Posts
Although full-color, expensive reports mailed out to the world aren't commonplace anymore, the information in an annual report is still relevant to your taxpayers and donors. In a world of limited resources, think of an annual report as a way to demonstrate how effective you and your fellow members are at maximizing community safety through your department's budget.
An online example of an annual report from the Iowa City Fire Department may be found here. It breaks down operational areas and quantifies information for taxpayers. One such example may be found in the Training and Equipment section from Iowa City Fire.
For volunteer departments, you may find more information on how to quantify the value of volunteers' time here.
How promptly an annual report is made available is as important as the exact content that goes into it. What are some baselines to consider including in your annual report?
- Number and types of calls and time involved
- Training time completed
- Community and education time completed (event support, fire prevention, etc.)
- Member certification levels
- One to two stories from the year from members and/or grateful victims/service recipients
- Review your statistics and consider how you could make them more relevant to the general reader. For example, the 2958 hours of training cited in the Iowa City Fire Department annual report may "hit home" more when expressed as "more than 120 continuous days of training" or "1/3 of a year." This was determined by taking 2958 hours and dividing by 24).
- Make sure your appreciation for taxpayer and donor support shines through.
- Ask yourself: What are the three most relevant statistics or stories included in your report? Use this information in your community conversations throughout the year.
Want to get into more detail? Visit Tom Ahearn's Better Annual Reports blog here.
Does your department produce an annual report? If so, how do you share it?
