We Can Ride
Digital Volunteer Portal
CHALLENGE
We Can Ride is currently in the process of their website redesign and rebranding efforts, with a need to provide a better representation to their clients, local community and public at large around their mission and services they provide. They seek to better connect and engage with their volunteers, clients they provide therapy for and donors, as well as a more effective representation throughout the community.
SOLUTION
I created a digital volunteer portal solution to provide a centralized platform or ‘hub’ for the volunteers. This aimed to better connect these volunteers with the organization in a variety of ways. I designed the entire portal from the ground up, focused on digital user interface design that meets accessibility guidelines and complies with WCAG.
Methodology
• Stakeholder Interviews
• Secondary and Exploratory Research
• Competitive Analysis
• Surveys & Questionnaires
• Accessibility Design
• Prototyping
• Rapid Feature Ideation
• Speed Dating Method
• Remote Moderated Research
• A/B Testing
• Think-Aloud Protocol
Tools
• Figma
• Miro
• Sketch
• Slack
• Survey Monkey
• Trello
• Zoom
We Can Ride
We Can Ride is a local nonprofit and volunteer-based organization whose mission is to improve the lives of individuals with disabilities or special needs through equine assisted activities. With a small staff and more than 500 dedicated volunteers (many of whom are not familiar with horses), they offer programming to more than 230 riders per year.
Since 1982, We Can Ride has offered therapeutic equine programming, including: equine facilitated psychotherapy, equine assisted learning, and hippotherapy— a unique way to combine the medical experience of physical therapists with specially-trained horses resulting in a range of positive benefits with physical, cognitive, and developmental impact. The success of We Can Ride’s programming is very much a team effort and the result is a culture of family that permeates through staff, volunteers, clients (e.g., individuals with special needs) and their equine partners (e.g, horses).
User
The volunteer portal is designed for the following users:
Primary User
We Can Ride volunteers - This group interacts and works directly with clients, horses, and provides a majority of the work involved with the organization and who need a centralized platform for connecting, scheduling, administrative tasks, etc
Secondary User
We Can Ride staff - Staff would only act as “administrator” roles with access to the volunteer portal, but are not intended as the primary users
Project Goals
Volunteer focus - Provide a solution which addresses current opportunities and needs of volunteers with We Can Ride
Accessibility design compliance - Ensure user interface and design of the portal is compliant with accessibility guidelines outlined by the ADA
Usability - Design a solution with the priority and focus on usability and relevance of features included for the user group
Research and Context
Understanding what volunteers need and opportunity areas
I created and distributed two surveys which were intended for two groups. First, I provided a survey for We Can Ride volunteers, built around understanding their engagement better throughout their time spent with We Can Ride as well as possible pain points that exist in their current experience.
The We Can Ride volunteer survey was crucial in providing focus areas for the volunteer portal I had started to ideate as a possible solution. I assessed the current We Can Ride website’s benefit to the volunteers and asked what potential areas of interest they would benefit from if a volunteer portal were to exist on the survey as shown below.
I began this project examining opportunities that might exist in the current volunteer process with We Can Ride as well as how the organization engages with volunteers. Through exploring similar non-profit volunteer spaces and organizations as well as analyzing systems and tools other volunteer groups and organizations use, I was able to guide the focus of my project as well as identify solutions and information to leverage in my solution.
Over 50% of current We Can Ride volunteers responded that the current We Can Ride’s website does not help serve their needs as volunteers
Creating the Solution
Creating a volunteer portal including relevant features and benefits
From my research and survey findings, I embarked to create a digital volunteer portal to address these needs and opportunities that were discussed with We Can Ride volunteers.
Working in Figma to create the portal solution provided me with a new tool and program to utilize that I have not worked with prior to this project. It allowed me to create and build wireframes for my volunteer portal, while additionally allowing me to provide code of my wireframes to We Can Ride as deliverables since Figma offers code generated from files and the wireframes I created.
