Junior Achievement

Balancing Donors And Users On the Junior Achievement Website

BACKGROUND 

Junior Achievement Fast Facts

Industry: Nonprofit

Website: https:/www.jawesternpa.org/

Location: Pittsburgh, PA

Case Study Date: 2024

THE PROBLEM

Sloppy Development Created Countless Website Headaches

Junior Achievement of Western PA hasn’t always had the best luck with web partners. After suffering through an inattentive agency and then switching to a developer who failed to offer new ideas or perspectives, the nonprofit found itself in desperate need of a reliable partner—and fast. 

With every day that passed, the team unearthed new issues inside their website, including:

• Outdated design and imagery from inconsistent updates
• Confusing navigation structure
• Few reasons for students, educators, and families—some of their major target audiences—to return to the website
• Missing opportunities to attract new volunteers (a major need for the organization)

If Junior Achievement of Western PA was going to have a successful website, they first had to find a reputable agency who could overhaul the site while streamlining the user experience for multiple audiences. 

THE SOLUTION

A Strategic Overhaul With A Renewed Focus On Users

Our approach started with a detailed analysis of the site and its users. More specifically, we created a thorough profile of each of the nonprofit’s user personas:

• Students
• Families
• Teachers
• Volunteers
• Donors
• Partners

Once we identified their unique perspectives, desires, and pain points, we revamped the website so that each page properly addresses the needs of the relevant audiences—taking care to update broken links and replace outdated graphics along the way. 

As we progressed through the updates, we eventually moved Junior Achievement of Western PA into our BLOSSOM program so they’ll continue to receive ongoing site maintenance and updates and completely avoid falling into the same tangled web of problems again.

THE PAYOFF

Cleaner Design, Happier Site Visitors

The nonprofit team was thrilled with the customer service and attention to detail, often remarking, “No other agency has ever asked us detailed questions like these before” and “We never even considered thinking about this from a user perspective!”

But we also saw major payoffs for users as well. With clearer user journeys, site visitors now have an easier pathway to navigate the site and quickly find the information necessary for them—especially for volunteers and donors. 

More importantly, our team provided an incredibly fast turnaround time to relieve the headaches Junior Achievement of Western PA had suffered through for so long.