GiftSync

Non-profit organisations frequently encounter significant hurdles in accurately and efficiently tracking and reconciling diverse donation streams. Reliance on manual processes for handling both online payments (via platforms like Stripe) and offline donations (cheques, cash, direct credits) leads to a multitude of pain points:

• Reconciliation Headaches: Discrepancies between bank statements, CRM records (Virtuous), and various accounting systems (such as Xero, QuickBooks, and MYOB) create time-consuming and error-prone manual reconciliation. Non-profit bookkeepers, for instance, often struggle with the "difficulty matching bank transactions to specific donor records" and the "time-consuming manual reconciliation processes."
• Tracking Challenges: The absence of a unified system makes it challenging to track every gift accurately, resulting in incomplete audit trails and diminished confidence in financial reporting.
• Manual Fee Management: The manual accounting for transaction fees (from Stripe and other donation platforms) and GST is a tedious and error-prone process.
• System Discrepancies: Inconsistent data across multiple platforms leads to system discrepancies, hindering real-time financial insights and strategic decision-making for organisational leaders, who are often focused on "leveraging technology and AI tools to streamline business operations."
• Scalability Limitations: As non-profits expand, these manual processes become unsustainable, impeding their capacity to scale operations and donor engagement effectively. Software developers within these organisations emphasise the need for "scalable, secure, and user-friendly" solutions.

The core issue was the fragmented flow of donation data, necessitating substantial manual intervention and resulting in inefficiencies, inaccuracies, and a lack of comprehensive financial oversight for non-profit organisations.

GiftSync: Streamlining Non-Profit Financial Operations - A Product Design Case Study
Project Brief: Bridging the Donation Data Gap for Non-Profits
The Problem
Non-profit organisations frequently encounter significant hurdles in accurately and efficiently tracking and reconciling diverse donation streams. Reliance on manual processes for handling both online payments (via platforms like Stripe) and offline donations (cheques, cash, direct credits) leads to a multitude of pain points:

Reconciliation Headaches: Discrepancies between bank statements, CRM records (Virtuous), and various accounting systems (such as Xero, QuickBooks, and MYOB) create time-consuming and error-prone manual reconciliation. Non-profit bookkeepers, for instance, often struggle with the "difficulty matching bank transactions to specific donor records" and the "time-consuming manual reconciliation processes."

Tracking Challenges: The absence of a unified system makes it challenging to track every gift accurately, resulting in incomplete audit trails and diminished confidence in financial reporting.

Manual Fee Management: The manual accounting for transaction fees (from Stripe and other donation platforms) and GST is a tedious and error-prone process.

System Discrepancies: Inconsistent data across multiple platforms leads to system discrepancies, hindering real-time financial insights and strategic decision-making for organisational leaders, who are often focused on "leveraging technology and AI tools to streamline business operations."

Scalability Limitations: As non-profits expand, these manual processes become unsustainable, impeding their capacity to scale operations and donor engagement effectively. Software developers within these organisations emphasise the need for "scalable, secure, and user-friendly" solutions.

The core issue was the fragmented flow of donation data, necessitating substantial manual intervention and resulting in inefficiencies, inaccuracies, and a lack of comprehensive financial oversight for non-profit organisations.

Restrictions and Limitations (MVP Focus)

This project was developed as a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) solution, with the understanding that enhancements would be implemented as the product gained adoption. Key restrictions and limitations included:

• Core Integration Focus: The initial scope was tightly focused on establishing robust integrations between Virtuous, Stripe, bank data (via CSV imports), and various accounting systems.
• Persona-Driven Design: Designs were directly informed by detailed persona research (e.g., non-profit bookkeepers, software developers, CEOs) and real-world client feedback, ensuring the solution addressed immediate and pressing needs for a specific client.
• Speed to Market: A critical requirement was the rapid development and deployment of the solution. To achieve this, the design needed to leverage existing React prebuilt component libraries, ensuring efficiency without compromising usability or brand consistency.
• Scalability for Future Growth: While an MVP, the architecture and design needed to consider future scalability and extensibility to accommodate increased transaction volumes and additional features.
• Security and Compliance: A critical underlying requirement was ensuring data security and compliance with financial regulations, impacting data handling and UI considerations for sensitive information.

Product Design and Solutioning Process

Our product design process for GiftSync was deeply rooted in understanding the user personas and the complex data flows involved. The focus was on creating an intuitive and trustworthy interface that simplified intricate financial processes, while also establishing a strong brand identity.

Brand Development:

• Identity: We developed the GiftSync brand to convey reliability, precision, and innovation. This involved creating a distinct visual identity that resonated with the non-profit sector while projecting a modern, efficient image. The brand concepts explored various logo marks, including abstract representations of synchronisation and gift-giving, ensuring a versatile identity.
• Colour Palette: A colour palette was selected for its tech-friendly foundation, offering dynamic effects and maintaining an innovative vibe appealing to developers, accountants, and CEOs alike. Supporting colours were introduced to add versatility and depth for UI elements, ensuring a cohesive and modern look for hover states, backgrounds, and other interactive components.
• Typography: Clear and legible typography was selected to ensure readability of financial data and reports, aligning with the "bold legibility" principle for text, crucial for an application dealing with numerical data.

User Interface (UI) Design & Solutioning:

• Leveraging React Component Libraries: To meet the speed-to-market requirement, the UI design heavily utilised existing React prebuilt component libraries. This approach allowed for rapid prototyping and development, ensuring a consistent and robust interface without building every element from scratch. The design focused on customising these components to align with the GiftSync brand guidelines.
• Intuitive Navigation for Complex Workflows: The UI was designed to guide users through complex tasks like file uploads for bank transactions and the subsequent transaction matching process with clear, logical steps. For instance, the file upload screen features a prominent drag-and-drop area and a clear list of recent uploads with their status, providing immediate feedback to the user.
• Streamlined Transaction Matching: A key design challenge was simplifying the often-complex task of matching bank transactions to donor records. The solution involved:
  • Visual Cues: Using clear visual indicators (e.g., "MATCHED," "UNMATCHED," "AUTO MATCHED") to show the status of each transaction.
  • Suggested Matches: Implementing a "Suggested matches" section to proactively offer potential donor records based on configurable rules, significantly reducing manual effort for bookkeepers.
  • Interactive Matching: Providing an intuitive interface where users can easily review, confirm, or manually adjust matches, as demonstrated in the transaction matching WIP screen. This includes the ability to search for donors and apply new rules.
  • Clear Feedback: Integrating clear feedback mechanisms, such as messages like "We can't find a donor match for this transaction," to guide users when manual intervention is required.
• Error Prevention & Feedback: Clear feedback mechanisms and validation steps were integrated throughout the application to prevent common data entry errors and guide users through the matching and reconciliation processes.
• Consistency and Accessibility: UI components and interactions were designed for consistency across the application, reducing cognitive load for users already familiar with accounting and CRM systems. Emphasis was placed on creating an accessible interface, ensuring usability for all users.

Key Outcomes of the MVP Solution

The initial MVP of GiftSync successfully addressed critical pain points for non-profit organisations by automating complex financial reconciliation processes. By providing a clear, branded interface and robust integrations, it significantly reduced manual effort, improved data accuracy, and laid the groundwork for enhanced financial oversight and strategic decision-making. The solution was built to meet the real-world needs of a client, informed by direct user research and a strategic design approach that balanced speed-to-market with a strong user experience, ensuring immediate value and a solid foundation for future product evolution.