Because We Can Ride is a non-profit organization, any way to reduce the cost to implement the solution would make it that much more feasible to create the portal for their organization.
Volunteer portal features:
Administrative tasks
Scheduling
Engagement opportunities
Fostering connections
Accessibility design compliance
Equal focus on design and usability
Displayed are select screens from the final version, including a re-designed We Can Ride website home page I created and provided alongside the portal
Evaluating and Testing
I ran a variety of tests using a few different testing methods to evaluate my volunteer portal solution. Outlined below are the sessions I conducted, contents and materials from each test session, plus an overview of the goals and intent of each session conducted.
Gathering feedback on layout and design with initial drafts
The first test I ran with users centered on low fidelity wireframes that I presented with different options for each screen that would be included in the portal. Conducted in a speed dating format session, the participants were not volunteers with We Can Ride, however the goal of this first testing round was to understand which format and/or layout options of screens participants instinctively responded to.
I used the feedback and evaluations to decide on a standardized layout and format of the volunteer portal. Using Slack calls to allow the participant to draw on my screen helped me evaluate what was working in terms of layout options and design possibilities.
Participant feedback during speed dating evaluation session
Assessing how We Can Ride volunteers would interact with and utilize the portal
After furthering my design and creating an interactive prototype, I continued my progress by running two different tests with participants in an A/B test format. Both sessions aimed to focus on better understanding how the volunteers engaged and interacted with the portal prototype and what pieces were helpful to their experience with We Can Ride.
One test version contained a chart feature shown on the volunteer journal page with an overview of entries created on the volunteer journal with rated emotions from entries displayed over a time period. Because this journal feature specifically aims to help the volunteers and organization, I wanted to dig into what they found as useful parts of the journal and what might be necessary to remove or revise.
Interactive Prototype
With an understanding on which parts and features were necessary and important to volunteers through A/B testing and think aloud protocol sessions, combined with a layout structure supported from speed dating test sessions, I finalized the overall volunteer portal design and features included.
I proceeded to finish the prototype for the client as a deliverable to use and refer to if they were going to build it with a developer. Here you can see the volunteer portal and the interactions and functionality it’s designed to provide. It is fully interactive for you to have an opportunity to explore the features and screens, or just to see how it generally works.
Explore the interactive volunteer portal using the prototype provided below:
Presenting the Project
I presented my project and prototype solution in a remote meeting with over 90 participants including students at Prime Academy, We Can Ride stakeholders, volunteers and staff, Prime Academy instructors and faculty, as well as various professionals and community members.
Watch my presentation here and take a journey through the volunteer portal to understand it’s intended benefit and features.
Solution Walkthrough and Overview Packet
Next Steps and Recommendations
Future steps for We Can Ride include two recommendations to utilize for the volunteer portal and as tools for the organization, outlined below.
When I Work - Organization and employee scheduling software with a variety of features and capabilities that would benefit and fit We Can Ride’s various accommodations of volunteer levels, schedule shifts and changes that occur frequently, as well as staff use if needed.
Docu Sign - Electronic software signature that We Can Ride could utilize and provide for clients and volunteers to access forms and various paperwork requiring signatures. This would streamline the process that currently exists whether with clients or volunteers and prevent delays in printing forms, signing and mailing to We Can Ride.
Additionally they have the files provided on each wireframe and the prototype of these linked in a Figma file link which also provides code generated for each wireframe or component on the file. They can use this file with a developer to build the solution I created with the aim on less time and money spent than if they were to need to build it from scratch.
Summary
As you can see through my phases of research, solution creation, and testing & evaluation, that the volunteer portal allows a multitude of benefits and solutions for We Can Ride volunteers as well as the organization.
This portal provides a centralized solution for scheduling, administrative tasks and resources, while fostering connections between volunteers and the organization.
Utilizing this portal allows their volunteers and organization to have more time with their mission and prioritized goals of the therapy and sessions with clients. They can ride on knowing they have been given a solution that is realistic to implement and outlined with a variety of data and insights that support the solution’s necessity.