Summary:

SiarzaSD partnered with the Ronald McDonald House of New Mexico (RMHC-NM) to design an updated annual report that informs its donors, volunteers and stakeholders. This report’s core focus was storytelling: telling the important stories of the families that have been impacted by generous donors and volunteers. 

RMHC-NM had been severely impacted by COVID-19. Many families could not utilize the House’s services, and donors could not do tours of the existing and newly debuted second location of the House. Because of this, it was imperative to have a stunning report designed to showcase the stories of the volunteers, families and donors.

Research and planning:

After discussions with the RMHC-NM staff, SiarzaSD researched necessary components of the annual report that meet the fiduciary responsibility of the organization’s 501-c3 status, as well as the development needs of the organization. The team researched additional trends in design for communication and marketing purposes to help the organization deliver an annual report. We also searched through other RMHC chapters’ websites for annual reports, as well as studied the current RMHC national brand guide. SiarzaSD referenced research compiled by nonprofits who presented solid financial data and storytelling within their annual reports and made use of best practices and trends.

SiarzaSD assisted RMHC-NM in developing the proper storytelling elements, including a volunteer story, a family story and the new RMHC-NM location within the Springfield Suites – Marriott in Albuquerque, NM – a first of its kind location to partner with a corporate hotel and local hospital. We highlighted donors in the annual report to celebrate current donors and encourage other businesses and individuals to donate to the organization. Our creative team arranged the data and images in a bold, modern way to showcase RMHC-NM’s successes for the year in a positive light. Each section contained appropriate headlines in order to be easily identified in the Table of Contents.

Goals:

• Foster goodwill between the community, donors and board by disclosing important annual financial information about the organization’s spending and fundraising. 
• Facilitate a connection between the staff, volunteers and family of RMHC and the public.
• Generate awareness for RMHC-NM’s mission in New Mexico.

OBJECTIVE 1: Develop a thoughtful, comprehensive annual report for the printed version of the annual report, as well as a digital, downloadable report.

OBJECTIVE 2: Distribute the report as a form of fundraising and outreach during the pandemic.

Result:

• OBJECTIVE 1 was met: SiarzaSD’s creative team was able to produce a twelve-page report that was printed and uploaded to the website. 
• OBJECTIVE 2 was met: $15,370 in funds/donations was collected because of the mailing/outreach of the report. 800 copies of the annual report were printed.