What should an impact report include?

A one-page summary of what changed and for whom, three key figures, at least one human story, your method in brief, and a clear next step for funders or partners.

Should an impact report be a PDF or a web page?

Both. Publish the key findings as a web page so people, search engines and AI tools can find them, and offer the full designed report as a PDF download.

Article

How to design an impact report people actually read

Design for the reader with five minutes, not the one with an afternoon.

Sydney Sam

Co-founder and CEO

21 July 2026 · 2 min read

Partners presenting a publication on stage at an international summit

Key takeaways

Most readers skim, so design the report for five minutes, with the depth behind it for those who want it.
Lead with what changed and why it matters, not the organisation's history.
Three key figures and one human story are remembered longer than pages of statistics.
Publish the key findings as a web page as well as a PDF, so people, search engines and AI tools can find them.
Plan the spin-off assets at the brief stage, not after the report is finished.

Contents

Organisations spend months on impact reports. Data, interviews, approvals, design, more approvals. Then the PDF goes out, gets a polite LinkedIn post, and most people read the first page, if that.

We've designed reports, playbooks and guides for international organisations and foundations for years. The ones that get read have a few things in common, and almost none of it is about making them prettier.

Name the readers first

A funder deciding on renewal. A partner looking for a reason to work with you. A journalist hunting for one number. Your own board. They want different things, and almost none of them will read forty pages front to back. Design for the person with five minutes, and put the depth behind it for the person with an afternoon.

Lead with what changed

Many reports open with a letter from leadership, then the history, then the method, and reach the results on page twelve. Flip it. Page one should say what changed, for whom and why it matters. A reader who stops there should still leave with the point.

Three numbers and one story

A page of statistics blurs together. Choose the three figures that matter most and give each one room. Then tell one human story properly: a person, a place, a before and after. That's what people remember and repeat in meetings you're not in.

Make it easy to skim

Headings that say something. “Incomes rose in every district” rather than “Outcomes”.
A summary page with the key findings up front.
Pull quotes and callouts for the lines you want people to share.
Charts that make one point each, with that point written as the title.

Don't let it live only in a PDF

A PDF is hard to find, hard to read on a phone and hard for search engines and AI assistants to quote. Publish the key findings as a proper web page, with the full report as a download. Then people asking questions about your sector can actually find your work.

Plan the spin-offs in the brief

The report is the source, not the only output. Plan the summary, the social cards, the slides for your next talk and the email to funders alongside the report itself. At the brief stage that's a few extra assets. Afterwards, it's a second project.

If you have a report coming up, book a call. We'll help you plan it so it gets read, and give you everything you need to share it.

Questions, answered.

What should an impact report include?
A one-page summary of what changed and for whom, three key figures, at least one human story, your method in brief, and a clear next step for funders or partners.
Should an impact report be a PDF or a web page?
Both. Publish the key findings as a web page so people, search engines and AI tools can find them, and offer the full designed report as a PDF download.

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