How to prepare for your Impact Report

Whether you are writing your first ever impact report or preparing to release your annual update, the process can feel both exciting and daunting.

At Projects, we published our first report at the start of 2025 and are now in the midst of preparing our second. Along the way, we have learnt valuable lessons about what works, what doesn’t and why an impact report is so much more than a tick-box exercise.

Why write an Impact Report?

Let’s start here. If you are a B Corp, publishing an annual impact report is a requirement. But even if you are not, it is one of the most valuable exercises a business can undertake. An impact report is your chance to show the world what you stand for. It brings to life the work you have done, the people you have supported and the positive change you are striving to create.

Done well, it builds trust with your community, strengthens your brand and gives your team a moment to pause and recognise what you have achieved together.

For us, writing our first report highlighted how much we had accomplished in just a year - things that otherwise may have been forgotten in the busy day-to-day. It also created a benchmark we can now measure against as we continue to grow.

How to prepare

Here are some of the key things we’ve learnt:

1. Start early

Give yourself plenty of time. Gathering data, stories and visuals takes longer than you think. Start by mapping out the key themes you want to highlight and then work backwards to identify what information you need.

2. Collect data throughout the year

Instead of scrambling at the end, create simple systems for logging your impact as you go. For example, track energy savings, member volunteering hours or event attendance on a rolling basis. When report season comes, you’ll already have the evidence to hand.

3. Balance numbers and stories

Hard data is important, but it is the stories that bring your impact to life. Ask team members, partners, or community members for short reflections or testimonials. A mixture of statistics and human voices creates a report that people will want to read.

4. Make it engaging

Your report doesn’t need to be a dry PDF. Think about design, photography and how people will interact with it. Use visuals, infographics, and bite-sized highlights to make the content accessible. For our first report, we wanted the design to be strong so that the final product felt as inspiring as the work inside it.

5. Involve your whole team

This shouldn’t be one person’s project. Involve your team in gathering content and ideas. It creates buy-in and ensures your report reflects the breadth of your organisation’s impact. Everyone in your organisation will have a different perspective on what matters and what should be celebrated - whether it is the operations team tracking energy savings, the community team capturing stories from members or the finance team pulling together figures on charitable donations.

By making the process collaborative, you not only ease the workload but also highlight achievements that might otherwise go unnoticed. It also gives your team a sense of pride and ownership over the final report. When people can point to a story or statistic they contributed, the report becomes something the whole organisation stands behind, not just a compliance document.

Consider setting up a simple structure, such as a shared folder or quarterly check-ins, where team members can drop in relevant data, photos, or anecdotes. That way, when it comes to pulling the report together, you already have a rich collection of material that represents the full scope of your impact.

How to market your Impact Report

Right, once your report is finished, the work isn’t over. To ensure it reaches the right people, plan a marketing campaign around its release, here are some ideas on how to do that:

• Host a launch event: Share the report with your community in person. It creates a moment to celebrate together.

• Break it into content: Use highlights across blogs, newsletters and social media. This extends the life of the report and makes it more digestible.

• Send it directly: Share the report with key partners, clients and stakeholders. It’s a powerful tool for building trust.engagement

• Invite : Ask for feedback or questions. Your report should start conversations, not just sit on a shelf.

Preparing an impact report takes effort, but it is one of the most rewarding projects you can do as a business. It sharpens your focus, shows accountability and allows you to celebrate your progress with others. Whether you’re creating your first or your fifth, see it as an opportunity to share your story and inspire action.

At Projects, we’ll continue to learn and improve with each report - and we hope these reflections help you do the same. We look forward to sharing our next Impact Report with you soon!