UX case study Normal Moments nonprofit

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NORMAL MOMENTS

Inspiring volunteers to help families

Research | Design | Content Strategy

My Role

PM/Research/Design

Timeframe

3 months

Team

6 designers | 1 client

Tools

Optimal Workshop, Maze, Dovetail, Figma, Slack, Zoom

Summary

Providing in-home assistance to families with critically ill and medically challenged children gives relief to those burdened by countless overnight hospital stays and doctor's appointments. Having enough volunteers to provide this relief is critical. The nonprofit Normal Moments looked to a website refresh for enrolling more volunteers.

The website should inspire potential volunteers to act during the first visit.

normal moments proposed redesign — New homepage with volunteer call outs

Results

We strengthened the paths to volunteering by redesigning the site architecture and page content to highlight and call potential volunteers to action. We clearly defined the opportunities and qualifications available and made the application process easier.

The Problem

The key volunteer position (referred to as a "David") required a minimum 6 month commitment to one family, transportation, fingerprints, a background check, and willingness to work in personal family homes. In-home tasks included cleaning, laundry, helping children, and other family-specific tasks. There were not enough "David's" to meet the demand. Our Research suggested some reasons.

"There are 40 volunteers for every 150 families"-NM Founder

Website challenges

Volunteer positions undefined
Weak calls to Action
Lack of relatable, emotional stories
Fingerprinting and background check hesitancy
Lack of testimonials

Personal Challenges

Scheduling conflicts
Too large of a committment
Unfamiliar places and situations
Unease working with medically complex children
Fingerprinting and background check hesitancy

How we indentified the Problem

Analyzed website content and navigation

Studied similar nonprofits: Make-A-Wish, Miracles for kids and Starlight

Interviewed Stakeholders, Founder, volunteers, families receiving service

Conducted volunteer Survey

Website sections at risk for turning away potential volunteers became key design opportunities, as seen in our flow diagram.

UX flow chart showing potential weak points — UX flow diagram showing breaks in flow

Design Opportunities

Clarify volunteer qualifications and positions
Give different users clear paths to their specific goals
Increase credibility and trust with more visual appeal
Streamline and automate volunteer application process

UX Process

We learned during the client kick-off meeting that addressing the volunteer shortfall was the highest priority. A design thinking approach surfaced many issues affecting volunteer recruitment. Some could be addressed with a website refresh and others were more complex.

The volunteer shortfall was the highest priority.

Listen

Process the goals, challenges and priorities of the Normal Moments Organization.

Learn

Interview users about their experiences with Normal Moments.

process step number 3 in user experience design thinking: Analyzing data collected and turning into insights

Analyze

Gather information and create themes and insights.

process step number 4 in user experience design thinking: Creating. Sketches, wireframes, prototypes

Create

Sketch, wireframe, and prototype new pages and information architecture.

Test

Test prototypes with users

ux survey results with volunteering responses — Survey results showing liklihood of volunteering for Normal Moments

Insights

Five major insights surfaced after research and analysis. All were relevant to the most pressing issue of increasing volunteers.

The Normal Moments website does not accurately reflect its value and uniqueness
Hearing families' stories and the Founders personal story has the biggest impact on volunteers and donors.
Flexible time commitments may help increase volunteer participation.
Delegating administrative responsibilities may create a better, more responsive organization.
Calling a volunteer a "David" creates confusion and gender/exclusive issues.

Small gestures offered by Normal Moments gave familes time to feel "Normal" again.

Volunteers said they were moved by the family stories they heard at the yearly in-person fundraiser. Tapping into those stories on the website could contribute to increasing volunteer participation.

Stories showing the impact Normal Moments had made on families' lives had a powerful effect on volunteers and donors.

Existing volunteers expressed a desire for more frequent and flexible volunteer opportunities. They wanted more communication so they could stay involved year-round.

“I wish I knew if any families needed help near me in the next few months. I would love to be able to help.” NM volunteer

Design + Test

We designed, tested and validated the new site architecture with users and achieved a 90% success rate on selected tasks. We redesigned the volunteer and family services pages using the existing Wordpress theme. This became necessary because of time constraints and a lack of tech skills on the Normal Moments team.

Supplying detailed information about volunteer positions in a tabular format creates a more organized and professional presentation for potential volunteers.

In addition to content changes, we shared new concepts and roles inspired by our research findings. These solutions had longer term implementations, but could significantly increase volunteer participation.

Nurse station QR code card streamlining the process of filling out required service forms for nurses and families.
"Hospital Ambassadors" - New Short-term, flexible positions that keep a Normal Moments presence in the hospital to better educate families, nurses and potential volunteers.
"Taskers"- New volunteer positions that offer quick tasks and errands for families without the deep involvement and commitment of a "David".

“The match board would be a dream! If users could connect without an intermediary, it would be a game changer...” NM founder

Constraints

No dedicated staff to help implement wordpress changes
Lost time waiting for volunteer staff to respond to requests
Use of an existing wordpress theme we didn't design or choose
Finding that many solutions required more than a website refresh
Not enough time!

Reflections

This project sharpened my UX strategy skills and forced me to think beyond a straightforward website solution. Lack of access to the website backend until late in the project stalled a more realized solution. I learned that designing a solution that fit within the client's current reality was more important than providing a solution that could not be implemented. The strategic and thoughful ideas our team generated were a valuable part of this project.