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Feeding America
"Feeding America" is an app designed to help donors to food banks/food pantries make donations more effectively, thereby enabling food banks to impact more people with their services.
Food banks provide free food to those in need, and "Feeding America," a major intermediary in the US, links them with branded supermarkets for support. However, our research revealed that "Feeding America" doesn't offer fundraising services, despite money being essential for food banks. This limitation hampers their service capabilities.
To address this, we developed an app using "Feeding America's" fundraising system, enhancing fundraising efficiency and expanding assistance reach for food banks. As a result, around 79% of Gen Y and Gen Z expressed a stronger inclination towards donating to food banks.
My roles
Roles
Tools
My Work
Project Lead
UX designer
Figma, Miro
Adobe suite
10 Weeks
Team
4 People
Timeframe
1. Conduct preliminary interview research for organization.
2. Create an Ecosystem Map and Service Blueprint.
3. Organize co-creation workshops.
4. Prototype UX design.
5. Organize user testing.
Problem Statement
Although money is crucial, Feeding America only provides food assistance, not fundraising support, leaving many food banks/pantries facing financial shortages and limited service reach.
Design Goals
In this project, our primary focus is to enhance the engagement of Generation Y (GenY) and Generation Z (GenZ) in fundraising activities for Feed America, effectively supporting the elimination of food insecurity issues.
The Project Timeline
Knowing Feeding America
The facts of hunger in the United States
3.4
billion people in the United States are facing food insecurity.
1/8
people of the United States are facing food insecurity.
100%
100% of states in the United States are facing food insecurity.
What does Feeding America do?
"Feeding America" (FA) doesn't have physical food bank stores but serves as a crucial intermediary, supporting over 200 food banks /6000 food pantries through collaborations with numerous U.S. supermarkets and farms. This support allows food banks to provide enough foods to assist over 40 million people facing hunger in recent years.
Feeding America
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Not directly targeting the food receivers
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non-profit organization in the United States dedicated to addressing hunger issues and reducing food waste.
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Have the largest food bank network in the United States (300+Food bank; 6000+food pantries),
Food Bank
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Main food receivers is Low income people.
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large-scale, more organized organization; provide food support to food pantries.
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Mainly provide food ingredients.
Food Pantry
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Main food receivers are homeless people.
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small-scale facilities operated by churches, community organizations, etc.
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Often provide other services, including shower, clothes, etc.
The current fundraising situation of "Feeding America"
1
Donations primarily used for "Feeding America"
Although "Feeding America" has its own fundraising system, donations are primarily used for "Feeding America" itself.
2
Low individual donations
The main source of funding for "Feeding America" comes from its foundation partners, while income from individual donations is relatively minimal.
3
Donation methods are complex and lack consistency
"Feeding America" offers various individual fundraising methods, often requiring multiple online and offline touchpoints. The donation process is complex and lacks consistency.
4
Low brand recognition
Individual donations of "Feeding America" are scattered across various channels, often leading users to donate on different platforms, which results in lower brand recall for "Feeding America".
5
Low user stickiness
Follow-up services for individual fundraising methods of "Feeding America" are weak, resulting in low user stickiness, with most users making one-time donations only.
Feeding America Research Process
1. Secondary research
Desktop research&literature research
Understanding of existing food bank systems; Existing system of Feeding America; Understanding of the users and potential users of the food bank; Understanding of government and other organizational structures; Understanding of the donor population
Result
1
The strong network support of Feeding America relies primarily on its extensive partners network, which provides food, financial, and promotional support to Feeding America.
2
Feeding America's primary source of donations comes from fund partners, although they do accept public donations, the revenue from which is relatively minimal.
3
Feeding America mainly allocates donated funds to its own food programs and don't provides or provide minimal financial support to Food Banks/Food Pantries.
2. Non-participant observation
Purpose
Understand how Feeding America addresses hunger through Second Harvest Food Bank, contributing insights to hunger alleviation.
Methods
Selected Second Harvest Food Bank for on-site observations of internal operations. Explored local food pantries in Savannah, examining their processes and funding sources.
Result
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Main Relationship diagram (How Feeding America provide support to food banks/food pantries?)
3. Autoethnography
Purpose
Explore how Feeding America manages donation services, pinpoint challenges, and identify improvement opportunities.
Methods
Used current feeding America digital donation service, observed The Fresh Market and Crocs, documented dynamics, and engaged with personnel to understand and enhance checkout donations within Feeding America.
Result
Contextual Interview
Purpose
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Understand the collaboration between Food Aid Organization (FA) and Food Bank, and details of FA's assistance through situational interviews.
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Understand how young donors think about current Feeding America's donation service.
Methods
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Interviewed internal experts from the Food Bank and Storage Room to gain insights into operations, responsibilities, and resource acquisition, evaluating the impact of FA's assistance.
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Show 16 interviewees (6 Gen Y and 10 Gen Z) Feeding Americas current digital donation page and interview their thinking and feeling when they donate.
