Local Loon: DESIGN STRATEGY

The Client

The Minnesota Environmental Fund is an organization that aims to raise and distribute funds for 24 environmental non-profits, so that they can worry less about fundraising and focus more energy into the work of protecting, conserving, and restoring Minnesota’s environment.

The Minnesota Environmental Fund has traditionally received over 90% of its donations through workplace giving, a model that has been universally declining over the last several years. The MEF’s current donor base is largely comprised of people 55 years of age and older. The MEF came to us for a design strategy that will establish a new trend of individual donations, and reach a new, younger donor base.

The Goals

• Understand the depth and breadth of the current problem space

• Identify key opportunities to engage new donors

• Create multi-touchpoint design strategy around those opportunities

The Solution

After conducting research into the problem space and target users, our team found that potential young donors valued finding things to do, supporting their local community, and saving money. Through a set of annotated prototypes and user journey visualization, we created a design strategy that would allow for micro-donation with perceivable impact, while partnering with local businesses and events to raise awareness and provide incentives to donors.

Kicking Off

We kicked off the project by holding a client meeting with the Executive Founder of the MEF, Doug Niemela. During the meeting, we found out that Doug was highly interested in creating a round-up app, a program where users could round up their spare change at the register and donate it to the MEF. Doug showed a great deal of enthusiasm and emphasized an open mind—he wanted to see what might be possible.

Exploring the Problem Space

After meeting with Doug, our team conducted a deep dive into the current problem space. We looked at the MEF’s current website and social media presence, analytics of the site and email performance, and competitor spaces such as other environmental organizations or roundup apps.

We came together to synthesize our findings, revealing the following insights: young Minnesotans were aware of MEF and were looking for events/activities, preferred to donate in small amounts, and loved their local community.

The Strategy

Based on these insights, we conceived of an app that could offer multiple benefits to young Minnesotans—a listing of environmental events related to their interests, two ways of micro-giving with earned incentives and perceivable impact, and deals offered by local businesses. We believed this model would benefit everyone—the MEF with increased and sustained donations, local business partners with more patronage, young Minnesotans with ways to save money and do good at the same time.

This app, however, wouldn’t stand alone. We envisioned an ecosystem of touchpoints, all working to generate excitement and establish the MEF as a local presence—updating their website and social media, advertising in local retailers, holding and promoting environmental events, creating exciting merchandise.  

Armed with a strategy, we set out to manifest Local Loon.

As a team, we first sought to establish the informational architecture of the app by creating a site/app map combined with a user flow. With a clear understanding of the structure, we went forth to divide and conquer prototypes.

I created high fidelity prototypes for the “Give” section of the app and its sub-pages, a crucial feature in realizing the MEF’s goal of increased individual donations. A significant challenge was in conveying the MEF’s message, and possibly complicated descriptions of the donation programs. I created descriptions that were clear, concise, and communicated the value of the MEF’s work, with the option to view more detailed information. I created local connection using pictures of familiar Minnesota landmarks and incorporating taglines with the words “for Minnesota.”

Implementation Plan

In addition to creating the prototypes, I also supplied the MEF with an implementation plan. The plan includes a timeline and goals, as well as suggested metrics for evaluation. I chose these metrics to align with the MEF’s goals of new donors adopting the app/donation system, and maintaining a relationship with those donors over time. I also included user satisfaction, as we do want Local Loon to benefit everyone involved.