Creating a need
A school admin can create a need with a description and any specifications for their community.
Volunteering Platform
Bridging the Gap Between Educational Facilities and Volunteering Organisations with an All-in-one Platform
200
Communities participated in a month
3x
Faster solution for requests
USA
Country
Tech
Industry
About the client
The client is an American founder who is closely connected to the Schools community as he works with numerous schools and coordinates different non-educational activities. The idea of the platform arose from a real need that he himself observed – needs often went unanswered, because no tool in the market would centrally coordinate them. So educational facilities have to buy a subscription to use the applications with somewhat similar functions, and then add volunteers there. In such a way, he decided to create not just a product, but an opportunity to simplify service, assistance and volunteer support in his and similar communities.
Challenge
The founder saw a common challenge within many communities: a genuine desire to help often gets lost in chaotic, uncoordinated processes. Requests for assistance were often communicated verbally or in fragmented group chats, leading to several key issues:
- Lost Requests: Many needs were simply forgotten or went unanswered.
- Lack of Clarity: It was unclear who needed help and who was available to provide it.
- Eroding Trust: The disorganized process led to a lack of confidence in the community’s ability to effectively help its members.
The startup was created to solve this with a specialised mobile and web platform where anyone in the community could easily post a request and a volunteer could quickly claim the task.
Yehor Saprykin, CPO EVNE Developers
Though the general vision of the platform was quite straightforward, a primary challenge was aligning the different visions of the client's team. We overcame this by centralising all feedback and requirements into a single document with further analysis and prioritisation. Later with using Figma prototypes and video presentations, we demonstrated a clear and logical user flow. This helped everyone see the product's potential in a unified way.
Yehor Saprykin, CPO EVNE Developers
Solution
Working with an early-stage startup presented a common set of challenges. Without extensive pre-existing documentation, our team had to focus on a flexible and rather investigative approach. We identified a key risk early on: the need for ongoing discovery and potential changes in project scope defined by the founder.
To manage this, we planned for a significant amount of work dedicated to:
- Investigative UX: Thoroughly explore user behaviours and potential scenarios that may occur behind the platform functions.
- Proactive Suggestions: Provide expert recommendations for UX/UI design and logical user flows to help inexperienced users with onboarding and general product use.
- Flexible Adaptation: We were ready to handle change requests as the client’s vision evolved and the platform scaled its functions.
- Scalable Engineering: As far as the startup aimed to evolve further, the engineering team created the infrastructure able to withstand future expansions.
This flexible strategy allowed us to stay on track, make strategic business decisions and deliver a comprehensive solution despite a dynamic project environment.
Result
We developed a full-scale MVP for the entire ecosystem, focusing on three key areas:
- Mobile Application Design: We crafted a user-friendly and intuitive UX/UI for the mobile app, covering all primary functions from creating a request to managing user profiles and receiving notifications.
- Admin Panel Design: For school administrators, we designed a robust yet simple backend panel. This tool allows for user management, request moderation, role settings, and generating reports.
- Prototyping & Documentation: We created interactive prototypes to test and refine the user experience and provided detailed documentation of the logic and user flows for the development team.
In addition, we started the Architecture build-up to structure the existing apps into a singular platform and prepare an MVP for further scaling after receiving funding.
The MVP stage functional scope included the core functions among the main use case scenarios that were included in the app as well:
Accepting the task
Users can see the list of tasks in their area and submit their requests for volunteering. They can filter the list and select the ones that suit them the best.
User profile
Each volunteer should create their profile with the list of preferred activities, active participations, and successfully finished tasks.
Chat
To avoid using non-centralised third-party apps, we included chat in the platform, where all details on any event can be discussed directly.
Additional
We also introduced enhanced security measures, including improved security protocols and data encryption, to safeguard sensitive information and protect the system from data leaks.
Aside from creating a direct technical scope, the team had to pay attention to the numerous aspects of the startup business. During the design process, we focused on several elements to ensure the platform was not only functional but also emotionally engaging and easy to use.
Strong branding
We presented several logo options that captured the product’s essence of help and mutual support. The chosen design perfectly conveys a sense of trust and a task completed, resonating with the spirit of the platform. The same goes for the colour scheme and promo elements created specifically for further product scale-up.
A Warm, Inviting Visual Style
The entire app was designed with a friendly yet modern aesthetic. We used a palette of calm colors, inviting fonts, and a clean interface to build an atmosphere of trust and sincerity, which is crucial for the platform’s target audience.
Emotionally Driven Requests
The request list was intentionally designed to be clear and emotionally engaging. It quickly shows who needs help and with what, encouraging volunteers to respond quickly and with empathy.
Efficient Admin Tools
The admin panel was built for simplicity and power. It provides a clean, compact view of key data, making it easy for administrators to moderate requests and manage user roles without feeling overwhelmed. They get the ability to quickly moderate and filter requests to make less mess in the processes. As part of a complex security approach, we introduced flexible settings for access rights for different levels of admins.
Value Delivered
While being only recently launched, the project has already yielded a significant success: the client expressed deep satisfaction with our team’s understanding and embodiment of the product’s core mission. Our deep immersion in the idea allowed us to act as a true partner, anticipating needs and delivering an MVP that perfectly aligns with their vision for a more connected and caring community.
Fast iterative approach
As far as the entire product was launched as an MVP, we introduced the specific Agile approach to problem-solving and business orientation with fast results.
Appealing and emotional UI
The platform caters to the expectations of the target audience, providing an attractive, user-friendly, and unique branding-based interface. With the analysis of the audience the platform received emotionally-coloured interface that reaches the readers.
Ready for growth
The platform has all the necessary basis and documentation to secure funding and move further to the scaling and growth phase.
Application Modernization
Custom software development
For increasing ARR
SAAS Application Development
Looking to enhance your product?
EVNE Developers is a strong software development team with a product mindset and a track record of successfully scaling minimum viable products (MVPs) into robust and scalable solutions.
