Problem

Donors rely on the Giving App every week, but they had no simple way to see how much they'd given to date. The only workaround was manually totaling donation history or contacting church admins which created uncertainty and extra workload for churches. I designed this feature to help donors understand their giving patterns without friction. Users needed a clear and accurate view of their giving and the Giving App had an opportunity to position itself from a transactional tool to an insight-driven experience.

Approach

To validate demand and reduce risk, we launched a 10-day in app fake-door experiment to over 40k+ visitors. Donors saw a new YTD card that opened up a tray with their totals, a thumbs up/down sentiment control, and a survey. We tracked taps, sentiment and survey feedback.

The test revealed strong interest (89.5% positive feedback, rising engagement (0.99% to 7.54%), and clear expectations around fund breakdowns. timeframe flexibility, and YOY comparisons. Using these takeaways, I designed the full YTD feature from defining flows, timeframe logic, comparison rules, fund breakdown patterns, and edge case scenarios.

Solution

The final YTD Giving Insight gives donors to an immediate and accurate snapshot of their giving with dynamic timeframes, comparison metrics, fund breakdowns, and intuitive educational context. The feature reduces admin support requests, increases donor confidence, and shifts the Giving App towards an insight driven experience.