Result
”Although we have our own donation system and accept assistance from other organizations, money is often insufficient. Sometimes, we can only maintain the normal operation of the food bank by charging for some of the food.“
”For a food pantry, fund donations are more useful compared to food donations because we don’t have sufficient space and technical support to manage donated food, and fund donations provide more direct assistance.“
1
Money is more useful
Both food banks and food pantries believe that money is more useful than foods donation, as money can do more things.
1
Money is insufficient
Despite having food banks and food pantries own methods of fundraising, which is insufficient, especially for food pantries.
2
Unstable income resources
Food banks often experience a long funding application process, impacting their efficiency in food distribution. Food pantries primarily rely on neighbors, which is also unpredictable.
Interview
Purpose
Select the qualitative data of GenY and Gen Z's donation information, generating insights.
Methods
Conducted interviews with16 interviewees (6 Gen Y and 10 Gen Z) exploring donation experiences, involvement in donation, donation habits, donation motivations, daily life, perceptions of food safety, food banks/Feeding America, and so on.
Sample Size
Survey
Purpose
Select the quantitative data of GenY and Gen Z's donation information, generating insights.
Methods
Created a questionnaire, including donation behaviors, donation attitudes, donation motivations, perceptions of food safety, food banks/Feeding America, and so on. We distributed the survey on social websites and finally got 163 response.
Sample Size
Result
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Insight Statement
1
"Gen-Y and Gen Z need to get more warmth when donating because “Feeling Warmth” is one of most important reason why they donate, especially occasionally donation.”
2
“Gen-Y and Gen Z need to understand how their donations make significance because they care about the result of donation.”
3
Gen-Y and Gen Z need to get more familiar with Feeding America donation because they prefer to donate something they’re familiar.”
4
“Gen-Y and Gen Z need to have a more convenience way of donation because they don’t pay too much attention on donation and usually make a donation decision in a short time.”
5
“Gen-Y and Gen Z need to have a better experience of digital experience because those are the main ways they get information when they proactively search for feeding America information.”
6
“Gen-Y and Gen Z need to get some personal benefit especially doing long-term donation because they expect some feedback after donating.”
Analysis data
Persona
User Journey Map
Unmet Needs
Ideation Process
HMW (How might we) Questions
1
HWM increase the warmth feeling of the donation experience?
2
HMW let Gen-Y and Gen-Z know more about recipients and organization?
3
HMW provide a more convenient way of donation?
4
HMW build more connection and let donors come back and donate again?
5
HWM make Gen-Y and Gen Z feel their donation is meaningful?
6
HMW provide Gen-Y and Gen-Z personal benefit after donation?
Ideation Portfolio (from HWM questions)
We gave the ideas based on the How might we questions, and then evaluated them with Impact Score Methods according to "Functionable", "Feasible", "Sustainable", "Creative". Finally, we selected those ideations with higher scores.
Evaluation (Impact Score)
We invited 6 GenY and GenZ, and showed them our new ideations. They gave the scores based on "Functionable", "Feasible", "Sustainable", "Creative".
Synthesis Ideas (primary)
1. Provide a platform for donors to have direct interaction with the Food bank and make direct donations.
2. Users can directly distribute their donations and track them.
3. Users can learn more about the specific projects of food bank/food pantry and make donations.
4. Users can view their donation history
5. Visualize donation results and situations to motivate users
6. After each donation, the user will be prompted through "email, SMS, bank mobile app", so that the user can return to the interface and donate several times.
7. Users can receive a thank you message from Food bank/Food pantry
New User Journey Map
Prototype
Co-creation Workshop
During the co-creation workshop, we invited 3 representatives each from Gen Y and Gen Z, along with 2 workers from food bank and food pantry. We showcased the current design, collected feedback on the prototype.They collaborated to refine the donation interface of "Feeding America.", brainstormed improvements, and outlined next steps based on the insights gathered.
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Feedback from Paticipants
Delivery
Donors Pages
Main Page of Donor
--See Donation in Community
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Ranking based on the geographical area range
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Rankings are made in real time by zooming in and out of the map
Main Page of Donor
--Filter
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Users can filter the food banks on the map based on their preferences.
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The criteria for screening are category, distance, types, and program types.
Main Page of Donor
--Drag Circle to distribute fund donation
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“7 meals” in the middle of the circle represents donations that have not yet been distribute.
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Users distribute their donations by dragging the circle directly.
Details of Food bank/Food pantry
--Choose a food bank/food pantry (a specific program to donate
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Donors can check food bank/ food pantry's details and choose a special food program to donate.
Donation Record and Track
--Track the donation history and the programs you have donated before
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Received a “thank you” message
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Track their own donation history
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Check the donation medals
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Long-term donation button
Food bank and food pantry's Pages
Created an account and started a program
--Created an account of Food bank/food pantry
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Enter basic information such as name, address, logo, contact information, etc
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Bind a bank account for collection
Check a program progress and Send “thank you”
--Check and manage the programs progress; send “thank you” to donor
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Check and manage the programs, like uploading recent pictures and videos
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Send a “thank you” to donors
Thank you for watching!
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