KindConnect
Volunteering app designed for socially conscious individuals, offering flexible opportunities, intuitive discovery, and a supportive interface that encourages community involvement and personal growth.
Tools
Figma
Miro
InVision
Adobe Suite
Google Sheets
Team
Individual Contribute
Role
User Research
Product Thinking
User Experience Design
Visual Design
Interaction Design
Duration
10 weeks
Disciplines
iOS Design
Mobile App
Problem
Declining Volunteer Engagement in a Post-Pandemic World
Post-pandemic shifts to remote and hybrid work have disrupted traditional volunteering pathways, leading to a sharp decline in participation and leaving NGOs struggling to meet community demands. Individuals face barriers in discovering and accessing relevant, flexible opportunities within their busy lives.
Solution
Simplifying Volunteering
1
Find Tasks That Truly Fit You
Browse by cause, schedule, or location, even on a map
No more scrolling endlessly simply discover, filter, act fast
Track Your Impact
Badges, rewards, and a profile that grows with you
See your contributions add up and feel good doing it
2
Stay Connected with Trusted NGOs
Follow organizations you care about
Chat directly, apply instantly, and build real relationships
3
Problem Discovery
COVID-19 caused a sharp drop in volunteering, weakening community support
“We lost 70% of our regular volunteers in 2020, and many haven’t come back.”
— NGO Director, US-based health nonprofit
I conducted interviews with 8–10 individuals and a few NGO representatives to understand both sides of the volunteering experience. A recurring theme was clear that people want to help, but they struggle to find opportunities that are flexible, trustworthy, and easy to access.
Many individuals expressed that they want to contribute based on their interests, time, and skills—but don’t know where to begin. Also some feel disconnected from local efforts despite being willing to help.
Another challenge is the lack of visibility -people aren’t aware of what’s happening in their own neighborhoods, and NGOs don’t have the means to promote every opportunity widely and efficiently.
Currently, the only way for NGOs to reach potential volunteers is through scattered posts or outdated sign-up systems—and it’s not working. People miss out, and NGOs are left short-staffed
"I want to volunteer, but most platforms are confusing or outdated. I end up giving up." - Anika T
"It’s hard to know which NGOs are legit. I don’t want to sign up and then never hear back" - Nidhish
"I have a full-time job and can’t commit to long hours. I wish there were smaller tasks I could do on weekends." - Geena
"I moved to a new city and wanted to volunteer, but had no idea where to start or who to contact." - Mateo
"I want to volunteer, but no time to scroll through websites to find something that fits me." - Julio
"Our NGO struggles to find volunteers for even basic tasks. We post online but get little response." - Josh (NGO Lead)
Zooming Out
Re-framing Volunteering as Social Infrastructure
After identifying the drop in volunteer participation as a post-pandemic issue, I realized the core problem isn’t just access to volunteering opportunities — it's the erosion of community connection mechanisms in a hybrid, disconnected world.
This is not just a usability challenge. It’s a systems that level gap in how individuals engage with social causes.
Research Goals
What did I want out of the process?
While conducting research, I gathered insights from individuals and NGOs that were synthesized through multiple rounds of affinity grouping to identify key pain points. These insights helped shape broader patterns and informed the development of actionable How Might We (HMW) questions.
1: Understand current barriers and motivations around volunteering in today’s hybrid world.
2: Identify recurring pain points by clustering quotes, behaviours, and unmet needs into common themes.
3: Develop HMWs based on emergent insights to guide the design of a solution that bridges people and NGOs effectively
How might we bridge the gap between individuals and volunteering opportunities by making it easier access, and connect with opportunities?
Project Goals
3 main problems, 3 main features
Smart Discovery
Help users easily find volunteering opportunities based on interests, time, and location.
Benefit
Reduces effort and frustration by providing relevant, tailored results instead of overwhelming users with generic listings.
Flexible Scheduling
Let users filter and plan volunteering around their lifestyle, including short-term, weekend, or virtual options.
Benefit
Encourages participation by accommodating busy routines and lowering the time commitment barrier.
Verified Listings & Followup
Ensure opportunities come from trusted NGOs and maintain clear communication after sign-up.
Benefit
Builds trust, reduces drop-offs, and makes users feel seen and valued in their volunteering journey.
