Project Overview

ScholarCHIPS provides college scholarships, mentorship, and a peer support network for children of incarcerated parents. Since 2012, the nonprofit has awarded scholarships to over 60 students in the Washington, DC area and has gained national recognition for its impact.

As a UX Designer, my challenge was to evaluate and improve the organization's website to drive more donations and increase community engagement. My recommendations focused on enhancing transparency, restructuring the information architecture, and strengthening the organization’s credibility.

Research

I started my research with a Nielsen heuristics evaluation to establish a baseline understanding of the website’s strengths and areas for improvement.

I identified integrity concerns within the donation process, inconsistencies in data organization, and a missed opportunity to effectively convey the critical need for donor support.

Proto-Personas

Understanding the key users of the site allowed me to empathize with their unique needs, goals, and frustrations. I developed scenarios and use cases for a mother seeking support for her child with an incarcerated father, a high school student applying for a scholarship, a community member interested in mentoring, and a business owner looking to donate to a meaningful cause.

Through this process, I uncovered potential user frustrations. For example, if Devin, a prospective mentor, wanted to learn more about the program, the current website would direct him to a page stating that the 2020 application deadline had passed—without providing details on the commitment involved or when the program would reopen. This lack of information could discourage engagement, prompting him to seek volunteer opportunities elsewhere.

User Testing

My goal with user testing was to validate the key areas of improvement I had already identified while uncovering any additional usability issues.

I focused on questions such as:

• Was the site easy to navigate and well-organized? Where did users experience frustration?

• Did users feel comfortable donating through the site? Why or why not?

• Did the organization effectively communicate the need for and impact of its work?

I conducted a total of eight user tests—five moderated and three unmoderated—with participants ranging in age from their mid-20s to mid-60s.

What did I learn?

While all users expressed interest in donating to the cause, critical security and trust concerns with the current donation process served as a major deterrent. Specifically, 70% of testers found the redirect to PayPal problematic, raising concerns about credibility and transaction security.

Additionally, 7 out of 8 users identified the information buried in the second-to-last navigation tab as the most compelling content on the site. As one participant noted:

“This page helps persuade me [to donate] because you can see there are so many people affected by having parents…incarcerated. It definitely says something about why you should donate to this cause.”

Another recurring frustration was the overwhelming amount of text and the difficulty in navigating the site, which made it challenging for users to quickly find the information they needed.

Key Insights

I conducted an affinity mapping exercise to systematically organize the data and uncover key insights. This process helped identify recurring themes, user pain points, and opportunities for improvement.

From this, three specific areas of focus emerged:

Recommended Updates

Transparency

• Clearly outline how donor contributions are allocated before prompting users to donate, ensuring trust and confidence in the process.

• Offer mentors comprehensive details about the program upfront, including past mentorship activities, average time commitments, and clear timelines for when the program will reopen.

• Provide scholarship applicants with all necessary application details in advance, including submission dates for the upcoming year and a checklist of required documentation.

Information Organization

• Re-organized the navigation menu for clarity and ease of use. A preliminary structure includes: Home — About — Become a Mentor — Apply for a Scholarship — Resources — Contact Us, though user testing should validate the final layout.

• Integrated visuals to break up text-heavy content and enhance key takeaways.

• Featured ScholarCHIPS’ mission and compelling statistical data prominently on the homepage to immediately communicate impact and urgency.

Legitimacy

• Refresh the website’s design to convey professionalism and foster trust with users.

• Integrate the PayPal donation system directly on the ScholarCHIPS website, eliminating the need to redirect users to a separate PayPal page.

• Include direct hyperlinks to all relevant sources for transparency and easy access to additional information.

Next Steps

After reviewing the user tests, I observed that most testers did not engage with the videos on the Press page. I believe this page could be merged with another or potentially removed, although further testing is needed to confirm this hypothesis.

I am now handing over my research findings and recommendations to the development team tasked with updating the website. I will continue collaborating with the team to ensure the successful implementation of a more user-centric web experience for ScholarCHIPS’ audience.