Rose Keimig

challenge

Minnesota Environmental Fund approached us with the goal of identifying strategies for expanding their reach and engaging a new generation of environmental donors.

solution

After a deep dive into the problem space, our team developed prototypes for an activity-based donation app and I created strategy map and implementation roadmap detailing how the app fit into a broader multi-touchpoint experience.

methods

• Multi-Touchpoint Strategy Map

• Wireframes

• High Fidelity Prototypes

• Implementation Roadmap

tools

• Sketch

• Axure

deliverables

• Interactive prototype

• Strategy map

• Implementation roadmap

Meet Doug, MEF’s Executive Director

When Doug Niemela walked into the room for the stakeholder interview, his passion and enthusiasm for our great state and conserving its natural resources were evident. As executive director for Minnesota Environmental Fund (MEF), he helped raise money for 24 Minnesota-based, environmentally-focused nonprofits by reaching out to donors that those individual nonprofits might not have access to or the resources to engage successfully.

Since its conception in 1991, the organization’s primary way of engaging its audiences has been through workplace giving and automatic payroll deductions. However, trends and results from this giving model have been trending downward over the last decade. While this may be discouraging for some organizations, it was not for Doug. Instead, he saw this challenge as an exciting opportunity to explore ways MEF could reach to new class of motivated environmental supporters.

a new design for new donors

Doug described MEF’s organizational goals and indicated that he was inclined toward an app. He had a vague idea for some sort of round-up micro-donation app, but acknowledged that this may not be enough to stand out in the current sea of app choices. He also made clear that he didn’t want the app to just be about making money. He wanted the app to help people do good things and feel better about the world. We liked Doug. And we believed in MEF’s mission, so we thanked him for his time and set out to explore the problem space.

THE PROBLEM SPACE

Through our research, we discovered that a number of micro-donation and environmental app-based giving opportunities already exist. We were uncertain about how to make the MEF app stand out, and furthermore, we were not sure a purely donation-based app would meet Doug’s high hopes for user value. It was time to turn our focus back on the users. What did we know about the target audience MEF was hoping to engage?

THE USERS

One thing we did know was that Minnesotans have a special love for their state and the outdoor opportunities its natural environment provides them. Additionally, we knew many young people harbor anxieties about climate change and have a strong desire to do something about it. But how to translate these values into a donation app? Make it fun? Gamify giving? But even gamification could not relieve a more problematic pain point: young people don’t have much money to give. What they do have, we realized, is time.

ENGAGING DONORS & SPONSORED ENGAGEMENTS

With this in mind, our strategy moved away from round-up and micro-transaction models, and toward behavior-based donations. We drew inspiration from Minnesota’s Hiking Club, which incentivizes completing trails across Minnesota, and came up with an engagement strategy that would allow new donors to donate their time through check-ins at environmental locations (parks and nature reserves) and events. When they scanned a checkpoint’s QR code, companies and corporations (for whom charitable tax breaks are still a real thing) would make small, match-able, donations to MEF. This would support MEF’s mission on many levels: it would raise money, encourage more interactions with natural places, and increase connectivity within the environmental community. Furthermore, this would increase visibility for MEF and its partners and provide users more opportunities to run into Doug.

PROTOTYPING THE MEF APP

With this guiding strategy in place, we created a prototype of an app and a strategy map for a system of touchpoints for introducing the app and encouraging adoption and engagement with the app and its associated activities. The app featured a simple interface that encouraged, rather than distracted from, nature-based experiences. The app included a map and calendar for locating nearby donation opportunities and utilized native QR code readers that are now common in all smartphones. Users could donate time by checking in at sponsored trail locations or attending environmental community events. They could also donate directly to events and projects. We also outlined strategies for incentivizing use and social engagement through achievement-based swag and leaderboards.

REVIEW AND A ROADMAP

We presented early prototypes for review, and reviewers were excited about the idea’s potential. They suggested leveraging existing workplace partners as the initial testing ground, and envisioned ways of encouraging use through health and wellness initiatives and incentivized team-building challenges.

With these suggestions, we prepared a visual presentation for Doug and MEF outlining our proposed design strategy. This included an implementation roadmap outlining a timeline for a beta rollout and brief evaluation and redesign period before the public launch. We also included prototypes for other touchpoints, including: email templates, event announcements on social media, and trail checkpoints.

 While our design might not have been the app Doug originally had in mind, we felt confident it fulfilled MEF’s organizational goals and would provide a true value to environmentally-minded users as well.