United Way’s challenge was in part historical: The nonprofit had long relied on workplace-sponsored giving and volunteering, with employers handling the “why.” Younger generations prefer to engage online, not through work—but the organization’s website did a poor job of telling the “why” story. United Way needed a refreshed digital presence—a site that aligns with the organization’s brand refresh, compellingly communicates the reasons for getting involved and creates clear pathways to convert visitors online.

United Way is a global organization that mobilizes communities to action. It works with and through community partners around the world—primarily local nonprofits—that operate on the ground to help people thrive. So, while UWW is among the world’s largest charities and can come across as an impersonal middleman, in fact  its unique model enables it to improve millions of individual lives. Telling this very human story was essential to creating a site that would convert prospective donors and volunteers.

DP’s Content Strategy and Experience Design teams always work closely together. With this project, collaboration centered around storytelling as a key conversion tool.

UWW’s existing donation strategy was missing a key element, the reasons for giving—one reason that the site failed to emotionally engage potential donors. We knew UWW had to not just tell the brand story, but also pair this with engaging impact stories to show how the organization’s mission to empower communities translates in real life around the globe.

The site we designed includes blocks that connect the call to action to storytelling. We forefronted a “happening now” block that adds a sense of urgency by highlighting emergency situations worldwide. This “trending” strategy is also designed to engage the younger demographic that UWW wants to mobilize, as is the visually dynamic design featuring real images of people served. 

UWW’s business model is complex. The organization has hundreds of fairly autonomous chapters across the U.S. and worldwide, each of which works across four distinct impact areas that United Way has identified as key to building resilient communities. To create compelling impact-area pages that could convert, we had to simplify: For each area, we showcased compelling visuals, statistics, and real-life success stories from individual chapters to paint a picture of United Way's impact in a consistent, scannable and easy-to-digest way.

We also created emotionally resonant pages dedicated to United Way’s local and global impact, clearly illustrating how the organization drives change at both levels. The pages feature examples of how UWW’s 1,100+ local organizations respond to community needs and leverage local resources to rapidly address crises.

United Way also expanded DP's role mid-process, engaging us to plan and create social media creative and a landing page for the brand relaunch, as well as provide editorial oversight for content creation. 
As the giving season begins, the team is preparing to collect data and optimize the site, turning an experience that clarifies the why and how (and “wow”) of United Way into a highly effective platform for conversion.