Impact Reports have Personalities too? Who knew!
As we’ve said already in this blog, impact reporting can’t be all things to all people. Like any other message we are trying to get across, we have to make choices about what we want to achieve and what we are optimizing for. In our last installment, we discussed the 3 core audiences of impact reporting , what they need from us and what we want them to do. This week, we are going to explore the report itself, and how companies and organizations can align their reporting style with their reporting goals.
As I’ve pored over dozens of Impact Reports in putting together this blog series, I find myself struck by the different personalities reports take on. Theoretically, all impact reports are delivering similar information, in a similar format, so one would think they would all be somewhat the same. But they aren’t - each is uniquely designed to share their company’s message. At the same time, they are also not completely unique snowflakes. I find that impact reports typically take on one of three personalities – The Brand Booster, The Standards Report, The Proof of Work Report – each trying to evoke different emotions, thoughts and behaviors in the readership. Their styles have unique strengths and limitations and thus lend themselves to different audiences.
The Brand Booster
Targeted at customers or community, investors and funders - the Brand Booster is flashy and features stories and narratives that are celebratory, upbeat, inspirational and sentimental. The Brand Booster elevates the organization’s “why” (their mission, vision, values, goals, purpose etc.) and tends to promote a narrative of cooperation and collaboration towards shared goals. It has the potential to reinforce the organization’s or company’s purpose (and possibly product) with the priorities and values of the customer/audience. But, the Brand Booster can over-index on stories at the expense of evidence, making it difficult to show continuity and commitment over time, and making it less useful for decision-making audiences (like investors or funders).
Get the most out of it: Tie together strong stories with a central theme that connects impact mission/goals and the organization’s purpose or product. Incorporate some rigorous data and evidence elements, in the form of call-outs or simple data tables.
The Standards Report
Where the Brand Booster is focused on customers and community audiences, the Standards Report is targeted at investors and funders, and often is a signal that a company values accountability and transparency. This kind of report is focused on rigor, following and meeting existing standards, often in a financial-reporting style. Focused on the organization’s “what” (what they are doing, spending and delivering), it highlights data and evidence, often in simple and easily digestible formats. These types of reports may showcase data collected over time, which supports assessment and decision-making. But Standards Reports, while technically sufficient, can be limited and may not tell the whole story of an impact program. Additionally, they may be overly technical, which can limit the audience and their ability to understand the report, or absorb key takeaways.
Get the most out of it: Reference all methodologies and standards used, and make it easy to navigate for the audience. Incorporate more of the why (mission, vision, values, purpose etc.), either through the use of story content or a unifying framework that connects reported metrics back to an organizational purpose.
The Proof of Work Report
Heavy with evidence and details, the Proof of Work report goes beyond compliance, with an emphasis on thoroughness and intentionality. It communicates to the reader how the organization or company is allocating its social impact resources and programs, and signals deep, ongoing commitment to them through the use of impact frameworks and exhaustive metrics. It suggests that impact evidence is used for continuous improvement and strategy building, as well as for reporting. Because its reporting is deep and often technical, the audience can be peer organizations or other social impact professionals, but may also be investors or funders. The Proof of Work Report may over-index on data and evidence and offer more detail than is needed by the audience. A single report may become unwieldy and may require a collection of briefs and other documents to aid its publication. This report demonstrates expertise in social impact topics, but requires a particularly thoughtful hand, as it contains a lot of information.
Get the most out of it: Help the reader by providing a simple framework for how all the details fit together, so they can understand the purpose or impact goal. Incorporate stories and infographics that will speak to audiences and keep their attention.
Obviously, these categories are not necessarily discrete. A report author can choose to incorporate elements of more than one style. The important thing is that the author is making an intentional decision based upon the audience and business need. Now, let’s take a look at some real-life examples!
Bombas 2022: Bring the audience into the cause with a Brand Booster Report
This is a strong example of a brand boosting impact report. It pulls me in with this catchy, brightly colored landing page that tells me what their social impact focus is (homelessness in the US). I haven’t even opened up the report and I already have a sense of what they stand for. A quick scan of the Table of Contents, and I can easily see who their target audience is – Customers! Bombas leads their reporting with Product Donation, which is core to their philanthropic model, as they donate an item for every item purchased. Given that their philanthropy is so tied to consumer behavior, they want the customer to continue to purchase their products, and be inspired to advocate for their cause. The semi-interactive report is upbeat and full of flashy graphics to get the non-technical audience energized about Bombas and their work to support individuals experiencing homelessness. They leverage big numbers (literally, they make them take up space) to tell the story, and these numbers tell me that it’s not all marketing. Stories come later, after the numbers, which shows the me that they have done the work.
Novo Nordisk 2022: Build trust with a Proof of Work Report
The target audience for Novo Nordisk is Investors (it’s in the URL, so no ambiguity there). The investor needs to feel confident that they are making a good investment, and possibly have what they need to make additional investments. They combine their financial and impact reporting, which makes sense given that their product (medicine) is also their main lever of impact. Pharmaceutical companies currently face heightened regulation and public scrutiny, so any reporting must engender trust. A Brand-boosting report could risk missing the audience, be perceived as a marketing tactic and erode trust and confidence.
Given all this, it is logical that this report is a great example of a proof of work report. It is serious in its demonstration of progress, sharing key metrics and their movement over time. Not only does it lead with indicators and metrics, the report shares strategy and programs, which signals to me transparency, intentionality and trustworthiness. Stories are limited and are instead told through images which are sprinkled throughout the report and ties me back to Novo Nordisk’s framework, purpose and impact.
Sweetgreen 2022: Mix up standards and story with a Standards Report
Sweetgreen’s report is a strong example of successfully integrating standards, stories and the product in order to build both the reader’s trust and connection to the company. While it is a report heavily focused on ESG and other standards, this report successfully bridges audiences from investors to customers. They head off the report with their mission, followed by a materiality assessment, showing that they are rooted in ESG concepts and best-practices while being guided by their values and purpose. In addition to reporting on ESG Standards, they reference and report on standards for labor and food that are relevant to different aspects of the business. This is giving investors and the market the information that they need and want. At the same time, they leverage headline numbers and easy-to-digest tables and infographics to help tell the story to a different, non-technical audience. Additionally, they weave in the product itself through images, spotlights and stories, thus helping the customer audience find meaning and stay engaged. Ultimately they help me connect to the product and to Sweetgreen’s mission, and see that their report is more than just a compliance report, but a genuine expression of the high standards they hold themselves to.
To sum up, there’s no one “right” way to write an impact report. One style is not inherently better than another. And a single report can borrow elements across the report types. What makes a report strong is that it is written with purpose, with the audience in mind, and leverages design, numbers and stories to communicate effectively. But with so many components to balance, how do we keep our report from turning into a chopped salad of numbers, letters and colors? How do we ensure that our message and impact come through?
In our next installment, we will explore how report writers are using unifying narratives and conceptual frameworks to tie it all together and tell their impact stories.
