Redesigning a community nonprofit website

Redesign of Central Family Life Center’s website to better serve its mission and community.

UX researcher | UX designer

2024

Introduction

Central Family Life Center (CFLC) is a nonprofit organization in Staten Island, New York, established in 1991, that offers programs and services to improve the well-being and quality of life of local residents. The CFLC website serves as a hub for the community, connecting residents to programs and events, informing potential donors, and providing a clear, accessible experience for all users. I volunteered to redesign the website to attract more donors, better communicate the organization’s offerings, and enhance overall usability and accessibility.

Understanding the project and research

Why redesign was needed?

During initial conversations, stakeholders expressed concern about low donor engagement. They also emphasized that the outdated branding no longer reflected the nonprofit’s current identity or resonated with its audience, which affected credibility negatively. In addition, they wanted the website to better promote their monthly events.

Understanding Users

To make sure the redesign addressed the needs of real people engaging with the nonprofit, the stakeholders and I first created a list of all potential user groups. From this list, I conducted interviews with five individuals from each group to gain a deeper understanding of their thoughts, feelings, and experiences during their desired interactions or initial encounters with the website. The insights gathered were organized into a comprehensive empathy map that categorized users' primary needs, goals, and pain points. This process helped find patterns across groups and connect stakeholder priorities and user perspectives.

Key User Insights
After analyzing the interviews and empathy maps across all user groups, I organized the findings into three main categories:

1. Trust
All user groups want to be confident that they are engaging with a legitimate organization that is honest, reliable, and transparent. The ones that research and compare this organization with others, do it with the purpose of finding the most trustworthy option.

2. Content Strategy
Users raised multiple issues that I found relate to how content is structured, presented, and prioritized. They struggled with unclear language, difficulty finding key information, and inconsistencies across pages.

3. Impact
For all users specially donors and volunteers, understanding the organization’s impact was critical. Users wanted to feel that their contributions, whether time, resources, or money, were meaningful and effective. Emotional connection, recognition, and visibility of outcomes were key drivers. Users cared about the nonprofit’s values and trajectory, and they wanted reassurance that their engagement contributes to a larger purpose. Donors want to stay connected to the organization and be a part of impact.

Issues with the Current Design

I categorized the major issues with the website into three groups:

  • Content Strategy Issues: Problems with navigation, unclear language, and disorientation caused by missing or inconsistent information.

  • Accessibility Issues: Barriers for users with different abilities or technology access, such as poor contrast, lack of alternative text, non-mobile-friendly layouts, and unclear hierarchy.

  • Motivation and Trust Issues: Challenges in how the website communicates its value propositions, builds credibility, and helps users feel confident and inspired to engage or make choices.

Accessibility Issues:

  1. Poor color contrast: Yellow text on white and white text on bright backgrounds reduce readability.

  2. Overuse of bright colors: Heavy use of four primaries can overwhelm neurodiverse users.

  3. Inconsistent text hierarchy: Heading and font sizes break logical reading order and confuse screen readers.

  4. Lack of interaction feedback: Some buttons have no hover or click states.

  5. Missing ARIA labels: Forms, buttons, and menus lack proper labeling for screen readers.

  6. Non-descriptive links: “Click here” or “Read more” provide no context.

  7. Improper heading structure: Skipped or inconsistent levels disrupt navigation for assistive tools.

Content Strategy Issues:

  • No prominent Home button: users often had to rely on the browser’s back button, which was inconvenient and sometimes impossible

  • Problems with Orientation: Sometimes, it is not clear what page the user is on.

  • Overly long navigation menu:

  • Excessively long pages: long pages without delivering useful or prioritized information.

  • Too many items on navigation menu.

  • Confusing wording in key areas: such as using both Donate and Donate in-person as separate options without clear distinction.

  • Hard-to-find contact and social links: Access to social media profiles and contact information is not straightforward.

Motivation and Trust Issues:

  • Lack of achievement visibility: No clear information on the organization’s accomplishments or impact.

  • Unclear values: Organizational values are not communicated effectively.

  • Limited guidance on involvement: Services offered and ways for users to participate are not clearly explained.

  • Minimal human representation: Few or no faces of staff or program participants, reducing relatability.

  • Missing trust elements: No testimonials, impact stories, or other social proof to build credibility.