A few ways this has looked in practice
Reimagining Akanksha Foundation’s Annual Report (2021–22)
Akanksha Foundation approached me with a typical mandate: to create their annual report for 2021–22. But I didn’t want to submit another PDF that just checks off the compliance box and that no one wants to read.
So I turned all notions of a usual annual report upside down:
A typical annual report relays information about the year gone by chronologically. I wanted to employ emotive storytelling, so we had a real Akanksha student give the audience a tour of the year at her beloved school.
A “normal” annual report is stuffed with exhaustive details about every event of the year. But lengthy text is difficult to digest given limited attention spans, so I pushed for sharp, bite-sized content sans jargon — edited brutally, until each piece included was uber-essential yet preserved the depth of the work.
A conventional annual report, in its vertical scroll, often contains photos to give viewers a window into the organization. I wanted to offer an authentic experience of visiting an Akanksha school digitally, via horizontal design. The elements and backdrops in the report are all re-created from actual photos of an Akanksha school and classroom — and so is Dhanashree, the Akanksha student who walks you through the report (literally!).
“Smita is a unique communications specialist with talent that is relevant in today’s digital world. She has the skill to condense large amounts of information and data to bite sized nuggets that is easy to understand and captures the essence of what is being communicated. Smita is structured and thoughtful and a great partner to work with on creating communication collaterals.”
Building storytelling capacity
I believe every Social Purpose Organisation should develop the muscle to identify, collect and tell its own stories internally.
Through workshops and personalised coaching, I enable communication teams and nonprofit leaders to build practical storytelling skills, drawing from my course at Harvard.
I have conducted narrative-building trainings independently as well as by invitation. For example, I am mentoring nonprofit founders at The/Nudge Institute’s incubator on chiseling their fundraising pitches.
“The way Smita dissects each pitch deck and the ease with which she brings in a funder’s perspective are commendable. She is approachable, patient and very thorough with her suggestions.”
Amplifying CSR projects
At Samhita, a CSR-consulting firm, I supported the likes of Vedanta Foundation and Arvind Foundation to spread the word, via various channels, about the social-change initiatives they were sponsoring.
“I had the pleasure of working closely with Smita during my tenure with Vedanta Foundation. She wrote compelling copies and scripts for various CSR activities. She led a team of people and established a system that enabled seamless coordination and communication.”
Extended Communications Partner
I embed myself in your organization’s communications team and understand the essence of what you do and what your objectives and priorities are. Based on that, I work with the leaders to review your owned media, establish consistency across platforms, and streamline the storytelling function to serve the founder/CXO vision. The result is every touchpoint reflecting a clear, uniform and resonant narrative.
“Smita has been doing great in helping Gram Vaani build on & enhance its social-media presence through an interesting & effective communication strategy, targeting key stakeholders who we wish to engage with.”
Explore my published writings for magazines and newspapers →
A couple of other projects worth a look: editing two books for the Blind People’s Association, and The Human(e) Story podcast.
