Crisis Action: Demonstrating impact at the right time

Annual reviews are not just a legal requirement for charity financial reporting. They provide an opportunity for charitable organisations to demonstrate the impact of the work they have undertaken to deliver their mission. Raising awareness of the work carried out and the results achieved helps non-profit organisations to secure ongoing support, enabling them to further extend their reach.

For Crisis Action - an international NGO that brings together individuals and organisations from around the world in campaigns to protect civilians from conflict - their annual report is of particular importance. Avoiding any kind of public profile for most of their campaigns is a key part of their unique model of working and how they achieve impact. Their annual report is therefore one of the few times each year that they are able to communicate publicly about their successes.

Having been let down by an existing supplier, Crisis Action found themselves in need of a digital annual review solution at very short notice.

We received a call from Crisis Action the week before Christmas, with an urgent requirement to create a digital annual review that would need to be shared with stakeholders in the first week of January. We quickly understood how important it was to the Crisis Action mission to achieve this deadline, so were very keen to help them.

Claire Cullen, Marketing Director, Giant Digital

With just 2 weeks to build a suitable digital annual review in 3 languages, the Giant Digital team set to work, drawing together the many elements such as copy, imagery, timelines and statement of activity, working closely with the Crisis Action communications team to coordinate the content from their various team members across the world.

Crisis Action digital Annual Review 2021

Despite the tight timescale, the digital annual review was launched on time and within budget in all three languages: English, French and Arabic. The close collaboration and level of communication between Giant Digital and Crisis Action certainly contributed to the timely launch, but a huge credit should be given to the team members from both organisations who went out of their way during the Christmas period to ensure this project’s success.

A project like our annual report always presents challenges to suppliers that are new to us. We are incredibly particular about how we present our work, to ensure it credits our multiple campaign partners and allies appropriately, remains within the restrictions imposed by our unique model of campaigning, and reflects the emphasis we place on measuring and reporting impact. Being that particular across multiple languages and time zones, and within a greatly reduced timeframe, only adds to that challenge. However, for Giant, none of this ever felt like an issue. They understood the project immediately, and got on with it with a calm efficiency that was incredibly reassuring in the circumstances. They were responsive to our requests, quick to identify potential problems, and proactive and creative in proposing solutions. Some of their contributions, particularly on the Arabic site, went well above and beyond what we agreed and what I expected. It was obvious that, even in such time-pressured circumstances, Giant are an organisation that insist on hitting the highest standards on every job. The feedback we’ve had on the end product from around the world has been some of the best we’ve ever had on an annual report. I’m looking forward to seeing what they come up with for the next project, when they have more than just two weeks to work on it!

Alistair Martin, Director of Communications, Crisis Action

In working with Crisis Action, each and every member of the Giant Digital team have gained a deeper understanding and appreciation of the essential work carried out by the organisation, and the difference their work makes to innocent people caught up in areas of armed conflict. We hope that our work with Crisis Action will enable them to continue their efforts and we look forward to supporting them with other digital projects in the future.