A step-by-step guide to creating a basic church annual report

Your church/ministry annual report is a great way to showcase what God has accomplished through your members in a given year. Through a combination of storytelling, statistics, and goals, your report has the potential to encourage, motivate, and strengthen the relationship between you and your community in the upcoming year.

Before you get started… Check out Church Annual Reports by Ministry Design. It’s an in-depth article on the importance of annual reports, what your report should include, and examples from other churches.

Twenty Statistics (metrics) for Church Annual Reports

PRO TIP: These statistics are only a suggestion. It’s up to you and your church leadership team to decide on the best metrics for your church body.

• Baptisms

• Community Outreach

• Designated Giving

• Food Distributions

• Ministry Partnerships

• Mission Trips

• New Families

• New Leadership

• New Members

• New Online Members

• Pastoral Touches

• Prayer Requests

• Prayers Answered

• Salvations

• Social Media Growth

• Discipleship Growth

• Tithes & Offerings

• Visitors

• Volunteers

• Worship Attendance

Step-By-Step: How to Create a Church Annual Report (from scratch)

PRE-DESIGN

1. Determine which statistics to monitor throughout the year.

2. Develop an easy process for ministries to submit reports.

3. Keep the ministry reports in a church database or cloud-based storage throughout the year.

4. Determine if your publication will be digital, print, or both.

5. Determine how you will distribute the publication to your members (in-person and online). If mailing, calculate possible postage costs.

6. Determine the total page count. The page count will affect your total printing cost.

7. If printing, determine the paper quality, cover quality, and printing color (full color, black and white).

8. Based on the responses from #4-7: quote your publication with local printers.

STORYBOARD & WRITE

1. Storyboard the entire annual report. What should be published on each page?

   PRO TIP — Create an outline of the annual report in a Word document. Below are some annual report basics. In need of inspiration? Look to ISSUU for examples of annual reports from organizations around the world.

   • Table of contents

   • Letter from the leader

   • Ministry stories

   • Thank-you page to donors

   • List of key leaders

   • Financial report

   • Ways to give

   • Contact us page.

2. Recruit volunteer writers or hire freelance writers to capture the essence of each ministry story.

3. Hire a graphic designer to create the annual report design file.

4. Write out the content for each page in a Word document. Proofread each page at least two times prior to submitting the content to the graphic designer.

DESIGN & PRINT

1. Submit the storyboard and written content to the graphic designer.

2. Proofread the final artwork from the graphic designer at least two times.

3. If the annual report is a printed publication, send the final design files to the printer.

4. Proofread the publication prior to printing the finished product. Check picture quality, paper texture, colors, formatting, and text layouts.

5. Upload the digital copy to your website. PRO TIP — Issuu is a great online publication storage/database.

DISTRIBUTE

1. Distribute publications to members during service, by mail or email.

2. Share social media graphics showcasing highlights from the annual report.

YOU’RE DONE.

I hope this post has been helpful. What statistics do you include in your church’s annual report? Let me know in the comments.

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