Designing for Nonprofits

I studied 118 nonprofit donation forms. Here's what I found. 1. Add a big, obvious, donation button to your home page right now. It takes 5 seconds on your website builder. A quarter of the nonprofits I looked at hide their donate button behind a dropdown, or have no clear CTA (call to action) on their homepage. Those nonprofits were 51% more likely to have a budget deficit. 2. Ugly websites beat beautiful ones. The average donor is: - old (~avg. US donor age is 64) AND - distracted (89% of donation page visitors leave before donating) Relentlessly prioritize ease of use over aesthetics with: - high contrast colors and large, simple fonts - redundancy (Smile Train has 3 donation buttons on their home page) - visibility (Obama Foundation's website even shows you a donation form before the main website) 3. Use the grandma test. Grab your grandma (or mom...if she's a grandma). Have her try and donate to your nonprofit. Stand beside her and watch. If she asks for help before she finds the donate button, you have work to do. 4. Add an impact unit to donation amounts One study showed that the gap between bad donation pages (8-11% conversion) and well-optimized ones (22%) is closed mostly by two things: form simplicity and tangible-impact framing (e.g. $50 = 10 meals) 5. Cut your donation form down to 4 fields. Most nonprofit donation forms ask for 8-12 fields. One study found that reducing form fields from 11 to 4 led to a 120% increase in conversions. The only fields donors actually need: name, email, amount, payment. Everything else is friction. Open your form, count the fields, and delete every one that isn't essential. Address, phone number, "how did you hear about us" -- cut all of it. You can ask in a follow-up email. 6) Default to monthly recurring, not one-time. Ethically pre-selecting monthly giving on your donation page can increase conversions of monthly donations by up to 35%. For some reason, almost nobody talks about donation page mechanics in nonprofit world. I haven't posted in a while... is this research/content helpful to keep posting?

I asked a nonprofit CEO: "Who designed your program?" Her answer: "Our board and I spent months in strategy sessions mapping it out." "And who did you design it for?" "Families experiencing food insecurity in our community." "How many of those families were in those strategy sessions?" Silence. This is why most well-intentioned programs fail before they start. Here's the actual algorithm for lasting change: Step 1: Start with people, not problems Not data about the problem. Not assumptions about the problem. The actual humans living it daily. Step 2: Understand the system, not just the symptom Homelessness isn't a housing problem. It's mental health + addiction + economic + policy issues that show up as housing. Step 3: Design with, not for The people closest to the problem are closest to the solution. Make them co-creators, not beneficiaries. Step 4: Test small, learn fast Before you scale, make sure it actually works. For the people using it, not just the people funding it. Step 5: Design yourself out of business If your solution is working, people shouldn't need you forever. I've seen this approach reduce homelessness, cut recidivism, and save infant lives. It works because it respects the intelligence and agency of the people it serves. Most organizations skip Step 1 and wonder why their communities don't engage. What step does your organization struggle with most?

Nonprofits don’t lose donors because their campaigns are bad. They lose them because they expect people to act like machines. See campaign → click donate → gift received. But donors aren’t machines. They’re human. With a client, we recently mapped their donor journey and found at least eight to twenty touch points* before someone gave. And even that might not be enough. Because real life looks more like: hear about a charity in passing → see a campaign → wonder if it’s legit → buy something online → see it again when a friend shares → think about it later → get distracted by TikTok → finally give when a friend asks to support their fundraiser (or shows up at an event). So remember, your campaign is not the destination. It’s just one stop along the way. Which is why consistent branding matters. Not just your logo, not just your campaign, but showing up in a way that creates the same feeling everywhere. And that allows your donors to recognise you everywhere. If you’re not consistent, every touch point is starting from scratch. So, stop expecting instant results and stop blaming yourself for “failed” campaigns. Instead, start building the trust that sustains giving through strong branding and donor journeys. Have you ever actually seen the “campaign → donate” journey work? Or what’s been the most surprising donor journey you’ve seen play out? * A touch point is any moment someone comes into contact with your organisation: a social post, a friend mentioning you, seeing your logo at an event, reading your newsletter, or even hearing your name in passing. Each one nudges trust a little higher or lower. ___________ Hi! I help nonprofits untangle messy comms and build strategies that actually work. Follow me if you want more of the practical (and honest) side of nonprofit comms.

