The DONKEY SANCTURARY

Senior UX designer

Charity website & donation funnel

The Donkey Sanctuary needed a user-centred redesign of their website to increase donations and improve visitor engagement. With a large and loyal supporter base, the existing site wasn’t meeting expectations, particularly in the donation funnel and Visit Us sections. Improving these areas required an evidence-based, accessible experience that would work for a diverse set of users.

As the senior UX designer I had end-to-end responsibility for discovery and design. I ran interviews, surveys, and usability tests to understand donor motivations and blockers, and synthesised findings into actionable insights. I collaborated closely with internal stakeholders, developers, and the wider charity team to ensure the designs aligned with business goals while representing the voices of users.

ux Process

To support a successful redesign, I ran a structured end-to-end UX process grounded in research, collaboration and accessibility.

Conducted competitor reviews, heuristic evaluations, analytics analysis, surveys and stakeholder interviews to uncover pain points and shape design principles.

Created personas, sitemaps, wireflows and wireframes to define journeys and structure content around user needs.

Validated proposed navigation using tree testing and refined wireframes through moderated usability sessions.

Carried out accessibility reviews during the design phase, ensuring final outputs met or exceeded WCAG AA standards.

Delivered detailed design specifications and high-fidelity prototypes to support developers and maintain consistency through build.

Impact

The redesign delivered clear, measurable results for The Donkey Sanctuary while helping embed UX thinking across the organisation.

Donations rose significantly, with the new funnel driving a 56% increase in regular monthly givers, a key source of long-term funding.

Cross-team alignment strengthened through stakeholder workshops and high-fidelity designs that provided clarity, direction, and a shared reference point for product, marketing, and development teams.

Wayfinding was simplified, particularly in the Visit Us section. Tree testing revealed that users could now locate key information up to 76% more efficiently, improving both visitor experience and on-site engagement.

UX maturity grew across the organisation. By sharing insights and bringing stakeholders into the research and design process, I helped foster a more evidence-led, user-focused culture. This made future design decisions easier and more aligned.