CASE STUDY

Helping Hands

Helping Hands

A volunteer matching platform that takes the friction out of giving back.

A volunteer matching platform that takes the friction out of giving back.

LEAD UX DESIGNER / UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN / 2023 / RESEARCH + IA

Helping Hands cover

OVERVIEW

Volunteers want to help and organizations need help. The matching layer between them is broken. Working from twelve user interviews and a competitive teardown, we designed for the eighty percent of would-be volunteers who never actually start: lower the activation cost, match on skills and availability, and build trust signals directly into discovery.

Volunteers want to help and organizations need help. The matching layer between them is broken. Working from twelve user interviews and a competitive teardown, we designed for the eighty percent of would-be volunteers who never actually start: lower the activation cost, match on skills and availability, and build trust signals directly into discovery.

THE PROBLEM

01

Discovery overwhelms people.

Existing platforms list opportunities but cannot filter usefully by skills, time, or cause. People scroll, get overwhelmed, and bounce.

02

Trust is missing.

New volunteers cannot tell if an organization is legitimate or a good fit until they show up. That uncertainty stops most people from signing up.

03

Coordinators drown in bad matches.

Volunteer managers spend hours screening people who cannot actually commit. A mismatch costs more than no volunteer at all.

SELECTED SCREENS

Helping Hands screen
Helping Hands screen
Helping Hands screen

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