The Landscape of Impact Reporting
2024 Reporting Trends Across Sectors
Published by Inform Solutions
Updated October 3, 2025
Impact reporting is evolving. But while some companies are rethinking how they share their commitments and progress, these reports continue to play an essential role: connecting business actions to broader outcomes. Their value lies in showing not only what’s being done, but also why it matters.
In our report, The Landscape of Impact Reporting: 2024 Reporting Trends Across Sectors, we analyzed over 50 impact reports published in 2024, most of them from the same organizations we reviewed last year. We looked at what has changed in companies’ reporting efforts, and we examined how teams are communicating through design, format, structure, frameworks, and proof points.
The landscape is shifting.
Many companies are rethinking how they frame impact, especially on people and planet. Some have pulled back on public-facing reporting. Others have adjusted language or shifted what they spotlight. It’s reported that what’s shifting most is visibility, not strategy¹. Teams are still doing the work, but as they balance that work with corporate risk, some have chosen to go quieter. That silence has a cost, including causing shared momentum to stall.
Friction can create the energy that moves us forward.
Thoughtfully addressing these challenges can push teams to find better language, clarify priorities, and strengthen reporting. We see companies framing issues around broadly shared values such as family, economic mobility, safety, opportunity, and stewardship. Strong outcome stories showcase global or national impact, while also being grounded in local context and tied to measurable results.
In this review, we focus on how organizations communicate, not on evaluating underlying metrics or program effectiveness. We highlight what’s working across sectors and where there’s opportunity to improve. Our hope is that organizations keep moving toward shared goals and continue to share their progress, inviting others to do the same. With intentional design and clear storytelling, impact reporting can be clear, credible, and useful, and better able to drive measurable, meaningful impact.
Overall Trends
We reviewed reports across three groupings: Investment Firms & Financial Services, Foundations & Nonprofits, and a cross-industry set. Across all categories, a few common design approaches stood out.
People First
Even in cross-industry and investment reports, imagery emphasizes real people, communities, or field settings. This helps impact feel grounded, not abstract.
Diverse Report Titles
More organizations are moving away from the generic “Impact Report” label, adopting titles like “Future Fund Report,” “Value-Add Assessment,” or “Stories from the Field” to differentiate.
Format Experimentation & Modularity
Reports include multi-format elements: one-pager highlights, web pages, or even video chapters, allowing audiences to engage at different levels.
Honest Imperfection & Visual Authenticity
Some reports favor collage layouts, photo layering, or less polished imagery to feel more human and credible rather than overly produced.
Varied Layouts & Visual Rhythm
To avoid monotony, many reports alternate dense, data-rich spreads with more open, image-driven pages — creating visual rest and better pacing.
Tech-Forward & Future-Ready Themes
Reports use elements like clean data visualizations, reflecting the growing narrative around digital responsibility.
To provide a snapshot of themes, we used a visualization to examine the key topics highlighted in these impact reports. This word cloud offers a visual snapshot of the most frequently mentioned phrases in the report summaries published by each company about their own report. The size of each word reflects how often it appeared in report highlights.
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Investment Firms & Financial Services
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Foundations & Nonprofits
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Retail, Manufacturing, Tech, Healthcare, Education
Explore the Sector-Specific Reviews
Reports We Reviewed
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Inform Solutions provides outsourced creative services to companies pioneering innovative products and services. Our mission is to clearly communicate and amplify the impact of innovators while actively contributing to a better future for our planet and society. Learn more at inform.solutions.