Donate Equity - UX Internship Case Study
A tool to help nonprofits accept business equity donations with confidence and clarity.
Project Overview
My Role: UX Design Intern (eventually led onboarding UX)
Team: 2 UX interns, Founder (initial starting team) + Lead UX Designer, Developer, 5 API & finance interns (as development continued)
Timeline: June 2024 – Present (Launch: July 2025)
Tools: Figma, Framer, Bubble, UserGuiding, HubSpot, Stripe
Deliverables: Wireframes, User Flows, Visual Design, Prototype, Onboarding UX
Impact: Signed nonprofit pre-launch, launch & podcast feature scheduled July 2025
“How can we make something as complex as equity donation feel approachable for any nonprofit?”
The Challenge
Business equity donations can be a game-changer for nonprofits—but the process is confusing, legal-heavy, and rarely completed without significant resources.
The Problem
Most nonprofits don’t have in-house legal teams.
Confusion around multi-stakeholder steps (boards, donors, foundations).
No dedicated tool exists to streamline this process.
Why solve it?
Enable more organizations to unlock equity-based funding.
Become the go-to infrastructure for complex nonprofit donations.
Chapter 1
Discovery
Research
We used both qualitative and quantitative methods to understand the needs of:
Nonprofits (our primary users)
Donors (equity holders)
Community Foundations (often act as facilitators)
Methods Used:
User interviews
Live walkthroughs of prototypes
In-app feedback/help forms
Key insight: Users didn’t need another project management tool—they needed guidance, clarity, and structure.
Chapter 2
Design Process
Together with the team, I helped:
Map out the entire donation journey
Identify where users needed collaboration, legal support, or document templates
Establish a repeatable task flow for donation processing
🗂 Insert flowchart or user journey image here
Ideation & User Flow
Wireframing
Early concepts focused on editable task lists, a dashboard, and upload features.
User feedback showed that customization added confusion—what users really wanted was to be guided.
Key Wireframe Decisions:
Pre-populated task list replaced editable checklists
Clear callouts for when to invite others (e.g. donor, team, board members)
Resource section for legal templates
📷 Insert wireframe gallery or before/after slider here
Prototyping with Bubble
Why Bubble?
Our team chose Bubble for its speed and flexibility—perfect for rapidly iterating based on feedback.
What I Worked On:
Prototyping necessary popups for when a user clicked on a task
Rapid iterations to designs based on Bubble’s limitations
Feedback loop from user demos directly to design iterations
Technical Challenge: We had to revise our popups and reusable elements due to lag and loading speeds. We prioritized a fast and seamless web experience at the cost of deleting some reusable elements.
🎥 Embed Bubble prototype walkthrough or link to live version
Visual Design
Once we brought on a lead UX designer, we:
Implemented a full design system in Figma
Faster designing to address feedback quicker
Chose brand colors that felt clean, calm, and supportive
Supported our goal of “simplifying” the donation process by presenting a simple image
Created reusable UI components for consistent styling across marketing and product
Assisted in presenting to potential investors and stakeholders
🎨 Insert UI mockups or “before/after design” block here
Onboarding & UserGuiding (My Lead Contribution)
After feedback revealed confusion, I led the integration of UserGuiding to create a smoother onboarding experience.
What I Did:
Designed segment-specific welcome videos (Donor, Nonprofit, Foundation)
Built interactive tooltips, task guides, and navigation helpers using video clips from our founder
Helped users feel seen, supported, and oriented
🎥 Insert clip or thumbnail of onboarding video
Chapter 3
User Testing & Iteration
Testing Methods:
Tested with stakeholders from nonprofits, foundations, and donors
Conducted 1-on-1 walkthroughs + remote testing
Collected feedback via forms and open-text emails
Changes We Made:
Added UserGuiding tooltips for better first-time navigation
Added features like "invite your board members"
Removed editable tasks that caused user hesitation