There’s a lot of discussion in the charity sector about the importance of impact analysis and reporting as a way to persuade donors and supporters to do more. Annual reports are now often rebranded as impact reports. Does this work? And if it works how does it work? In this blog =mc consulting director Bernard Ross explores the importance of social proof in persuasion and argues that this ‘softer’ approach can be more powerful than facts and figures, even beautifully presented ones.