The Power of Impact Storytelling for B Corps

  • Design
  • Ethical Web Design
  • Working With Plank

Over the many years that Plank has been around, we have built hundreds of websites, applications, and digital platforms. We’ve developed websites for major performing arts organizations and museums, as well as one of the highest-grossing documentaries of all time. We’ve been involved in building a fan-focused website to support the final tour of one of Canada’s most important rock bands and even made efforts to bring baseball back to Montreal. We created a 50-year archive for a long-standing literary magazine and enabled a division of global technology company to manage and maintain their design standards.

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Generally, we’ve been involved in projects that either bucked the trends of the moment or aligned perfectly with them. We’ve built content management systems, e-commerce platforms, and marketing-focused user systems. We’ve even built a few successful social networks for different non-profit organizations to help them engage and interact with their audience.

Recently, our team challenged itself with a new website approach. With an increased focus on content and storytelling, our design team has been experimenting with building interactive experiences centered on rich narratives.

Experimenting with Storytelling

Earlier this year, we explored how storytelling can enhance your website by making its content more engaging and effective. By integrating interactive and animated elements, a storytelling approach transforms your website into an immersive, visually appealing experience that captures your audience’s attention. This method uses curated content and dynamic animations to tell a story that resonates with your users.

When you have important information to share, it’s crucial to present it in a way that’s both impactful and engaging. By incorporating interactivity and animation, you can deliver your message in a way that connects deeply with your audience. In essence, a website should be more than just static text and images—it should tell a story that makes your content memorable and meaningful.

An Enhanced Impact Report

Since becoming a B Corp, we are required to publish an Impact Report to transparently communicate our efforts over the previous year and to meet the standards set out by the B Impact Assessment Guidelines. In 2023, we asked ourselves how we could improve the quality of our Impact Report beyond merely meeting these guidelines.

Leveraging our storytelling approach, we decided to go beyond delivering our Impact Report as a well-designed PDF. Using the insights our design team gained from storytelling projects, we turned our impact report into an animated, interactive one-page website. The result was a much more engaging experience that told a richer story not just through text, but with imagery, infographics, and a more emotionally resonant narrative.

The Value of Interactive Impact Reports

We were so pleased with the outcome of our Impact Report that it inspired us to think: Why not collaborate with other B Corps to help elevate the quality of their Impact Reports? What are the benefits of infusing your Impact Report with an interactive, storytelling approach?

An interactive Impact Report offers you the opportunity to significantly increase user engagement. By telling a more compelling story through animation, imagery, infographics, and video, you enhance the emotional impact of your report and ensure that people develop a stronger connection to your organization. This approach encourages your team to think creatively about the report, driving innovation and helping you communicate more effectively. Providing a modern web experience that prioritizes accessibility, development standards, and efficient loading speeds builds on everything you’re already doing to be a better B Corp.

Next Steps

As you begin planning your next annual Impact Report, we encourage you to look at what we created for inspiration. After considering your options, discuss with your website design team what approaches are available and what a budget might look like based on your ideas. If you don’t currently have a partner or in-house capacity to develop an interactive Impact Report, we would be happy to explore different options and approaches with you.

Even if you’re not a B Corp, there’s no reason why your organization shouldn’t consider sharing the impact you’re making. Transparently sharing your impact with stakeholders, investors, and audiences offers new ways for mission-driven organizations to connect with and deepen relationships.

If you would like to discuss our Impact Report or are considering developing one of your own, feel free to reach out. We’d love to connect with you.