Understanding Report Sections
How DonorDesk structures a donor report.
A DonorDesk report is a set of sections. The list comes from the donor template pinned to the reporting period, so your report follows the donor's structure.
Sections follow the donor template
- Section titles keep the donor's numbering (for example 3.2 Progress against outputs).
- Sections can be nested up to several levels (Heading 2–5 in exports). The outline on the left of the editor shows the hierarchy.
- The template can mark a section as guidance only (instructions the donor gave, not something to write), and those are left out of the report.
- Each section carries the donor's instructions, mandatory questions, evidence needed, required tables and page limit, and the AI Reporter follows them.
If a period has no reviewed template, a standard outline is used and flagged.
Section types
| Type | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| Narrative | Written text, with optional chart. |
| Table | Built from verified data. |
| Indicator table | Indicators with values, targets and progress. |
| Annex | Attachments and lists. |
| Compliance | Checklist-related content. |
Editing sections
- The editor is a rich-text document. You can use paragraphs, headings (
###,####), bulleted and numbered lists, quotes, tables, bold, italic, code and links. These are the constructs every export format renders, so what you see is what is exported. Pasted content is cleaned up to that set. - Add a section with + Add in the outline, reorder with Reorder, and delete sections you don't need.
- Changes autosave, and the top bar shows the version and "All changes saved". If someone else saved a newer version, you are told and no work is silently overwritten.
- Each section has its own inspector: Statements, Sources, Chart, Comments and History.
- Charts: add a chart to a section (bar, line, pie, area, radar or gauge). The exported image matches what you finalise.
Generated content
The AI writes prose only. Tables, charts, deltas from the previous period, Q&A blocks and lists are assembled from verified findings. See How to generate an AI report draft.
Section approval
Approve each section once you have read it. Approved sections are locked for that version; editing or regenerating reopens them.