Step 1: Empathize. What is the problem?

In June of this year, our organization (Global Impact) was tasked with building a donor platform for a group of nonprofits, GERC (the Global Emergency Response Coalition). The goal was to raise funds to combat the unfolding and severe issue of famine in the horn of Africa.

Step 2: Define. Deeply understanding the problem.

Our organization—Global Impact—found out that there was an opportunity to engage support for this campaign from business stakeholders, as well as individual contributors. Through our network of nonprofits as well as business partners, we dug into the severity of the famine issue in Africa.

Step 3: Ideate. How can we solve the problem?

Our software team used a rapid build process to quickly stand up a custom application to accomplish this. I was responsible for laying out and building the interface for the app.

Step 4: Prototype. Show an MVP than can solve the problem.

There were multiple handoffs and conversations between developers & designers on our team and PMX & Porter Novelli, bridging the gap between the disciplines.

We quickly came up with a prototype with multiple potential variations for the campaign, creating a custom CMS solution with mobile-friendly donation capabilities and video appeals.

Step 5: Test. Do real users feel like this would solve the problem?

We used development, design, and UX stakeholders to assist in stress testing the platform. We raised just over $4 million dollars in under two weeks for the campaign.