THE HOMER FUND
UX RESEARCH & IDEATION
PRO BONO WORK
BRIEF
A 3-WEEK UX RESEARCH AND IDEATION SPRINT
PRO BONO WORK | 2020
OVERVIEW
Build engagement AMONG Home depot ASSOCIATES FOR the HOMER FUND USING UX RESEARCH AND IDEATION
ABOUT
The Homer Fund is a nonprofit charity created in 1999 by The Home Depot. From providing shelter after natural disaster strikes, to helping with the cost of burying a loved one, The Homer Fund assists associates in need through donations made to the fund, by Home Depot employees. 95% of employees donate to the fund.
UX PROCESS
Research, Synthesis, Ideate, Design
UX METHODS
User Survey, Heuristic Analysis, User Interviews, Affinity Mapping, Competitive Analysis, Comparative Analysis, Persona, Ideation
CLIENT BRIEF
Drive associate year round engagement with The Homer Fund
Increase awareness and touch points to increase donations
thdhomerfund.org exists but opportunity for other mediums
SUCCESS METRICS
Improve or increase payroll deductions
Improve efficiency for associates running their own fundraising activities
Improve efficiency of operations for The Homer Fund staff
Image Source: The Home Depot
RISKS & LIMITATIONS
Limited time to research (a 3-week sprint) and did not have access to reach and interview all tiers of employees. The research conducted in this study was based on a small sample size of employees only in the Corporate Support level of the company.
RESEARCH & SYNTHESIS
METHODS: HEURISTIC ANALYSIS, USER SURVEY, USER INTERVIEWS, AFFINITY MAPPING, COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS, PERSONA
HEURISTIC ANALYSIS
A heuristic analysis evaluated the usability of thdhomerfund.org and tested user paths to donate, learn about events and request assistance. Home page, header, navigation and content organization were also evaluated.
FINDINGS
Overall messaging unclear
No navigation labels on home
No framing of “why you should donate”
Several broken navigation and links
Not web and mobile responsive
Unclear information regarding
direct v. matching grants, how to organize events, long application pdf forms, information redundancy
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
EMPLOYEE ASSISTANCE RELIEF FUND RESEARCH
The Homer Fund differs from other Employee Assistance Funds because it is set up as a public 501(c)3 organization. Although many companies offer Employee Assistance Programs, most often they are often set up as private foundations instead of a public 501(c)3 organization. This is key because private foundation programs do not require donation participation from their employees, however recipients of a gift are taxed on that gift as income.
As a public 501(c)(3) organization The Homer Fund relies on employee donations in order to offer employee assistance. However the advantage and benefit for the employee is that The Homer Fund is able offer immediate relief to employees in need, the gifts are tax-free to qualifying recipients (so recipients are not taxed on the gift income). They can also provide assistance for a wider range of crises or unexpected life circumstances.
Because the project was based on employee donations and no company with a public non-profit employee assistance could be found a competitive analysis was included.
COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS
A comparative analysis helped to find common themes, best practices to encourage and improve donations.
SITES VIEWED:
Feeding America, America Red Cross, United Way
FINDINGS:
Home page carries clear message
CTA’s to donate, get involved, get assistance
Gamification
Data visuals to show impact of charities
Stories about those assisted
Donate page & pop-up with fast, easy pay methods
USER SURVEY
Jan 2020
92% associates donate to THD
90% donate thru payroll
79% donate for “community”
72% payroll donation is easiest
28% find payroll donation is difficult
54% don’t visit thdhomerfund.org
54% would like quarterly emails
USER INTERVIEWS
4 associates that completed the user survey participated in a 20 question user interview.
Questions explored the associates understanding and knowledge about The Homer Fund, how and why they donate and their needs from The Homer Fund as donors.
Each interview took 30 minutes.
AFFINITY MAPPING
Comments from the interviews were affinity mapped to reveal common trends about their experiences with The Homer Fund.
INTERVIEW FINDINGS:
Associates are aware of THF and support it and value it. They feel engaged and understand the importance from a company culture perspective
Associates are not aware why the fund relies on employee donations or the benefits available to them if they ever needed assistance themselves
Associates unclear of process to participate in or host events and contribute
Limited payment methods accepted increase the difficulty to donate
Difficult to update or change payroll donations
None visit thdhomerfund.org website
Hear about events through internal communications such as Slack, MyApron or word of mouth and in-office posters
“Rules” for fundraising events are unclear
THE PERSONA
THE PROBLEM
Associates’ like Sadie understands generally that The Homer Fund is important to the The Home Depot and helps associates in times of crisis. She donates because it feels like part of the company culture, and the events are fun, but she doesn’t fully understand what The Homer Fund does with her donations; how the fund may be able to assist her personally or why it’s important for her to donate as an employee. She attends THF events, relies on most THF info from word of mouth and office posters because she doesn’t have time to research for the info and would like to hear more impact driven stories about the how THF serves her fellow associates.
THE SOLUTION
As the “home” of The Homer Fund; thdhomerfund.org could use a Home Depot style remodel to better organize THF information and initiatives to serve associates that contribute and benefit from the fund. In the meantime, interactive tools, methods of communication and slack integrations can be used to deepen the awareness and understanding of the fund among associates. These tools, and integrations if applied interactively can be used to not only inform associates, but serve as a means of user research to assist with developing a redesigned thdhomerfund.org website and a better user experience for associates engaging with THF in-person and online.
DESIGN SOLUTION
METHODS: IDEATION AND DESIGN
The solution:
INcrease donations and year round engagement with A “TOOL BOX” of widgets
The user research conducted for this project was only for the persona that donates to The Homer Fund and not the persona that accesses the site to apply for a grant. Due to this a full site redesign is not recommended. The design solution presented to the clients included an updated home page with a new donation form and tools that can live on the site but are integrated into the more heavily utilized internal portals such as myapron.com and slack.
REDESIGN
HOME PAGE
Include new navigation and donate options
Home screen with clear messaging and user paths
Answers the “why donate” question
Simplified Donate Now Call to Action
New user flows for fewer paths to achieve task
WHY I GIVE CAMPAIGN
AN INTERACTIVE TOOL FOR ASSOCIATES TO SHARE THEIR WHY BEHIND DONATING TO THE HOMER FUND.
Promotes the Home Depot contagious nature of giving
Interactive experience
Shareable across internal communications Slack and MyApron
PLAY VIDEO
HOMER FUND QUIZ
Deepen associates’ knowledge and appreciation of The Homer Fund with an interactive quiz. Opportunity to award points for redemption or sharing of bragging scores.
Can live on the web site and integrate Slack.
PLAY INTERACTIVE QUIZ
CALL TO ACTIONS
Create ready to go CTA image templates that can be used for donation outreach when a natural disaster strikes or as a general donation call.
Integrate with Slack, email and other communication mediums.
SLACK INTEGRATIONS
GIVEBUTTER
Givebutter is a fundraising and event manager application, like eventbrite and gofundme in one app. Slack integration would allow Home Depot associates to set up events, share them, collect and track donations.
NEXT STEPS
Build out tool prototypes and create associate teams for pilot testing.
Create a persona for “apply for grant” and apply UX research methods used above to build user flows for the web site
Collaborate with The Homer Fund team, legal, and marketing on messaging to frame the mission and need for donations
Once established include the The Homer Fund information in the new employee on-boarding package