Help Hub: Building Nonprofit Connections

Core users:

Nonprofit Leaders
Active Volunteers

Roles:

Researching, ideating & defining, wireframing, designing, prototyping, & user testing

Tools:

Google Docs, Google Sheets, Miro, Figma, Monday.com, Maze

Team:

Self Directed

Duration:

Mid March to Early May

Project Overview

Nonprofits work year-round to better our cities, nations, and the world in different ways and desperately need help. Support is graciously accepted, whether it's partnerships, volunteers, space, or funding. With the constantly changing discourse of our nation, a network of collaboration is needed now more than ever. 

What We’re Trying to Solve

We believe connecting and building a solid non-profit network will significantly improve the function of a non-profit and allow them to operate at a higher level.

• Who: Non-Profit event leaders, Volunteers, Donors & Investors

• What: Improving communication, connectivity, and collaboration between non-profit partners and volunteers

• Where: Los Angeles, CA, with expansion across the nation to follow

• When: When organizing an event, in need of fundraising, looking for volunteers, or partnering with others. 

• Why: To improve the productivity and achievement of non-profit organizations; to set them up for success.

The Challenge

How might we provide connections, support, and resources to nonprofit organizations so that they can more efficiently serve their community?

Goals and Objectives

I hope to develop our understanding of how people currently operate their non-profits, find teams & partners, and how these tasks can be accomplished more straightforwardly, efficiently, and hopefully enjoyable. We would like to know if improving these collaborations is something a non-profit team needs or will utilize. In this study, I am looking to accomplish some things:

• Provide non-profits with a social network of potential partners

• Provide non-profits access to rental spaces or mobile transport

• Easier finding volunteers that fit the needs of services provided by their non-profit

• Allow non-profits easier access to resources to remove the burden from them

• Access to fundraising opportunities and events for non-profits to continue their essential work

• Volunteers can do court-mandated community service or earn school credits through us 

• Volunteers can customize their volunteer information to better match their skills with non-profits who need their help

• Guide volunteers with special skills and certifications to non-profit organizations that could benefit from their assistance

The Process

Competitive Analysis

Analyzed 8 competitors: 4 Direct – Competitors providing nonprofit services, 4 Indirect – Competitors that users frequent but not targeted to nonprofits
Components: Google Sheets Document

Key Competitors

I identified competitors providing services for nonprofit leaders. These main competitors provide key solutions for nonprofits, including resources, fundraising, and sponsorships, but provide little regarding increased partnerships and volunteers. I then researched indirect competitors such as Linked In and Go Fund Me. My target audience is using these competitors as one piece of the puzzle. Still, none of them provide volunteer matching, communication and connection, fundraising goals, and educational resources all in one place.

Research Methodology

6 Qualitative Interviews: 4 small nonprofit leaders, 2 large nonprofit leaders
Interview Duration: 45 minutes
Components: Consent form, Informational Interview, and Analysis with cluster mapping

Key Research Insights

Small nonprofits need increased help

• Connection: Large nonprofits have the luxury to be particular with their partnerships, while smaller nonprofits utilize even unusual partnerships.

• Support: Larger nonprofits have easy access to volunteers, while small nonprofits struggle to find support.

• Funding Resources: Nonprofits, no matter the size, are all vying for the same funding as each other every year.

• Marketing Resources: Marketing and social media are handled or outsourced easily with large teams, but small or local nonprofits struggle.

Smaller nonprofits can’t meet the expectations that larger nonprofits set without additional funding or support. 

My Main Persona

After analyzing our data, I created personas to reflect better my users' wants, needs, and pain points. As we focused our project on potential features, we centered our ideation around one user persona for now.

User Stories

My next step was to create user stories based on my main personas’ viewpoints. After analyzing and ensuring I perused stories valid to our user-based research, I narrowed down to core stories important for the next steps of our project.

Donation Campaign

As a nonprofit leader, I want to set up donation goals that are easy to find on my page so that our supporters can know what we need for funding support.

Event Setup

As a nonprofit leader, I want to set up a calendar of upcoming events and easily add additional events so that we can keep potential volunteers, partners, and investors informed on our plans.

Searching & Connecting

As a nonprofit leader, I want to easily understand information on potential partners so that I can identify organizations that might make good partners.

Task Flows:

My user stories are then built out into user flows. These flows helped definethe natural flow of Help Hub and the core tasks that it provides.

Customer Journeys: Current vs. Future State

Current State

I then mapped Laura’s Customer Journey to understand better how she completed these tasks before and after Help Hub.

Future State

Tasks taking Laura to multiple resources to complete are now all done with Help Hub, making her work seamless & efficient.

Site Mapping

My task flows and customer journeys worked together to build the user site map. This map helped define the overarching experience of the site and how users might easily navigate the space.

Low-Fidelity Prototype

Once my Ideation stages were completed, I created low-fidelity wire frames from my task flows and site map to visualize the path our users would take throughout their experience. Here is an example of a couple of low-fidelity screens.

Design System

I then developed a style guide to influence the interface of the hi-fidelity prototype.

User Testing Methodology

Unmoderated User Testing with Maze

Tested by 8 nonprofit leaders: 6 small nonprofit leaders, 2 large nonprofit leaders
Components: Low fidelity prototype, Maze user test with insight questions, heat mapping, user metrics, & analysis

The Solution

From our design system and wireframes, we built a prototype and set up a user testing plan. Our first phase is set to test the users’ ability to navigate their profiles quickly and efficiently with minimal pain points.

Next Steps

Features to Explore

• Change the Location of ‘Expected Requirements’ on my ‘Create an Event Form’

• Add a scrim to my scrollable containers to improve the UI

• Improve my forms by changing radio buttons to check boxes

• Searching Help Hub with filters

• Funding and grant-finding tasks

Next round of user testing

• Updated test with changes implemented from first tests

• Understand how improved UI affects user navigation and experience

Lessons Learned

• Unmoderated tests give great metrics, while moderated tests provide quality insights.

• Just because something is clear to us doesn’t mean it’s clear to our users.