At a Glance
GivingData provides a grants management solution SaaS product for private philanthropic grantmaking organizations. The product sits at the center of a foundation's grantmaking and operations, providing workflows, budgeting, and decision-support features for a broad range of roles within the organization.
Challenges
Quick search was meant to be the fastest way to find information inside GivingData, but it wasn't living up to its name. We were hearing from users that it felt limited, inconsistent, and inefficient.
Some of the biggest issues:
- You could only search three types of records, even though users needed access to a lot more.
- Critical properties like an organization's Tax ID weren’t searchable at all.
- Search results didn’t always prioritize the most relevant matches.
- Displaying results gave too little context, forcing users to dig deeper just to find what they needed.
All of this slowed people down, created frustration, and made navigating the platform harder than it needed to be.
Role
I led the UX strategy and design for the quick search redesign, from defining problems to prototyping solutions.
I collaborated closely with engineering and product management to make sure we tackled the underlying logic challenges, not just the surface-level UI fixes.
I also worked directly with users to validate ideas, refine search behavior, and test new designs before launch.
Process
We approached the redesign like rebuilding a foundation, not just patching cracks.
- Research: I gathered user feedback and conducted task analyses to understand where search workflows were breaking down. Then, I facilitated a team workshop to better define the problems to solve and the project scope.
- Define Search Scope: We expanded quick search to cover all major record types, not just a limited few.
- Prioritize Results: I redesigned the search logic to surface the most relevant results first, based on match quality and user intent.
- Improve Result Displays: I added richer metadata (like Tax IDs, grant statuses, and contacts' titles) to results so users could recognize what they needed at a glance.
- Prototype + Test: I built interactive prototypes to validate the experience with real users, iterating based on feedback about clarity, speed, and accuracy.
Impact
The new quick search made a huge difference across the platform:
- Efficiency: Users could find records faster, significantly reducing navigation time.
- User Satisfaction: Early adopters shared enthusiastic feedback about the improvements. One member of the GivingData community said, "Our whole team is loving the new quick search! I've had a number of team members tell me how much they like it, that it's easier to use, easier to read, and fast!"
- Scalability: The new system was built to grow, supporting new record types and search properties without major overhauls.
- Future Opportunities: After releasing the updated quick search, I facilitated discussions on GivingData's community forum to gather additional user feedback. The resulting ideas translated into future opportunities to iterate and continuously improve the feature.