Sharing a nonprofit’s story online to build legislative and financial support

Overview

🤔 Problem: OARN’s digital presence did not reflect its mission and needs; the website failed to support one of its primary user groups (legislators), while the site also did not paint a clear picture of OARN’s purpose, brand, and impact.

💡 Solution: A website redesign that clearly states OARN’s mission, visualizes impact data, displays updated brand and marketing material, and presents purposeful call-to-actions for both donors and legislative supporters.

✅ Full web research and redesign completed @ Pivot Marketing Agency↗. (OARN’s brand was created by a team of designers at Pivot, including Rachel Getsinger, Carrie Grant, Jill Cephalos, and Shaye Vanderville.)

⛔ Old Site’s Issues

  • Does not display legislative advocacy information

  • Confusion over OARN’s role and impact in the community

  • Cluttered information architecture and unclear user goals/interactions

  • Lack of brand and visual consistency, no animations

  • Inaccessible text and color combinations

How might we market OARN’s mission to financial supporters and Oregon legislators in a digital space?

Research

💡 I interviewed and worked alongside OARN’s leaders (and our marketing agency’s Account Executive) to determine OARN’s 4 user groups/segments and their needs. The old site pays attention to financial donors, but overlooks legislators (the target user group), parents in need, and relief nursery workers.

User Flow

⚡ The best digital interactions are specific to a user persona and easy to find

👀 Now, OARN’s target users—Oregon legislators—are only ever 1 or 2 clicks away from their goals

🏛️ This also means OARN is only ever 1 or 2 clicks away from making a meaningful connection with a legislator

Final Design

Website Redesign

✅ Encourages legislative advocacy action with meaningful call-to-actions

✅ Highlights OARN’s mission with new visuals, clean layout choices, data visualizations, and subtle animations

✅ Meets users’ needs (legislators, donors, and those connecting with local relief nurseries), as seen in new content and information architecture

✅ Displays OARN’s new brand materials for a consistent brand voice

✅ Uses best web accessibility practices, especially for color and text

Old Site

⛔ Does not display legislative advocacy information

⛔ Confusion over OARN’s role and impact on the community

⛔ Cluttered information architecture and unclear user goals/interactions

⛔ Lack of brand and visual story-telling consistency

⛔ Inaccessible text and color combinations

What I learned

🌱 Creating scalable design components will prepare a brand for multiple digital spaces and needs, like web design and email marketing

📊 Don’t hide meaningful data. People will better understand a nonprofit’s impact if they can see both personal stories and stats

💫 Subtle animations on the web tend to surprise and delight everyone. Including animations in reusable components leads to maximum impact throughout the site without increasing web development time

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