World Vision: Product Innovation + Millennials
Challenge
We partnered with World Vision International to innovate a global fundraising product and donor experience to meet the needs of a new target market: cause-oriented millennials. World Vision (WV) is a global charity that exists to create lasting change in the lives of children, families, and communities to overcome poverty and injustice. We partnered with World Vision International to develop a global fundraising product and donor experience to meet the needs of a new target market: cause-oriented millennials. Innovation Challenge Millennials, the growing majority of earners, do not contribute to charities like previous generations. As giving patterns continue to evolve, the entire charity sector is at risk of becoming significantly underfunded if the approach to donations doesn’t evolve alongside donor preferences. Reaching millennials requires a fundamental shift in how and where donations are made. Fatigue of traditional advertising means that greater thought, imagination, and engagement are needed to truly break through. World Vision is a leader in its industry, working to bring this cohort to the table—and they’re succeeding. The Moment and World Vision designed a global donor experience targeting millennials in a meaningful and engaging way while simultaneously building Service Design capabilities across the organization.
Solution
Working Together To begin, we formed a joined-up team with World Vision’s global product development team, who had ambitious objectives. Together we worked on: Reaching an entirely new donor base: cause-oriented millennials Differentiating from current products to avoid disrupting the donor base already giving to established products Involving the charity’s global country fundraising offices (called Support Offices) to get buy-in for implementation Changing organization mindsets to approach product development in a new, donor-centric way Developing a global donor experience to dramatically increase monies raised by 2020 for “fragile contexts”—those living in dangerous situations around the world The above video campaign was created as part of a larger Product Development Innovation effort from World Vision. It is based on unique Innovation insights developed specifically for Millennials: when, where, and how much they choose to donate, how they want to connect with the charitable product and its overall cause, and the work that happened to align back-end systems across multiple countries to support this new service journey. What’s Changed World Vision successfully developed and deployed an innovative giving experience for millennials, with a service experience and digital toolkit ready for a global rollout in 19 markets by 2020. Simply changing how a charity collects donations may not seem revolutionary, but this project has had a tremendous impact on the way World Vision looks at raising donations and expanding their donor base. Working with The Moment, World Vision has tremendously increased their Innovation + Service Design Capabilities. Local buy-in, global roll out Designed to involve Support Offices around the world as key stakeholders, our process gained the necessary local buy-in needed for a global roll out. This was a fantastic leap forward for an organization—and industry—that hasn’t launched a truly global donor experience since 1950. Our work together built the foundation for a mindshift towards agile, human-centered design and the benefits it provides when trying to understand donor behaviour and needs, with local campaigns in over 18 countries including Canada, New Zealand, France, Spain, Malaysia, and more. Understanding Millennials Not only did World Vision gain deeper nuance of millennials’ expectations and how they want to interact with the digital service and beyond, they were able to validate their go-to market strategy of creating an ecosystem of services that result in repeat giving. By fostering a nimble approach for continuous in-market testing while measuring and assessing the full customer journey, our client is now set up for additional Support Offices to pilot and develop new services or products targeted to millennials.
Results
Immediate Impact With strong, positive signals from the previously hard-to-reach millennial market, the new service has inspired our client to double their fundraising projections, in part from this newly imagined global service: Projections for FY19 were increased by 140% after the new service design was implemented for the WV International platform Projections for FY20 were increased by 200% after the new service design was implemented in select country-specific markets around the world The importance of this project cannot be understated. Monies raised go directly to supporting large populations in fragile contexts—countries and regions with chronic instability, conflict, and violence—while allowing World Vision to adapt to the ever changing situation in these hostile areas. World Vision is at the forefront of engaging millennials on a global scale, with a global offer. Engaging with nationally-based Support Offices around the world and bringing millennials to the table across markets means World Vision is set to establish a new standard as they create a global movement to raise funds to make a difference in the lives of children, families, and communities.
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