Overview
Greater change is a charity aimed at tackling homelessness. A couple of years ago it was facing financial difficulty and was looking to improve their income earned from donations. Their site was okay but lacking strategic UX decisions that could increase usability and conversion. I was offered a very short term project to see if we could nudge use behaviour a little before the charity was forced to close. The key issue was around increasing trust, making it clear how money would be used, and clearly signposting where to navigate to donate.
User Needs
"As a potential donor I need to know how my money will be used and how to donate so that I can know I'm making a difference to a cause I care about".
Action
I collaborated with the founder to design a user research script and iterated prototypes based on insights. Three key pages were redesigned:
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Homepage: Users didn’t understand what the charity did, and its unique value wasn’t clear. Key content was hidden on the 'How It Works' page. I brought this to the homepage, restructuring it with a clear hierarchy: compelling intro, charity overview, key stats, how it works, and real stories.
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Donation Page: Multiple donation pages confused users. I proposed a single, streamlined page with fewer CTAs and a linear flow, emphasising monthly donations for long-term impact.
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Knowledge Hub: Valuable content was hard to navigate and growing. I recommended a filter and tag system to help users find relevant information more easily.
Challenges
I handed off my designs to the developer before moving to another project. However, the final site diverged from the prototypes, as the developer, working voluntarily, lacked the skills to fully implement them. We adjusted the designs to fit his capabilities. For instance, media quotes were placed in a basic carousel with arrows, rather than a more interactive design using clickable media logos. Later, the charity requested a hero image that clashed with the quotes. I suggested boxing the quotes to ensure they remained legible regardless of future campaign imagery.
Result
I was brought in to help greater change secure more donations, especially from philanthropists, as the organisation was close to closing, having been forced to let go most of their staff. The organisation survived and is still helping people today.