I've run a lot of brand workshops for charities over the years - there tends to be 6 things that underpin a good brand. Choosing the right shade of purple isn't one of them. 🔭 Vision - What does the world look like that you want to help create? WHY do you do what you do? 'Carers UK wants a society that recognises, values and supports carers.' - Carers UK 💪 Mission -What do you do to work towards your vision for change? Know what you deliver and why. 'Our mission is to improve the lives of refugees and the efficiency of humanitarian services by eliminating language barriers.' - Tarjimly 👨👩👦👦 Values - Those words on the wall-graphic of your staff kitchen might be your org's real values. Often they're not. Do they reflect the everyday work and decisions of your teams? If not, it's time to re-think them. To accompany your values you may also want to explore the principles that underpin your work. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)'s principles drive everything they do - Google it. 👁️🗨️ Audiences - Personas created in a vacuum are a nonsense. Spend time actually getting to know your users, supporters, volunteers, members and staff. How will they shape your brand? 😸 Personality - Think about your voice, visuals, how you want to be perceived, what your services are actually like for users and how you want to make people feel. A fun way to start conversations around this is doing a simple personality sliding-scale exercise across teams and the people you work for/with. 🗺 Market - 'Competitor' is often a dirty word in the third sector but does your charity actually understand where it sits? Below is deliberately simplistic but hopefully you get the idea. Cancer Research UK (CRUK) - Finding a cure for cancer Macmillan Cancer Support - Helping people live with cancer Marie Curie UK - Providing end of life cancer care ❓ What have I missed? When it comes to brand what's important to you?

Seven years. That's how long a single survey comment carried forward into a donor's story. Buried at the end of my latest survey data, I read this: "I took your survey seven years ago, and had mentioned there my partner was sick. I continue to give because you called to check on me within days after that survey." That moment of care? It wasn't random. It came from the previous survey. The one where this donor shared about her life when asked about future engagements. Someone on the team read that response, picked up the phone, and checked in. Seven years later, here it was again—this time in a new survey—telling us why the donor stayed, why they gave, why they felt connected. And it reminds us: a survey isn't a one-time thing. It's not just: ask → collect → report → done. It's a conversation. A process of trust-building - of listening and then acting. When people see their words turn into action, they respond differently the next time. Because it contributes to that trust. They show up. They share more. They believe the data has a life beyond the form they filled out. Nonprofit friends, can we commit to only use data listening tools as non-extractive bridges? #nonprofits #nonprofitleadership #community

I have had these thoughts in my notes for a while, but my work with UNICEF Jamaica has brought them to the forefront of my mind again. "Trust is not something that can be requested or gained through grand gestures; it is built through the ordinary details of care. It develops through the way someone is greeted, whether their concerns are taken seriously, whether information is explained clearly and whether promises of confidentiality are upheld. It is strengthened when young people feel that they can speak honestly without being patronised or punished. These interactions may appear small from an organisational perspective, but they can determine whether someone returns, recommends the service to a friend or decides to avoid healthcare in the future."

A concise explanation of each pointer from Sanjay Chakraborty’s “In a Nutshell” framework, contextualised for nonprofits and CSR funds-seeking organisations. He was speaking at the Ahmedabad Management Association-AMA conclave on CSR. ✅ Decide the Objective of Communication Clearly define what you want to achieve- awareness, fundraising, advocacy, or community engagement, so every message aligns with your mission. ✅ Identify the Target Audience Know whom you’re speaking to, corporates, donors, media, or community stakeholders, to ensure your communication is relevant and relatable. Identify the Touch Points ✅ Map out where and how your audience interacts with your brand, events, digital platforms, media coverage, or partnerships so you can create consistent impressions. ✅Allocate Budget / Available Budget Assess your financial resources and allocate them strategically across channels to maximise impact without overspending. ✅ Plan & Choose Medium / Tool of Communication Select the right mix of tools, social media, storytelling videos, reports, influencer collaborations, etc., based on audience behaviour and budget. ✅ Craft Meaningful & Creative Communication Your message must stand out, be honest, emotionally compelling, and visually engaging to earn trust and attention in a crowded space. This framework urges nonprofits to think like brands: be intentional, be visible, and be compelling to earn CSR partnerships.

