring manager the right way

Once you’ve listed all your relevant contact information, it’s time to address the hiring manager reading your cover letter. 

A good practice here is to find the hiring manager’s name and address them directly instead of using the traditional “dear sir or madam.” This shows that you’re really invested in the company and that you took your time to do some research about the job.

So, how can you find out the hiring manager’s name?

One way to do this is by looking up the head of the company’s relevant department on LinkedIn. Let’s say you’re applying for the position of Communication Specialist at Novoresume. The hiring manager is probably the Head of Communications or the Chief Communications Office.

Or let’s say you’re applying for the position of server at a restaurant. In that case, you’d be looking to find out who the restaurant manager is.

If this doesn’t work, you can also check out the “Team” page on the company website; there’s a good chance you’ll at least find the right person there.

If you still can’t find out the hiring manager’s name, here are several other greetings you can use:

• Dear [Department] Hiring Manager
• Dear Hiring Manager
• To whom it may concern
• Dear [Department] Team

#4. Create an attention-grabbing introduction

Recruiters get hundreds, sometimes even thousands, of applications. Chances are, they’re not going to be reading every single cover letter end-to-end.

So, it’s essential to catch their attention from the very first paragraph.

The problem with most cover letter opening paragraphs, though, is that they’re usually extremely generic, often looking something like this: 

Hey, my name is Jonathan and I’d like to work as a Sales Manager at XYZ Inc. I’ve worked as a sales manager at MadeUpCompany Inc. for 5+ years, so I believe that I’d be a good fit for the position.

As you can probably tell, this opening paragraph doesn’t tell the hiring manager anything other than that you’ve worked the job before - and that’s not really helpful in setting you apart from other candidates. 

What you want to do, instead, is start off with 2-3 of your top achievements to really grab the reader’s attention. Preferably, the achievements should be as relevant as possible to the position. 

For example:

My name’s Michael and I’d like to help XYZ Inc. hit and exceed its sales goals as a Sales Manager. I’ve worked with Company X, a fin-tech company, for 3+ years. As a Sales Representative, I generated an average of $30,000+ in sales per month (beating the KPIs by around 40%). I believe that my previous industry experience, as well as my excellence in sales, makes me the right candidate for the role of X at Company Y.

The second example shows how the candidate is a top performer. The first just shows that they’ve worked a sales job before.

Which one are YOU more likely to invite for an interview?

#5. Show you’re the perfect person for the job

One great thing about cover letters is that they allow you to expand more on the top achievements from your resume and really show the hiring manager that you’re the right person for the job. 

A good way to do that is to first read the job ad and really understand what skills/experiences are required, and then to ensure that your cover letter touches upon the said skills or experiences.

In my previous role as a Facebook Marketing Expert at XYZ Inc. I handled customer acquisition through ads, managing a monthly Facebook ad budget of $20,000+. As the sole digital marketer at the company, I managed the ad creation and management process end-to-end. This means I created the ad copy and images, as well as picked the targeting, ran optimization trials, and so on.

Other than Facebook advertising, I’ve also delved into other online PPC channels, including:

• Google Search

#6. Explain why you’re a great company fit

The HR manager doesn’t only look at whether you’ll be good at the job or not. They’re looking for someone that’s also a good fit for the company culture.

After all, employees that don’t fit in are bound to quit, sooner or later. This ends up costing the company a ton of money, up to 50% of the employee’s annual salary . 

To convince the hiring manager that you’re a great company fit, do some research on the company and find out what it is you like about them, or about working there. You want to know things like:

• What’s the company’s business model?
• What’s the company's product or service? Have you used it?
• What’s the culture like? Will someone micro-manage your work, or will you have autonomy on how you get things done?

Then, turn your top reasons for liking to work there into text and add them to your cover letter! 

#7. Wrap up with a call to action

To make the end of your cover letter as memorable as possible, you want to:

• Wrap up any points you couldn't in the previous paragraphs. Mention anything you’ve left out that you think could help the hiring manager make up your mind.
• Thank the hiring manager for their time. After all, it never hurts to be polite. 
• Finish the cover letter with a call to action. A call to action is a great way to make your cover letter ending as memorable as possible. 

#8. Write a formal closing

Once you’re done with the final paragraph, all you have to do is write down a formal “goodbye” and you’re good to go.

Feel free to use one of the most popular conclusions in a cover letter:

• Best Regards,
• Kind Regards,

#9. Proofread your cover letter

Last but not least, make sure to always proofread each and every document that you’ll be including in your job application - cover letter included. 

The last thing you want is to be claiming you’re a great candidate for the job with a cover letter full of typos! 

For an even more comprehensive guide on how to write an impactful cover letter , check out our article ! 

Cover Letter Writing Checklist 

Frequently Asked Questions

Do you still have some questions about cover letters? Check out the answers below:

1. How do I write a simple cover letter? 

To write a cover letter that’s simple but also professional, make sure to include a header with your personal information, a formal greeting to the hiring manager, an attention-grabbing opening paragraph, a second paragraph explaining why you’re a good candidate for the job, and a formal closing (preferably with a call to action). 

