What Impact
PROVEN SOCIAL IMPACT: whatImpact is a matchmaking marketplace, connecting companies and grant-makers with charities and social enterprises efficiently and transparently. Access to charitable funding opportunities for UK organisations is a time consuming and difficult process. Time is required to first find and then navigate opportunities, followed by wildly varying application processes, driven solely by the needs of the funding body or organisation. The need for reporting is just as varied and as such requires even more time and resource. For large organisations, with teams in place specifically to exploit these opportunities, this is business as normal, but the vast majority of charities in the UK are run by one or two people, and do not have the resources to take advantage these provisions.
ROLES
UX Design
UI Design
First Steps
whatImpact was created to match charities with opportunities in the UK, while vastly reducing the volume of research and paperwork required, levelling the playing field for the vast majority of charitable organisations in the UK.
We defined the types of organisation (and individuals) involved on both sides of the application process, the types of donation available, and the requirements of any reporting around this activity for both Beneficiaries and Providers. We were able to define a standardised data set for each activity, and potential sources for each data point, forming the basis for our UX requirements.
The UX process
I created a user flow for a single Beneficiary and Recipient, designing the application process to minimise the amount of information input and the time taken to do so. We conducted paper testing with potential customers which also had the effect of helping us to define the requirements for the reporting mechanism, before a low fidelity interactive prototype was created and distributed for the second round of stakeholder interviews and feedback.
Once we had approval from stakeholders, and buy-in from our team of testers, I expanded the wireframes to cover all four user types, the reporting process, and site administration functions.
UI Design
A combination of challenges led to this design solution. Firstly, we needed to ensure that the site was accessible to all, as many of those involved with charity work are representative of those they are seeking to help. Secondly, the platform needed to be more inviting than a typical government or charity website, and finally the presentation of any organisation needed to be equitable – Our value based matching algorithms work purely on merit, and as such a smaller charity should be presented equally to a larger, better resourced organisation.
Component Library
I prioritised creating a design system that allowed our technical team to work quickly and accurately as we used agile methodologies to develop the platform. While the completed platform contains nearly 450 individual pages, we managed to do this through variations of only 85 components.
Marketing website
Finally, a marketing site was created to act as a focal point for our promotional activities. The site integrated directly with the platform and was built in wordpress in order that the internal team can easily update and refine communications over time.
