Annual Reports

Resources for creating your 2025 Annual Report

Annual Reports help tell the Extension impact story. They provide a convenient historical archive of county Extension efforts for the year. Together, they demonstrate the positive impact Extension provides families, businesses, and communities across the state. By reflecting and evaluating a previous year's impact, annual reports provide assistance on forward-looking program planning. Annual reports are a legal requirement of the Extension system.

• Before September 17, 2025: Submit the name of your report point person to Matt Wiley via email. At that time, Matt will provide a private link for each unit to submit their content.
• October 1, 2025: Annual Report Toolkit available at go.illinois.edu/AnnualReportToolkit
• October 2025: Training Schedule
  • October 1: Writing and editing
  • October 8: Design
  • October 22: Optional Q&A Office Hour
  • December 17: Unit Impact Dashboard: A Resource for Annual Reports
• October 22, 2025: Tentative report outline is due to MarCom, along with your deadline selection for submitting final input. The report outline MUST be in 4-page increments. Final input deadline options include:
  • January 28 for units wanting printed reports by mid-March
  • February 26 for units wanting printed reports by mid-April.
• January 13, 2026: Units may begin submitting reports.
  • Submit your report details at go.illinois.edu/SubmitReport.
  • Content must be reviewed by the county director, regional communications coordinator, and regional associate director prior to submission.
  • Place all content (images, text, or design file) in your unique Box file provided by Matt.
• January 20, 2026: Final data will be available in the data dashboard, provided by Beth Welbes.
  • Access the Unit Impact Dashboard at go.illinois.edu/UnitImpactDash.
  • Some data sets may be available by mid-December, but volunteer data will not be available until January.
  • Counties may choose which data points they wish to feature in their report, highlighting the most successful areas for their counties.
• January 28, 2026: Final submission deadline for units that want printed reports by mid-March.
  • Units must commit to meeting this earlier deadline, and content must be complete.
• February 26, 2026: Final submission deadline for units that want printed reports by mid-April.
  • 30-Day Turnaround: Our goal is to return a final draft to each unit within 30 days of receiving the final content piece. That timing does not begin until the final piece of any missing content is provided and ends with our submission of the draft copy to counties for review.
• May 28, 2026: Print Cost Coverage Deadline
  • Report printing costs up to $1,000 will be paid by the state MarCom team, but only if using the state printing vendor.
  • The appointed contact from each unit and Dylan Hamilton will receive the printing invoice. Dylan will make a direct payment of up to $1,000 to the printer. Note: This direct payment model is a change from previous years.
  • If the total cost is over $1,000, the unit will provide a CFOP to Dylan to charge the remaining balance. Dylan will split the cost in Emburse Enterprise accordingly and will send a copy of the completed expense report to the unit for their records.