Problem Statement
Today majority of the donations to charities are done through direct mail and conventional methods, despite the availability of advanced technology. This makes the process of giving to charities time consuming and cumbersome. The donors have to mail a long application with a check to the charity they are interested in giving to. The same task can be accomplished in a more efficient, cost-effective and shorter time span using an online platform.
Currently, the client has a web based application and a beta version of the mobile application. However, the current users of the platform don't feel comfortable using the web application and donors in general aren't familiar with donating online.
Research Poster
Project Goals
• Design & improve upon current web and mobile application.
• Better understand user's needs in what they look for in an online donation experience.
• Design a user friendly and attractive user experience.
• Ensure GiveNext LLC. is perceived as a one stop pitstop for everything charity related.
Research
Market Research - Conducted detailed research to find existing players in the market, catalogued user behavior, studied online trends in the charity domain, and researched adaptation patterns.
Literature Review - Reviewed 20+ publications online to understand psychology behind donating, the art of giving, and case studies about why there aren't many players in the market yet.
Online Data Analysis - Analysed client data to study the donation patterns of existing clients, studied historic data to better understand psychology of users, and conducted studies to determine the charities and verticals the public was most aware of.
Direct User Observation - Observed and recorded information points on how people used the existing system and compared it to results from how people used the prototype of proposed system.
User Interviews - Conducted several interviews to understand user needs, map user behavior, and received feedback on our iterative design solutions.
Insights/Findings
• Users wanted to be able to browse multiple charities and learn more about the charities they were donating to.
• Users wanted a platform that would enable them to add multiple charities to their portfolio and pay them all using a 1-click mechanism.
• Users wanted to be able to peruse their donating patterns and look at statistical data points of their history.
• Users liked reading about trending news in the charities domain and were influenced by celebrity donations.
• Users wanted a transparent process and liked to see how the mechanism worked and where their money went.
• Users were influenced by personal preferences and motivations while making donations. (Parents donated to cause for children, working women donated to women empowerment etc.)
Tools Used/Skills Gained
• Balsamiq
• Axure
• Sketch
• InVision
Wireframe/Prototypes
Clickable Mobile Design
Team Members: Priya Gupta, Jiahui Xu, Yitong Gao
Advisor: Prof. Gilly Leshed
Client: GiveNext LLC. (Daniel Mansoor)
