What are some effective ways to report on your community outreach program's success?

1 Define your goals and indicators

Before you start reporting on your program's success, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve and how you will measure it. Your goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). Your indicators should be linked to your goals and reflect the changes you want to see in your target population, such as knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, or outcomes. For example, if your goal is to increase the literacy rate among children in a rural area, your indicators could be the number of children enrolled in your program, the number of books distributed, the test scores of the participants, or the feedback from the parents and teachers.

2 Choose your format and audience

Depending on your purpose and audience, you may need to use different formats and styles to report on your program's success. For example, if you are reporting to a funder, you may need to follow their specific guidelines and templates, and use a formal and professional tone. If you are reporting to your partners or stakeholders, you may want to use a more engaging and interactive format, such as a presentation, a video, or a newsletter, and use a more conversational and storytelling tone. If you are reporting to the public or the media, you may want to use a more concise and visual format, such as a infographic, a blog post, or a press release, and use a more catchy and persuasive tone.

3 Use data and stories

To make your report more credible and compelling, you need to use both data and stories to illustrate your program's success. Data can provide quantitative evidence of your program's impact, such as numbers, percentages, graphs, or charts. Stories can provide qualitative evidence of your program's impact, such as testimonials, anecdotes, quotes, or photos. Data and stories can complement each other and show different aspects of your program's success, such as the scope, the depth, the context, or the emotions. For example, you can use data to show how many children improved their literacy skills after participating in your program, and use stories to show how those skills changed their lives.

4 Highlight your challenges and learnings

Reporting on your program's success does not mean hiding your challenges or failures. On the contrary, you should be transparent and honest about the difficulties you faced and the mistakes you made, and show how you overcame them or learned from them. This can help you build trust and credibility with your audience, and show your commitment to continuous improvement and accountability. For example, you can share how you adapted your program to the COVID-19 pandemic, how you dealt with a budget cut, or how you resolved a conflict with a partner.

5 Include your recommendations and next steps

Reporting on your program's success is not only a way to look back, but also a way to look forward. You should use your report as an opportunity to share your recommendations and next steps for your program, based on your findings, feedback, and insights. This can help you demonstrate your vision and leadership, and invite your audience to support or join your future efforts. For example, you can suggest how to scale up your program, how to collaborate with other organizations, or how to address a new challenge or opportunity.

6 Use tools and resources

To make your reporting process easier and more effective, you can use various tools and resources that can help you collect, analyze, visualize, and communicate your data and stories. For example, you can use online surveys, mobile apps, or SMS platforms to gather feedback from your participants, partners, or stakeholders. You can use software, such as Excel, SPSS, or R, to process and organize your data. You can use platforms, such as Canva, Piktochart, or Powtoon, to create attractive and informative visuals, such as infographics, videos, or animations. You can use websites, such as Grammarly, Hemingway, or CoSchedule, to improve your writing, editing, or headline skills.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?