Goal: Redesign the 乱伦社区 Foundation Board website to be a more streamlined, user-friendly front door for the foundation where board members can easily access information and others can quickly understand what the foundation does.
Project overview
The UW Foundation Board needed an updated site that was easy for board members to use and clearly communicated what the foundation does and why. Bringing the site onto our WordPress theme was another top priority to make it easier for staff to maintain. We collaborated with the foundation board’s team to reduce the site’s size and streamline the content in a more effective way for users.
Project launch date: Nov. 2, 2023
Length of project: Roughly five months
Project elements
Competitive analysis
Understanding how foundations present themselves online was a critical first step in determining the best approach to redesigning the UW Foundation Board site. To gain deeper insight into how these types of sites function, we conducted a competitive analysis of nine foundation websites, including the one we were redesigning. This allowed us to identify strengths and weaknesses across a range of examples.
Our analysis included both university-affiliated and non-university affiliated foundations, with an emphasis on those that are regionally relevant. One key takeaway was the importance of clearly communicating who the foundation is and what it does. That foundational information helps users understand the purpose of the site鈥攚hether it鈥檚 intended for internal audiences or the general public.
We also observed how some foundations use storytelling to build emotional connections with their mission and the communities they serve. A standout example came from the Seattle Children鈥檚 Foundation, which incorporated storytelling throughout the site鈥攏ot just on the homepage. This cohesive approach helped reinforce the foundation鈥檚 goals and provided meaningful context for its work.
Content audit
After the competitive analysis we carefully went through every page on the UW Foundation Board site as a part of our content audit. Through it we noticed that there was a lot of content that could be deleted or merged onto other pages, which would help both with a visiting user’s experience and that of the person tasked with maintaining the site. In addition, there were quite a few pages that were password protected. Determining what content was sensitive information and needed to be removed or reorganized in a more effective way became another layer of the content audit.
Using a spreadsheet, we documented all 72 pages and categorized them as merge, keep or delete. We also marked which ones were password protected, working with our partners to determine if the content on those pages needed to be protected for some reason and if it needed to be on the public site in the first place. Because this is a site for a non-profit, public 501(c)(3) organization a key question that we posed was what legally needed to be on the site. After learning that the foundation also leveraged a third party tool called BoardEffect for members that was more locked down, it made it easier to make these decisions. Content that board members needed access to but didn’t necessarily need to be shared with the general public could go onto BoardEffect, helping to open up the UW Foundation Board site as a nice front door for the organization. Through this content audit we were able to bring the final number of pages from 72 down to six pages.
Sitemapping
Old menu navigation
The old navigation was built around the foundation鈥檚 internal structure, which shaped how content was laid out. Many menu items pointed to password鈥憄rotected pages, so users without the password often hit dead ends. Even users who had the password were slowed down because it wasn鈥檛 obvious which pages were locked or which password they needed.
Some menu items also sent users to outside sites without warning, which made the experience feel disjointed. On top of that, content that naturally fit together was spread across several pages instead of being grouped in one place where it would have been easier to find.
New menu navigation
When we cut the number of pages on the site by nearly 92%, the navigation had to change dramatically. Instead of sticking to the foundation鈥檚 internal structure, we shifted the navigation to reflect what our main users鈥攂oard members and UW faculty and staff鈥攁ctually need. Many of the foundation sites we reviewed during our competitive analysis took the same approach.
Even with fewer pages, we still had important content to highlight. Anchor links in the menu helped us guide users straight to the sections that matter most. For example, we built board member pages to act as a one鈥憇top shop for everything they need. Direct access to key dates was still essential, which made anchor links in the menu especially useful.
Wireframing/prototyping
The old homepage mainly served as a jumping鈥憃ff point to different parts of the foundation, but it didn鈥檛 explain who the foundation was or what it did. After talking with our foundation partners, we realized the site needed a more welcoming front door鈥攅specially for board members coming to find information about upcoming meetings.
Putting the foundation board鈥檚 purpose statement front and center helped answer the basics right away without overwhelming the rest of the page. Adding feature stories also helped show the university鈥檚 impact and how the foundation contributes to that work. A lot of the original homepage content wasn鈥檛 necessary for the main experience, so we moved it to secondary pages to create a cleaner, more streamlined experience for both first鈥憈ime and returning visitors.
Project launch
By cleaning up the content and refocusing the site around what board members and other users actually needed, we created a simpler, more direct design that worked better for visitors and for the staff maintaining it. The new ‘For board members’ and ‘For faculty & staff’ pages made it obvious where users could find most of their information, including the key dates pertaining to each group. Bringing all committee content into one place also made it easier for users to explore and reduced the extra work required whenever committees changed.
**Use the wayback machine to view the OAP site before the launch of the redesign Nov. 2, 2023