CASE STUDY:

Sierra Health Foundation 2010 25th Anniversary
Annual Report
Private philanthropy dedicated to improving health and quality of life in Northern California.

Objective:

Sierra Health Foundation (SHF) is a private philanthropy dedicated to improving health and quality of life in Northern California. SHF celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2010. In all that time, the Foundation had never published an annual report.

WDC was asked to create a combination annual report (covering 2008 and 2009) that would also serve as a 25th anniversary report.

While the financial results focus on the most recent two years, our overarching goal was to depict the genesis of the organization over 25 years and show the diversity of SHF activities and community impacts – well beyond simple grant funding.

Thematically, our goal was to portray Sierra Health Foundation as a “serious and classic organization; convey warmth, beauty, strength and taste (like their iconic headquarters building on the Sacramento River.) They made sure we understood their mission, “We are about people.”.

WDC Solution:

WDC worked closely with SHF’s Communications Manager to compile and sort through 25 years of historical and program information.

Working backwards from the required AR elements (Introduction, CEO/Board chair letter, board and executive team photos and 2008/2009 financial results), we determined how many pages we could devote to past and current programs and initiatives.

From there we identified, contacted, interviewed and photographed the people to be featured in the report.

Creativity:

SHF had adopted the theme “Looking Backward, Looking Forward” for its 25th anniversary event. We wanted something punchier, so we came up with “Partnerships with Purpose: Reaching Out/Creating Change.”

Our designer seamlessly blended warmth with elegance. Photography provides the warmth – colorful people shots are inviting and energetic. Elegance was achieved through color choice (warm blue with earthy brown/tan); a combination of serif and sans serif fonts; strategic use of all caps; and colored subheads and text blocks.

Although there is no table of contents, each section is introduced (subtly but effectively) with a “faux tab.”

Challenge:

By far the biggest challenge was fitting 25 years of an amazingly rich and proud history in 15 pages. (The rest are devoted to standard annual report information).

Finding the right unifying theme for the programs/activities described in each section was also a challenge. Ultimately, we came up with: Investing in Young People; Responding to Community Needs; Promoting Health Access; Improving Health through Leadership; Seeing Innovation; Convening the Nonprofit Community.

Dealing with the sheer volume of information SHF wanted to share – without covering each page with 10 pt. type –was another challenge. We solved that by setting strict word counts for each article and sidebar.

We were working against and unyielding deadline. Our intake meeting was on June 9, 2010 and SHF’s 25th anniversary event was set for October 7, 2010.

Finally, SHF’s budget for creative concept, copywriting, design, photography and production was befitting its non-profit status. This meant that WDC donated several hours of time -- and we were delighted to do so!

Results:

• The SHF CEO loved the report. He said we captured the essence of the foundation perfectly.
• 25th anniversary celebration guests included past and current grantees, SHF board members and staff, community partners, Health Leadership Program graduates, city and county government leaders, and Congresswoman Doris Matsui. Even non-SHF speakers referenced the “Partnerships with Purpose” theme and recipients praised the attractiveness and scope of the publication.
• The report has become SHF’s primary communication piece.
• The publication sets the precedent for future biannual reports to the community.
• We just found out that “Partnerships with Purpose” has won a Silver Award in the Special Reports category of the Council on Foundations’ “2011 Wilmer Shields Rich Awards for Excellence in Communications.” SHF is thrilled to get this national peer group recognition.