Masters Practicum
Project Summary: The scope of the project included both recommendations on how to increase donations as well as recommendations for how to handle donor data. Over the course of ten weeks our team employed various methods to investigate current best industry practices and gather information in order to make recommendations that would be of service to the goals of the Dalai Lama Center and their fundraising efforts.
My Role: User Researcher
Team Members: Carlo Besozzi, Dario Civinelli, David Henry, Lucas Hutchinson, Dan Nalbor, Joe Stangarone
Tools: Photoshop, PPT, Google Docs
Process: Stakeholder Interviews, User Interviews, Persona Development, User Journey Map
Early in the process it was determined that through interviews we would better understand the overall needs to the DLC. We split the interviews up into three main groups. The first group were people that give to charities to better understand that mindset. The second group were people involved in receiving money regularly at not-for-profits around Chicago, so that we can get a perspective of those facing some of the same issues the DLC faces. The final group were the stakeholders within the DLC who could give our group historic information on past efforts.
We decided to create three distinct personas and take them through their unique donation journey. Additionally, we conducted research on other donation based charities, and websites that are taking advantage of different forms of crowd funding.
Throughout our groups activities we ultimately provided the Dalai Lama Center (DLC) with many possible solutions to their fundraising issues. We uncovered short term/MVP solutions that can be acted immediately, as well as long term solutions that can ultimately set up the DLC for future success.