Many organizations, especially in the community sector, undertake reporting to please funders or to respect (often outdated) guidelines. Reporting is seen by many as a burden that is time consuming and detracts staff from being productive. Furthermore, for many community-based organizations, many believe that there is little to no benefit for organizations who make the effort to develop their reporting practices (we don’t receive more funding for reporting more detailed information, after all). However, reporting is central in ensuring that we are accountable and responsible to our stakeholders and ourselves. Organizations can communicate their value through reporting on their impact in their communities, but this will never be achieved in an engaging or efficient manner if organizations do not take ownership over their reporting process.

What matters when developing reporting guidelines is that those reporting, be they individuals or organizations, have a sense of ownership over the reporting process and its outcomes.

Generally,