Project 1

The Context

Now in its 49th year, Northwestern Dance Marathon is one of the largest entirely student-run philanthropies in the nation. Every year, 1000+ dancers and committee members come together to create NUDM and dance for 30 hours to benefit NUDM's beneficiaries.

In 2022, I joined NUDM’s Tech & Analytics committee to create an app that helped NUDM fundraise more than $400,000 for their 2023 Beneficiary, the Little Heroes League. In March 2023, we successfully developed and launched our app in the app store!

The Challenge

How might we support dancers to meet their fundraising goals and discover ways to engage with the NUDM community?

Since COVID-19, NUDM has seen a significant drop in student participation, a trend that has cut into their donations and hurt a longstanding Northwestern tradition. The NUDM executive committee wanted to explore new channels to boost student engagement and build a stronger community network.

The Solution

We created a fundraising and event discovery app.

Part 1. Discovery & User Research

To begin our product discovery phase, we analyzed survey results from 671 dancers, conducted 8 in-depth interviews, and analyzed NUDM’s current service offerings.

User Survey

From a survey of 671 dancers who registered for NUDM in 2022, we found that:

For the vast majority of dancers (74%), this year was their first-time joining NUDM.

Nearly half of the registered dancers (47%) expressed that there were really interested in attending events with the beneficiaries.

And lastly, the top two reasons people were motivated to join were:
1. Recommendation from a Friend (37%)
2. Joining an NUDM committee (to help organize the event) (31%)

These results indicated to us that having a friend made people a lot more likely to engage with NUDM, and we were surprised to find that nearly 1 out of 3 dancers were also NUDM committee members. Overall, this survey taught us to consider social networks, event engagement, and new member experiences going forward.

User Interviews

We conducted 8 in-depth interviews with dancers and committee members.
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Q1: What motivates you to fundraise?

"Seeing the beneficiary. Every time I see them, it makes a difference. Every time I hear the founder of Little Heroes League speak, I want to do more."

"People raise thousands of dollars at canning. We usually publicize canning with committees, but it doesn’t really filter out to other people."

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Q2: How do you hear about events?

"I’m on a committee and sometimes even I don’t know even what events are going on."

"I hear from word-of-mouth. Sometimes I see events on instagram stories, but it’s rare. I don’t get anything from the newsletter."

Analysis of Current Services

We analyzed NUDM’s current information channels, and identified gaps in communication channels and potential opportunities for an app.

Based on our analysis and interviews, we developed the following key insights:

favorite

Dancers often don’t know what events are going on because event information is poorly publicized on fragmented communication channels.

rocket_launch

Attending canning events or beneficiary events had a huge impact on motivating dancers to reach their fundraising goals.

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Fundraising resources are scattered across Classy, Google docs, texts, and newsletters. How could we integrate resources into one place?

Part 2. Design & Development

Ideation & Prioritization Matrix

After our initial discovery research, our team ideated ideas for product features. This helped us establish a strategic direction, and align on potential core features.

Information Architecture

After brainstorming core features, we affinity mapped ideas to created an app architecture.

Design Iterations

We created initial wireframes and continuously iterated our designs based on user feedback.

Test & Validate:

We conducted user testing by surveying 20 users before and after using our app on their experience finding event information and accessing fundraising resources.

T1: For our events page:

Users rated their ability to find event information as 80% easier using the app than using other communication channels. Users were 60% more likely to attend an event using the app. 95% of users said they found the event RSVP and notifications features very helpful.

T2: For our fundraising page:

Users were 55% more likely to use fundraising resources when they were provided in the app. Users were 45% more likely to share their fundraising link and ask for donations using the app.

Final Features

Check out our final screens below.
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Reflection (& pats on the back ☺️)

R1. How to conduct the product discovery process.

I joined the app design team when they’d already begun their design process, and found that there was limited initial research to support their current ideas. I took the initiative to craft a UX Research Guide and talk to NUDM executive stakeholders to validate their design decisions and inform a product vision that was reflective of real user experiences.

R2. Working on a product development lifecycle.

As part of the tech & analytics team, we worked side by side with a team of front-end and back-end engineers. Working closely with them to spec product features, establish metrics, and time their development lifecycle was a new experience for me that taught me a lot about the importance of agile methodologies and product management.