SUMMARY
Make-A-Wish Eastern North Carolina (MAW Eastern NC) serves all medically eligible children who reside in the 49-county chapter area east of the Orange/Alamance county line, from the Triangle to the coast. They aim to reach every eligible child in the chapter area and grant their wish. Wishes are granted to children diagnosed with a critical illness with the belief that a wish can bring hope and strength that can be life-changing for the children they serve.
WHERE THE IMPOSSIBLE BECOMES POSSIBLE
Angel Oak Creative worked with MAW Eastern NC to develop their annual report-themed Adventure Awaits and titled Where the Impossible Becomes Possible, which later became a platinum winner of the 2022 Hermes Creative Awards.
Annual reports are essential in being transparent about your organization’s efforts, clearly showing donors and key stakeholders where their money is being utilized and why they should continue to invest and building credibility in your work.
Because annual reports are typically data-driven, they can quickly become unengaging. The most successful reports are composed creatively, in a way that not only serves as a touchpoint for donors but invites them on a future journey with you.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we had to determine the most effective strategies to highlight the work MAW Eastern NC was continuing to do despite new limitations, and bring a celebratory tone to the piece as the chapter granted its 4,000th wish and celebrated its 35th anniversary.
CHALLENGE
- The impact of COVID-19 on their ability to grant wishes, the children they serve and their annual report numbers
- Communicating their ongoing work despite the limitations of COVID-19
- Highlighting their 4,000th wish granted and their 35th anniversary in the piece appropriately
- Creating an engaging annual report
SOLUTION
- Branding the annual report through a specific theme
- Developing key messaging
- Story-telling: sharing the story of MAW Eastern NC as a whole while also highlighting individual stories of impact
OBJECTIVES
clearly, transparently and creatively communicate impact data
demonstrate the continuation of work despite the pandemic
engage donors and key stakeholders
emphasize stories and celebrate organizational milestones
STRATEGIES INITIATED
Branding
creating a theme specific to the annual report that would encourage engagement and consistency.
Storytelling
strategically choosing stories of impact and high-quality photos to convey the theme and key messages.
Key Messaging
developing consistent, concise and clear messages to communicate to donors and key stakeholders effectively.
Branding
Angel Oak Creative developed the theme “Adventure Awaits” and titled the report “Where the impossible becomes possible.” Headings were developed for each section of information like “Making the impossible possible takes commitment,” “Making the impossible possible takes creativity,” and “Making the impossible possible takes creativity,” etc. to further ensure engaging content.
Storytelling
Angel Oak Creative strategically highlighted stories of impact as well as highlights from MAW Eastern NC during the year to convey a celebratory tone and deepen the credibility of the work.
Key Messaging
Following our typical content rule to keep information clear, concise, compelling and consistent, Angel Oak Creative developed key messaging to use strategically throughout the piece to ensure it resonated with donors engagingly and creatively.
RESULTS
The annual report created by Angel Oak Creative became a platinum winner of the 2022 Hermes Creative Awards. Implementing a strategy to communicate data engagingly through branding, story-telling and key messaging provided new opportunities and exposure for MAW Eastern NC.