2. What are the 3 parts of a cover letter? 

The three parts of a cover letter are: 

• The introduction , namely the header, the greeting to the hiring manager, and the opening paragraph. 
• The sales pitch is usually the body of the cover letter. 
• The conclusion involves a formal closing and a signature line.

3. What makes a great cover letter?

A great cover letter should be personalized for each job you’re applying for, instead of being overly generic. It’s also preferable to address the hiring manager by their name and not use the overly-used “Dear Sir/Madam.”

To make a great first impression, you should mention 1-2 of your top achievements in your opening paragraph - the more job-specific they are, the better. Also, don’t stop at showing the hiring manager why you’re a great candidate for the job. Make sure to also talk about how you’re a good culture fit for the company.

Last but not least, wrap up your closing paragraph with a call to action to give the hiring manager a little extra something to remember you by. 

4. When is a cover letter necessary?

Unless the job ad specifically states otherwise, you should always include a cover letter with your job application .

Even if the hiring manager doesn’t read it, you will look more professional simply by including one.

And that’s a wrap! We hope our cover letter examples and writing tips will inspire you to write a cover letter that will land you your next job.

If you’re looking for more invaluable career advice and articles, make sure to check out our career blog , or any of these related articles: 

• How to Write a Resume
• Cover Letter Mistakes to Avoid at All Costs
• Cover Letter Format (w/ Examples & Free Templates)

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• Publication Process

How to Write a Cover Letter for Your Manuscript? Here are the Tips and Examples

• 3 minute read

Table of Contents

A cover letter is often the first thing an editor reads when reviewing your submission. As your first pitch to the editor, the cover letter helps them gauge the suitability of your manuscript for publication in their journal. Imagine your work shaping the future of your field, gathering citations, and sparking discussions. A powerful cover letter is thus the first step to making that vision into a reality.   

In this article, we will guide you through the process of writing an effective cover letter and explain how you can get it right every time with examples. First, let us get started with the basics!  

Getting the Basics Right  

When writing a cover letter, it is crucial to address the editor by their correct and complete name¹ . If there are multiple co-editors, you can address your letter to the right person, based on their specialization or designated responsibilities. If unsure, it is okay to go with a more general salutation, such as “Dear Editors”¹ .   

Presenting your Research  

Provide a clear and concise title for your submission and specify whether it is an article, communication, review, perspective, or a manuscript belonging to some other category. If the journal guideline recommends, consider including a list of all authors in the manuscript.   

After covering the preliminary information, briefly explain your paper’s central theme or focus to give the editor an idea of its contents. Ensure this stays a brief outline, without going into too much detail.   

Conveying the Importance of Your Work  

How you communicate the impact of your work can make or break your cover letter. To make a strong impression on the editor, articulate the significance of your research clearly, emphasizing its relevance to the field. Additionally, show how your work aligns with the journal’s scope and mission.  

Including a Formal Declaration  

Some journals require a set of declarations from you to ensure that your manuscript adheres to its ethical code and the larger ethical standards of scientific publishing. Here are the required declarations in a cover letter:  

• Originality of work:  
• Confirm that your work is original and has not been published elsewhere. This tells the editor your research is unique.  
• Conflict of interest statement:  
• Be clear about any potential conflicts of interest. This includes any personal, financial, or professional connections that might affect your research.  
• Funding source (if applicable):  
• Tell where your research funding came from, if any. This includes any support or grants from organizations.   

Including Personal Suggestions for Reviewers on a Separate Page (optional)  

If there is no part of the submission process that collects researcher suggestions for reviewers, and there are special requests from the researcher for reviewers (e.g., recommending the inclusion or suggesting the exclusion of a specific reviewer, etc.), you may also make a note about this in the cover letter.  

Combining these five points, here is a good example of a cover letter for researchers’ reference:  

(This image is intended to demonstrate the norms of formatting and tone of expression in a cover letter, it is to be used only by the researcher as a reference in writing² .)  

Conclusion  

A strong cover letter can go a long way in ensuring success for researchers looking to publish their manuscripts! Your cover letter is the opening act, setting the stage for how editors perceive your manuscript. So, look at it not as just another formality but as a crucial opportunity to make a strong impression.   

Understanding what to include, what is optional, and what is best left unsaid can be tricky. That is where our team of experts at Elsevier Language Services can step in. We will provide personalized recommendations and expert guidance to help you craft a cover letter that perfectly complements your manuscript. Reach out to us today to make a great first impression and embark on a successful academic journey!  

Reference  

• Nicholas, D. (2019). How to choose a journal and write a cover letter. Saudi Journal of Anaesthesia, 13(5), 35. https://doi.org/10.4103/sja.sja_691_18  
• Loyola University Chicago. (n.d.). JCSHESA Sample Cover Letter. https://ecommons.luc.edu/jcshesa/cover_letter_template.pdf  

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