Increasing involvement in non profit organizations

Client

Engage and Change

Timeline

6 weeks - 2022

Role

UX/UI Designer

Tools

Figma and Miro

Engage and Change is a charity that encourages healthy communities by giving back. They specialize in assembling and building kits that consist of necesssities needed for the homeless to survive the winter and summer seasons. These kits are then distributed to local communities via frontline social service agencies and homeless shelters.

About

Understanding the Challenge

The key driver of homelessness in Toronto is the economy and the housing market

Non-profit organizations like Engage and Change are dedicated to eliminating homelessness but continues to be a major problem in Toronto

35,000 Canadians are homeless on a given night

Homeless people and those poorly housed have a higher rate of illness

Non profit organizations dedicated to alleviating homelessness especially in Toronto exist just like Engage and Change. However, the biggest challenge that they face is a lack of exposure, volunteers, and donors. These problems can arise due to poor marketing and accessibility.

I believe that redesigning and improving the website’s navigation will increase engagement. Additionally, introducing a volunteer form will promote volunteers and donors.

The Solution

Design Process

DISCOVER

  • Surveys & Interviews

  • Heuristic Evaluation

  • Proto Persona

DEFINE

  • Proto Persona

  • Empathy Map

  • Problem statement

IDEATE

  • Card sorting

  • Sitemap

  • User Flow

  • User Journey


DESIGN

  • Mid-Fi Wireframes

  • UI style tile

  • Visual design + prototyping


TESTING

  • Usability tests

  • Iterating design from feedback

APPROACH

A survey was put together and sent out to gain an idea of volunteers’ likes and dislikes

Majority of participants find volunteer opportunities online

The main motivators for volunteering are

  • Giving back to the community

  • Enjoy helping others

  • Feel good about doing it

Some difficulties participants face when looking for volunteer opportunities include: organizers being disorganized, finding options that fit their schedule and finding the right place for opportunities

Volunteers expect an intuitive sign up process on the organization’s website

When trying to contact the organization, volunteers expect:

  • A response within 3 days

  • Phone number and email easy to find on the website

HEURISTIC EVALUATION

1.

No direct volunteer option or page

2.

Navigation needs reorganizing

3.

Project pages need revamping

4.

Only one form for all inquiries

Research

7 Interviews were conducted to gain insight on our users via zoom

Some opening questions and getting to know the user and their volunteer experience:

What’s your age?

What’s your occupation?

What is your volunteering experience?

Some specific questions directing towards volunteer registration and organizations’ websites:

How often do you volunteer?

What are your expectations for the registration process?

What are your expectations when trying to contact an organization?

What was your registration process like?

“It would be great if” statement

Common Trends

Scheduling

Volunteer opportunities often clashes with work or school schedule. Organizations should have more availability

Communication

Users expect to hear back from organizations in a reasonable time frame. They prefer email as a point of contact.

Referral

Users are more likely to volunteer at an organization if referred by a friend

Navigation

Easy navigation on the organization’s website is highly valued. Option to submit volunteer form should be easily accessible

Donations

More likely to donate if 1) approached by the NPO themselves and/or 2) know exactly where the funds are going

User Persona

The Engage and Change website was designed to raise awareness to our cause and rally people to contribute. We have observed that our product or service isn’t rallying enough people, which is making it difficult for the organization to recruit donors, volunteers, and ultimately, reach their yearly goals. How might we improve our website so that our customers are successful based on increased contribution?

Reshaping the problem

Card sorting

Sitemap reorganization

User Flows

Task 1: Completing a volunteer form

Task 2: Submitting a donation

User Journey

Mid-Fi Wireframes

Style Guide

Brand Logo

Color Palette

Vision Green

#6BA16B

Pumpkin Orange

#BE7C18

Idealistic Blue

#0F4F93

Typography

Hi-Fi Wireframes

Main page for all projects

No more side navigation bar - all info condensed and simple

Direct link for volunteers

Fill out personal information

Fill out availability

Kept the same format - clean look

Review donation before submitting

Volunteer

Donation

Mobile Wireframes

Side primary buttons for easy navigation to ‘fundraise’, ‘donate’, and ‘Wishlist’.

User Testing

A user testing with 6 users on the desktop and mobile wireframes were conducted to assess the user experience and uncover any flaws with the designs. We left some time after the testing for users to express any feedback or concerns with the designs.

The Tasks

Complete volunteer registration

Complete a donation

Find more information on the kit items on Project Water

Find more information on Project Winter statistics

Insights

All participants completed the four tasks with ease

Both mobile and desktop were easy to navigate through

Mobile side primary buttons were found to be obstructive

The primary buttons should be one colour

Final Iterations

Primary buttons moved to the top

Primary buttons all one colour

Learning outcomes

Learned how important giving back to the community is

More user testing is needed in order to uncover user pain points and to improve user experience

Organization was the key in helping restructure the design