Taking Ownership
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UX Design x Process Improvement
Role: Lead Designer, UX Consultant, Process Improvement Specialist.
Length: 6 months.
Tools: Figma, Squarespace, Mailchimp, HTML/CSS, AddEvent, Material Design.
Deliverables: Onboarding email templates, calendar integration, redesigned homepage, custom forms, documentation.
Goals
I was tasked with analyzing the Community Impact program for opportunities to save staff labor and create more volunteer engagement.
My discussion with the stakeholders revealed that they needed to leverage tools in their marketing platform to:
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organize & share critical event details,Â
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improve volunteer experience,
- develop a nuanced profile of their volunteer community.
The multi-phase project involved redesigning their onboarding forms, email design and website. In each phase I documented my process and trained the staff on the new systems to develop institutional capacity.
The proposed solution: implement a subscription Event Management calendar as the source of truth for Community Impact events. Events added to the calendar automatically update a subscriber’s preferred calendar app and shorten the communication line from staff to volunteer.
We planned an outreach campaign to notify the existing volunteer base of the evolving system. The monthly email campaign would now feature a CTA button to RSVP and encourage email list subscribers to utilize the calendar. This new workflow makes it easier to anticipate and measure volunteer engagement.Â
Taking Ownership’s Community Impact program serves three distinct audience segments.
- Individual volunteers
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Project Sponsors, (usually a firm that wants to team build while contributing to the community)
- Homeowners benefitting from the program.
Audience contact information was previously captured in embedded Google forms on their website and manually entered into Mailchimp each week.
My next task was to design three forms for each audience with distinct fields that would trigger a segment specific onboarding email. Taking Ownership has a multi-year wait list for their service and this automation provides a reassuring touch point for homeowners until staff can provide a follow-up.
To complete the Community Impact Program redesign, I developed several email template options that the staff can use for their recurring marketing tasks.
While replacing onboarding forms on the website, it was clear the homepage needed to reflect the next phase of Taking Ownership’s mission.Â
The homepage didn’t efficiently communicate goals and mission statement, nor provide a quick path for potential volunteers or project sponsors to take action. Additionally, the visual hierarchy needed to be improved to better serve the elder homeowner/clients.
Between the founding of the organization in 2020 until now, the website had not relayed the organization’s impact on homeowners. My solution used Material Design icons with succinct copy to describe Taking Ownership’s impact as an intermediary in the public and private sectors.
I created wireframes in Figma to redesign the hero section text into a recognizable “three icons and short description” pattern. Then, I mirrored that layout with CTA’s for Donations, Volunteers and Sponsors.
Impact
Ahead of the roll out, we planned for a feedback period from long-time volunteers in addition to counting new vs. returning volunteers, monitoring attendance and calendar subscription trends.
The early indicators showed 50% new volunteer turnout at events through Q1 2025. Volunteer feedback on the event calendar system has been enthusiastic and demonstrates improved competency in event management.
This new workflow has saved ~4.5 staff hours per month and was designed to scale with Taking Ownership’s capacity.
The new onboarding forms eliminated tedious data entry tasks and provide the infrastructure for greater insight into their audience segments.
I believe in Taking Ownership’s work and witnessed first hand the galvanizing effect that direct, local and powerful missions have for all community members.Â
stern.aaron.b@gmail.com
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