Partnering with ActionAid to tackle declining recurring donations by designing a solution that connects donors through shared contributions. The project focused on creating an accessible and values-led platform to inspire meaningful, long-term support.
Timeline
6 weeks
Tools
Figma/Figjam
👉 Read me!
The Problem
ActionAid is an international charity dedicated to ending poverty and promoting the rights of women and girls around the world. Like many organisations in the sector, they face challenges such as:
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Engaging younger donors
Shifting focus to younger, values-driven audiences who want to make a difference.
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Declining recurring donations
Recurring donations are declining across charities, making it harder to sustain impactful work.
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Boosting donor retention
Finding ways to inspire consistent, long-term donor engagement.
The Results
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Fosters personal connections
The shared subscription model lets individuals donate together, using personal connections to drive collective action.
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Balances affordability and impact
Pooling contributions makes giving affordable while amplifying the collective impact and showing tangible results.
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Builds a sense of community
By donating with friends or groups, users feel part of something larger, creating a shared purpose that aligns with ActionAid’s mission of solidarity.
The Process
Over six weeks, I carried out user interviews to understand donor behaviours, mapped out key pain points, designed and tested low-fidelity prototypes, and refined a shared subscription model to create a community-driven donation platform that meets user and organisational needs.
Discover
After the initial conversation with the stakeholder, here’s what I learnt:
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The current solution
The typical ActionAid supporter is a woman in her mid-50s, prompting a need to attract a younger, more diverse audience.
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Ethical fundraising approach
To address issues within the charity sector, the solution had to prioritise anti-racism and decolonisation, moving away from "white saviour" narratives.
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Resource constraints
With limited resources, the solution needed to be simple to implement and cost-effective.
Discover
To ensure the solution met the needs of the younger generation, I conducted in-depth user research. Working alongside a small team, we developed a structured discussion guide to steer the interviews effectively. Using a targeted screener, we identified participants, both donors and non-donors, to gather diverse perspectives.
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User Interview Goals
Understand thought processes around donating money to charity
Understand people’s perception of charities
Understand why people donate
Discover
All interview data was organised in FigJam, where over 500 data points were synthesised into themes. Key insights were then identified, ranked, and prioritised to inform the next stages of the design process.
Discover
It was discovered that personal connection underpins the key motivators of impact, affordability, and community. People are most inspired to donate when they feel a direct link to a cause, often through their own experiences or those of loved ones.
Discover
I also analysed the charity landscape and found a focus on small individual donations driving big causes. Most solutions centred on solo giving, revealing an opportunity for a more collaborative, community-focused approach.
Define
I used How Might We statements to explore a range of ideas that addressed user needs while tackling the key challenges shared by the stakeholder.
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How might we encourage one-off givers to become recurring donators?
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How might we provide tangible insights into how donations will be spent?
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How might we streamline the existing donation process?
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How might we make donators feel like they’re having an impact, even if their donation amount is small?
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How might we appeal to busy working women aged ~25-34?
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How might we foster a sense of community amongst people who give to ActionAid?
Develop
Using user insights and market research, the ideation process focused on developing a solution that aligned the needs of the target audience with ActionAid’s goals. Below are some of the ideas generated.
Donation Dashboard
A user-friendly platform offering a streamlined donation experience with personalised insights, flexible options, and clear impact tracking.
Shared Donation
A group-based donation model fostering unity and solidarity, where small contributions combine to create a significant impact.
Presenting the initial ideas to the stakeholder clarified three key factors that guided the decision to pursue the shared donation platform:
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Broader impact communication
A focus on general funding allowed for showcasing collective progress rather than detailing specific allocations, ensuring transparency while addressing operational limitations.
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Mobile-first approach
Ensuring the solution is optimised for mobile to align with the habits of busy, on-the-go users like Jade.
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Simplicity of implementation
The shared donation platform offered the least complex solution, making it feasible within existing technical and resource constraints.
Develop
Mapping the user flows for the shared donation platform revealed several challenges as the concept evolved. Initially simple, the design grew more complex as issues like members dropping out, latecomers joining, and differing paydays were identified. These complexities required a step back to refine the flows and address key problems:
Admins changing donation amounts caused user trust issues and friction.
Inviting members during the group creation process raised GDPR concerns.
Create Charity group donation (from landing page)
Joining a charity group donation
Develop
Paper wireframes were essential for refining user flows early on. Guerrilla testing provided quick feedback, helping to identify pain points and improve navigation. These adjustments laid a solid foundation before moving to Figma wireframes.
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Switched to individual amount
Adopted a set donation amount per person, making it easier to accommodate late joiners and ensuring group stability.
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Instant dashboard access
Users are now automatically directed to the dashboard after joining or creating a group, allowing them to instantly view their group’s impact.
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Simplified account creation
Moved account setup to the beginning of the group creation process for a more seamless experience.
Deliver
Figma wireframes expanded on the paper prototypes, allowing for iterative testing and refinement of edge cases. This process led to the creation of a shared community tab, enabling users to visualise global impact and strengthening the platform’s focus on collective engagement.
Deliver
A design system was created to ensure consistency across all user flows and streamline the design process. Using ActionAid's brand guidelines as a foundation, font and colour libraries were developed in Figma to maintain alignment with their established identity.
High Fidelity Designs
These final high-fidelity designs showcase three key flows of the shared donation platform, refined to deliver a seamless, transparent, and engaging user experience.
Creating a collective
Viewing local impact & share link
Viewing global impact
Results
The final design solves key challenges by simplifying donations, fostering community through shared contributions, and showcasing the impact of donations.
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Declining Recurring Donations
The shared donation platform addresses declining donations by making it easy for groups of any size to contribute collectively.
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Engaging Younger Donors
Younger donors would be drawn to this solution as it offers transparency, affordability, and community.
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Builds a Sense of Community
The platform aims to boost retention by fostering group connections and showcasing cumulative impact.
Impact
To evaluate the effectiveness of the shared donation platform, I identified the following key metrics to track and analyse:
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Retention rates
Comparing the platform’s donor retention rates to traditional methods to assess long-term engagement.
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Churn rates
Analysing whether higher donation amounts correlate with increased donor dropout rates.
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Global impact
Measuring the overall financial and community impact of contributions to showcase the platform’s reach.
Reflection & Next steps
Achievements Tab 🏅
A space to recognise and celebrate donor contributions, fostering a sense of accomplishment and loyalty.
Mobile App 📱
Developing a standalone app to improve accessibility and provide a seamless user experience.
Donation History 📅
Introducing a “Spotify Wrapped”-style feature to summarise and visualise each donor’s journey and contributions over time.
Let’s connect! ✨
sadafwaseeq@hotmail.co.uk