Time Crunch
Creating the system map and lean branding simultaneously
The system map was refined through multiple rounds of user testing, evolving into the most streamlined and intuitive user flow possible.
For the branding, I chose the name KindConnect to reflect the app’s core purpose—connecting individuals with causes through small, meaningful acts of kindness. It acts as a quiet enabler, helping users find trusted opportunities, make informed choices, and take action with ease.
User Feedback
Refining the Experience
To validate the usability and relevance of KindConnect, I conducted user testing with individuals across different volunteering backgrounds. The goal was to observe real interactions, uncover pain points, and gather honest feedback. These sessions revealed what users loved—like the simple filters and clean interface—as well as areas that needed refinement, such as clearer task confirmation, trust signals for NGOs, and options to bookmark or compare tasks.
The insights directly informed a set of design improvements that made the experience more intuitive, trustworthy, and action-driven.
Quantitative Impact
85% of participants said they would recommend the app to a friend
72% successfully completed a task application without assistance
60% mentioned they would be more consistent if there were badges or milestone rewards
“I clicked apply... but then what? Am I confirmed? Do I wait for someone to contact me?”
– Aditya | First-time User
“I wanted to just dive in and browse. Maybe ask me the preference stuff later?”
– Marcus | Busy Professional
“Some of these NGOs sound great, but how do I know they’re real or still active?”
– Eva | Volunteer
“There was a task I liked but I wasn’t sure if I needed prior experience. I wish I could message them first.”
– Zara | Volunteer
“I saw three interesting ones but forgot to save them. Would be nice to pin or compare options.”
– Rina | First-time User
“I had to click on each one to see if it was virtual or one-day. Couldn’t that just be shown up front?”
– Kevin | Volunteer
Impact Metrics
What Success Looks Like?
As the platform evolved, it was important not just to refine the user experience but to also understand how success could be measured. We outlined a set of outcome oriented metrics to track what meaningful engagement, platform value, and user growth might look like over time.
These indicators helped us define what early traction would feel like at launch, and what long-term impact could look like after a year of real use.
Features
Favorites from the final Prototype
Personalized Discovery
The home screen offers a curated overview of available volunteering opportunities based on user preferences. It highlights nearby tasks, trusted NGOs, and featured causes — making it easy to jump in, explore, and take action with confidence.
Personalized Discovery
The home screen offers a curated overview of available volunteering opportunities based on user preferences. It highlights nearby tasks, and trusted NGOs making it easy to jump in, explore, and take action with confidence.
Find Causes That Align with You
The mission led entry lets users filter volunteering tasks by cause. Smart filters and an interactive map view help narrow results by location, time, and interest, making it easy to discover opportunities that truly resonate.
Instant Access to Task Info
Users get all essential information at a glance like date, time, location, task type, and how to join along with a direct way to connect with the NGO and take immediate action.
Track Your Wins
It highlights user’s badges and rewards, reinforcing a sense of progress and contribution. As users complete tasks, they unlock visual milestones which makes their impact feel visible, motivating, and worth celebrating.
Activity Log
The Activity tab keeps all your volunteering actions in one place, from upcoming tasks and completed events to saved opportunities and followed NGOs. It’s a simple way to stay organized and on top of your commitments.
What I learned
Learnings + New Skills
Designing for Motivation, Not Just Usability
This project taught me that sometime designing is not just about simplifying flows, it’s also about inspiring action. I had to think beyond “ease of use” and explore what motivates people to give their time like trust, clarity, and emotional connection.
Balancing Idealism with Feasibility
As someone who wants to solve everything at once, narrowing scope was difficult. I learned to prioritize based on the user’s immediate friction points, even if that meant parking some ideas I was excited about. The ability to focus and move forward is a skill I now value more than ever.
Next Step
Imagining the Future of KindConnect
Scaling the Ecosystem
KindConnect has strong foundations, but its potential lies in scale. In the future, I imagine partnering with city governments, schools, and corporate CSR programs to embed micro-volunteering into everyday routines. Think: verified credits for students, team-building tasks for employees, or localized drives for neighborhoods.
Social Layer for Shared Impact
There's an opportunity to make KindConnect more social. By let users volunteer together, earn team badges, or follow each other's impact stories. Because giving is powerful, but giving together is transformational.