Annual Report Group Project

My teaching is informed by my past work as a prospect researcher and as a fundraiser. Over the years, my Nonprofit Theory & Practice Course has had an increasing focus on annual reports – from reading them for information, to understanding how information about the organization is communicated, to what audiences, and what intended action is supported. Engaging in those decisions is a useful exercise if one’s future might include being a savvy consumer of other organizations’ annual reports as a potential philanthropic decision-maker or journalist; a nonprofit employee tasked with developing content or format for an annual report; a charitable fundraiser sharing annual reports with potential supporters; an administrator evaluating the draft of an annual report for one’s own organization; or a volunteer board member at a smaller organization developing an annual report with little support or guidance.

In my class, students have been placed into groups around types of organizations that they have an affinity for (e.g., animal welfare, human services, etc.). I introduce this assignment about two-thirds of the way through the semester, so they have some familiarity with each other and with nonprofit data sources. In this assignment, they are asked to:
1. Select an organization that they would like to focus on and find its most recent annual report
2. Strategically plan a revision for the report – whether highlighting a particular program, community impact, keeping a specific reader population in mind, adapting format – they need to decide what opportunity they see and specific steps to adapt the report
3. Work together to produce a revision, including both content and format
4. Present their report – why they made the choices they made, what they did, and how this is an improvement for a specific purpose
5. Evaluate the group members’ contributions on four issues:
(a) presence at group meetings
(b) creative contributions
(c) producing work on time
(d) producing high quality work

I use those student evaluations in assigning grades for the revision and presentation – someone who receives consistently low evaluations from group members may have their group’s base score prorated.