The power of a good Annual Report 09/10

I am delighted to present the 2009 - 2010 Annual Report for Horowhenua Library Trust.

Open publication - Free publishing - More trust

This year, I wanted use the Annual Report to paint a picture in order to have a useful tool for the coming year. We are about to embark on fundraising the remaining $2m required for our new libraries. We are a Council controlled organisation and elected councillors have to choose how much of the rate-take will come to us in operational funding and also how much capital to invest in our new facilities. I have tried to make a number of points to help make that decision making easier:

• we are a professional organisation not some 'bake sale committee',
• we are a team of many - not a one pony show,
• we think strategically about what we do and why,
• we provide an extremely good return on investment,
• we are truly a 'community' organisation
• the 'book' loss in the financial accounts doesn't tell the whole story.
  

We have printed a small number of hard copies but have also produced an online version for the first time. The printer was able to supply us with a high grade pdf file which was easily and quickly loaded to issuu, an award-winning free online publishing platform. This means that we can spread our story far wider than our cheque book would have allowed through traditional print media.