Efficiency isn’t neutral. When we design care out of services, we design loneliness in. This week I was talking to a friend who mentioned that her elderly neighbour was devastated that Meal on Wheels was no longer available in her area. In many parts of the UK, this lifeline—hot meals delivered to elderly and vulnerable people, by someone who actually stops and chats, has disappeared. In its place? Tech platforms that let people click and collect or sign up for pre-selected menus. Yes, food is still delivered. But the connection is gone. That hello, a smile, someone noticing if you're not yourself. That short exchange is sometimes the only contact people have all day. And for a lot of people, that matters. It got me thinking, What happens when we optimise people out of care? When connection is seen as “inefficient”? Designing for social impact means constantly asking ourselves: What are we solving for? If it’s only efficiency or cost, we’ll continue to build services that function but don’t care. Tech isn’t neutral, it reflects values. And when tech replaces human interaction in care systems ( instead of supporting it), we risk deepening isolation, especially among those already pushed to the margins. As service designers and nonprofit practitioners, we need to ask: • Are we designing with people, or just for them? • Can we centre interdependence over independence in our models? • What does it mean to design with care, not just for efficiency? The “solution” isn’t always an app. Sometimes, it’s a cup of tea and a conversation #socialimpact #design #community __________________________ Design for Social Impact Lab is a social enterprise on a mission to support organisations and rebellious practitioners design equity-centred, anti-oppressive programs, policies and research * We are on a mission to improve the accessibility of our website and resources ( I will be sharing an exciting collaboration coming up!). If you are using assistive technologies to read our posts, and find that something is not accessible, let us know and we can share alternative formats and see where we can improve our alt-text descriptions

HOW TO DESIGN A PROGRAM AS AN NGO (STEP BY STEP) I have seen many NGOs rush to start a program because they want to act quickly. But speed without structure usually leads to wasted resources, weak impact and frustrated beneficiaries. Before you launch your next project, slow down and design it properly. Here are ways to design a program: 1. Start with the real problem, not the activity: Don’t say, “We want to train 100 women.” Ask: What exactly is the problem? Lack of income? Limited market access? Low digital skills? If you don’t define the problem clearly, your solution will be guesswork. 2. Talk to the people affected: Many NGOs design programs from the office. Go to the community. Ask questions. Listen more than you speak. The people affected often know what will actually work. 3. Be specific about the change you want to see.: What should be different after 3 months? 6 months? 1 year? Clear outcomes help you measure success and explain your impact to donors. 4. Design activities that directly connect to the outcome: Every activity must answer one question: “How does this help us solve the problem?” If it doesn’t connect clearly, remove it. 5. Budget realistically: Under-budgeting kills programs halfway. Over-budgeting without justification scares funders away. Be practical and transparent. 6. Plan how you will measure results: How will you know the program worked? Attendance sheets are not impact. Define simple indicators you can track. 7. Think about sustainability from day one: What happens when funding ends? If the program collapses immediately, it wasn’t designed well. Strong programs are not built on passion alone. They are built on structure. If you are running an NGO and your programs feel chaotic, the issue may not be funding, it may be design.

Wireframes aren't step one, believe me. People first, then pixels, always. Most designs look good, that's true. But not every design feels good, right? That’s where real UX starts, my friend. It goes beyond visuals, into flow. Flow, function, and empathy. Before jumping into wireframes, think. Start with the people that will use it. Understand their frustrations and needs. Designing without user insight fails. It’s just guessing, though beautifully. Here are principles I always use: → Consistency builds trust always. Keep colors and type familiar too. Users shouldn't relearn every screen. → Design for everyone that uses it. Accessibility is not extra; it’s key. If your design excludes, it's broken. → Responsive isn’t optional now. From phone to desktop, make it adapt. Your design should adapt, not break. → Simplicity beats cleverness indeed. A clean design removes distractions. It guides behavior more naturally too. → Give feedback always to the user. Micro-interactions always help. Error messages are important for users. Users should know what’s happening. → Launch isn’t the finish line now. Test, iterate, and evolve often, my friend. The best products are shaped by use. Think of UX like good hospitality. A great experience feels natural. It guides users without pushing them. → Can they find what they need fast? → Do they know what to do next always? → Are you reducing their load now? Design isn't just what it looks like. → It’s how it works for them. → It’s how it feels every time. → It’s how people remember it too. If you want users to love it, friend. Design like you’re solving a problem. Solve a real human problem always. Don't just build some random feature. Let’s keep designing with purpose now.