Piʻikū Co.
Helping a Hawaiʻi-based nonprofit communicate its impact and inspire investor confidence
Industry
Non-Profit
Timeline
3 months
Year
2024 - 2025
Team
Pi’iku Founding Team of 4
UX & Content Designer - Myself
OverviewTurning a Mission Into a Fundable Story
Background
Piʻikū is a Hawaiʻi-based nonprofit that helps emerging designers and technologists gain real-world experience through mentorship, paid internships, and community-based projects.
As Piʻikū grew, they struggled to communicate their impact and vision clearly to funders. Their website told a heartfelt story but didn’t give investors enough clarity or confidence to take action.
Project Overview
I partnered with Piʻikū’s founding team to redesign their Invest in Us page — transforming it from a static mission statement into a clear, fundable narrative.
My role focused on UX content strategy, information architecture, and storytelling design to help funders understand what Piʻikū does, why it matters, and how their investment fuels growth.
Business Impact
The redesigned page helped Piʻikū:
Communicate its 5-year vision with credibility
Increase investor confidence and outreach success
ChallengeThe original page lacked clarity and structure. While Piʻikū’s mission was powerful, the story wasn’t framed in a way that spoke to investors’ goals or logic.
It made it difficult for funders to understand:
Why Piʻikū was worth supporting?
How funds would be used
What the long-term plan looked like
Solution HighlightsBuilding Trust Through Structure and Storytelling
Clarity through hierarchy
Rebuilt the investor page with scannable modules that lead funders from understanding the mission to trusting its impact and taking action
Scalable content system
Rewrote copy to sound transparent and inspiring while staying true to Piʻikū’s local community tone.
Scalable content system
Created reusable patterns so the team can apply the same structure to future campaigns, pitch decks, and the internship page . On the internship page, this meant clearer descriptions of program benefits, mentor highlights, and application timelines.
The Design Process
DiscoveryUnderstand the Gaps
I conducted a UX audit to uncover pain points in how Piʻikū’s programs and mission were communicated.
Reviewed existing site structure and content tone
Compared with other nonprofit mentorship platforms
Conducted founder interviews to align design goals
Insights & Framing
Through synthesis, I realized Piʻikū’s pages assumed too much prior knowledge.
“There’s not enough information for people to truly understand what Piʻikū does or why it matters.”
This reframed the project goal: create educational storytelling that builds trust and drives action.
Content Strategy
I restructured information around user intent for each audience:
Funders → Why invest? What impact will my donation make?
Interns → Is this right for me? How do I get involved?
New content flow:
Mission & Purpose
Proof & Impact
Future Roadmap (5-Year Plan)
Transparency (Use of Funds)
Call-to-Action
Collaboration & Handoff
Delivered all layouts and copy in Figma, complete with style guidance and repeatable content modules.
Created a content maintenance guide so Piʻikū’s team can confidently update or reuse sections across campaigns.
#1 Key Design Decisions
Scannable modules
After
Business ImpactOutcomes
Investor readiness: clearer, more compelling story for grant outreach.
Applicant clarity: fewer repeated questions during recruitment.
Content efficiency: Piʻikū now reuses the same components for email, grant decks, and presentations.
Reflections Balancing growth and usability
This project reminded me how clarity and structure can transform how people connect with a mission.
By combining UX thinking, storytelling, and systems design, I helped Piʻikū move from explaining what they do to inspiring belief in why it matters.
It also deepened my appreciation for content-led design — proving that when structure and story align, engagement naturally follows.