This is the portfolio of Alex Castro, UX Product Designer
A concept case study Product & UX design
WHAT IS THIS?
Unbound is a top-rated nonprofit that connects sponsors with children, youth, and elders living in poverty. Their mission and financial transparency are excellent — 90% of expenses go directly to programs, and they hold top ratings from GuideStar, Charity Navigator, and Charity Watch. But their donation flow doesn't work as hard as their mission does.
ENHANCING THE
DONATIONS EXPERIENCE
This is a self-directed concept project: I audited Unbound's live donation experience and redesigned it using the same conversion-focused UX principles I've applied to fintech onboarding (Citibank), and healthcare account flows
(CVS Health).
Nonprofits and fintech products are solving the same underlying problem: get a user to complete a trust-sensitive transaction with as little friction as possible.
WHAT PROBLEM DID I SOLVE?
I audited Unbound's live site and found four friction points standing between a motivated visitor and a completed donation:
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Too many steps before the form.
"Donate" routes through a "Ways to Give" hub before reaching an actual donation form, an extra decision screen for a donor who already clicked "Donate."
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Blank amount fields.
The donor is asked to choose or type an amount with no framing for what that amount actually does.
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Trust signals buried in the footer.
Unbound has genuinely excellent third-party ratings (GuideStarPlatinum, Charity Navigator 4-star), but they only appear at the very bottom of the homepage which is invisible at the moment a hesitant donor needs reassurance the most.
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Recurring giving as an afterthought.
One-time giving is the default path, even though monthly sponsors might be far more valuable to Unbound's long-term strategy.
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A transactional confirmation screen.
After donating, the experience ends with a receipt instead of building a relationship.
DESIGN GOALS
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Cut the donation path to 3 screens.
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Reframe every dollar amount as a tangible outcome for the donor, not just a number.
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Move trust signals more visible to the donor.
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Make recurring giving the default.
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Turn the confirmation screen into the start of a relationship, not the end of a transaction.
Design Phase
Concept Wireframes.
Here's the low-fi wireframe of the redesigned donation flow, numbered to match the five changes:
1. The whole path is now 3 screens instead of routing through a separate "Ways to Give" hub first.
2. The $45 tier is pre-selected and labeled by outcome
("Sponsor a child"), not left as a blank field.
3. The trust badge sits right above the CTA on both screen 1 and screen 2, not buried in the footer.
4. "Give monthly" is toggled on by default, with one-tap ability to switch to one-time.
5. The confirmation screen leads with a photo and a name, not a receipt, to start the relationship rather than close the transaction.
