I just saved a client hundreds of printing dollars by cutting back its annual report from 20 pages to 8. (I really wanted to cut back to 4 or even 2 pages, but I didn’t want to make anyone cry. Maybe next year.)

Then I spent some of that savings on full-color printing, as opposed to a two-color interior. Though still spending less, the organization gets more impact.

Additional impact comes from the fact that each page averages less than 200 words. I cut way, way back to make room for photos and graphics. They will be more effective than any amount of text alone.

The development director I’m working with is incredibly brave. She is willing to:

• Let me take a machete to her carefully crafted words
• Put aside years of (perhaps less than fully effective) practice
• Sacrifice completeness to achieve clarity

Nearly every nonprofit has to fight the impulse to try to tell people everything it does. (So do many companies and entrepreneurs, for that matter.) That’s especially true for organizations like my client, whose mission is genuinely complex and difficult to explain.

I get it. I really do.

• Your work is really important.
• It’s not as simple as people think it is.
• You want people to appreciate how much you do to accomplish your mission.

You may imagine that you have to communicate this complexity in order to inspire people to support you.

But you don’t. In fact, you can’t.

Complexity is the enemy of communication. You can write (or talk) about all the wonderful things you do until the cows come home. But writing (or talking) isn’t communicating.

Communication happens when the intended audience receives and understands your message.

I’ll say that again: Communication happens when the intended audience receives and understands your message.

By that definition, communication is much more likely to happen when your message:

• Is short
• Uses images
• Tells stories
• Is attractively designed

If no one reads your 20-page report, you haven’t communicated.

If you’re lucky – if they’re not simply turned off by the 20-page book in their hands – they’ll read the headlines and the photo captions. So why not just give them the headlines and the photo captions to begin with?

I’d like to tell you the secret to stripping away complexity. But, honestly, the easiest and cheapest strategy is to hire me (or someone like me).

I don’t know exactly how much my client spent on its 20-page annual report last year, but I’m sure it’s spending less this year – even after paying my fee. And my brave development director didn’t have to spend two days trying to simplify her text.

What would have taken her two days took me about three hours. One reason is my years (soooo many years) of experience and training.

But equally important is the fact that it’s not my work. I have the crucial distance that would take you a major effort of imagination to achieve. You can do it (maybe like this), but it’s hard.

If you want to try it on your own, start with a little audience-centered thinking. You could try to be like Wimpy.

But if you want the easy – and cheap – way out, be in touch.