Impact Report and Donor Communications Checklist

Keep outputs and outcomes apart

• Label each number on the page as an output or an outcome.
• Treat any number you could count on the day of the activity as an output.
• Pair every outcome with its baseline or survey method, sample and period.
• Use a layout built for outputs when you have no outcome data this year.

Outputs are what you delivered and who took part. Outcomes are what changed for those people.

Give every number a source and period

• Record each figure's period and source before it goes into the design.
• Keep unverified numbers out of the headline.
• Write a definition, measurement method, source and caution for every featured metric.
• Put counting definitions on the page in a footnote or short methods box.
• Label last year's figures as last year's.
• Replace every sample figure, quote and name before anyone outside the team sees a draft.

Consent and dignity for stories and photos

• Confirm consent before any image of a person goes live.
• Apply a dignity check to photos of children and people receiving help.
• Record consent before naming any volunteer or participant publicly.
• Use no generated beneficiaries, quotes or photos.

Build email that every reader can use

• Export only the graphics from your design tool: header, photo, chart.
• Type the headline and body as live text in your email platform.
• Make every button a real link, not an image of a button.
• Add alt text to every image.
• Send a test to a phone before sending to the list.
• Leave blank results blank in your results log instead of filling in guesses.

A newsletter sent as one image can arrive blank, cannot be read by screen readers, and has no working links.

Give your website a trust section

• Show your registered legal name and registration number.
• Give a short breakdown of where the money goes.
• Link your latest accounts and annual report.
• List the policies and standards you follow and the partners that back you.
• Keep each claim to something you can show a document for.
• Link the Donate button to the giving page you already use.