UNICEF Aotearoa’s transformed website shown across overlapping devices, bringing story, donation and visible impact into the same digital experience.
UNICEF Aotearoa’s transformed website shown across overlapping devices, bringing story, donation and visible impact into the same digital experience.

DIGITAL TRUST SYSTEM

UNICEF Aotearoa was moving from face-to-face fundraising to a digital-first model. That shift removed something critical: the human trust-building that previously happened in conversation.

The challenge wasn’t simply to improve a website. I knew it was really about building trust and belief entirely through digital experience.

Project Note

Organisation: UNICEF Aotearoa

Role: Creative Director + Brand Strategist

Contribution: Digital strategy · website strategy + transformation · audience + donor journey · campaign strategy · acquisition · UX + content strategy · conversion + retention

Evidence: 476% increase in online donations · 446% increase in donation revenue · 560% increase in conversion rates

Moving fundraising online wasn’t about recreating face-to-face interaction on a screen.

I began with what people needed to accomplish - understand, choose, act with confidence, and see evidence - then transformed the website into a trust-building environment within a connected journey.

Campaigns became ways in, story built understanding, and impact transparency carried the relationship beyond donation. Every interaction had to earn the next.

Project Profile

UNICEF website views bringing campaign stories, programme information and donation pathways together, giving interest somewhere useful to go next.
UNICEF website views bringing campaign stories, programme information and donation pathways together, giving interest somewhere useful to go next.

Research revealed three core barriers: uncertainty about impact, lack of trust in online giving, and friction between interest and action.

Replacing the confidence people once gained from human interaction would take more than refreshed digital infrastructure.

UNICEF appeal shown across tablet and mobile, bringing story, areas of impact, giving frequency and donation amount into one path so understanding and choice can lead more directly into action.
UNICEF appeal shown across tablet and mobile, bringing story, areas of impact, giving frequency and donation amount into one path so understanding and choice can lead more directly into action.
Campaign creative using the direct outcome phrase “Life-saving food”, making what support can help provide immediately clearer than institutional programme language alone.
Campaign creative using the direct outcome phrase “Life-saving food”, making what support can help provide immediately clearer than institutional programme language alone.

The work focused on a single principle: the website had to become the place where trust is built, not just explained.

I led the digital transformation across the entire fundraising journey - from campaigns and acquisition, through a completely retooled website and conversion experience, to digital donor journeys and retention.

UNICEF appeal cards giving visitors different causes to explore and support, helping them move from general concern towards a clearer choice about where they want to act.
UNICEF appeal cards giving visitors different causes to explore and support, helping them move from general concern towards a clearer choice about where they want to act.

TRUST THROUGH TRANSPARENCY

Content, photography and narrative stayed consistent throughout, keeping the experience grounded in lived reality rather than institutional abstraction.

A new Inspired Gifts e-commerce experience extended this model into a more tangible, product-like way of giving.

UNICEF mobile experience combining giving information with clear statistics about how support is used, providing evidence visitors can inspect as they decide whether and how to act.
UNICEF mobile experience combining giving information with clear statistics about how support is used, providing evidence visitors can inspect as they decide whether and how to act.
Campaign-animated-carousel showing children accessing essentials like water, healthcare and education - connecting the donor experience to communities and activity beyond the screen.

The website became the conversion engine - clarifying what UNICEF does, where donations go and the real-world impact they create.

Audience journeys were completely rebuilt around choice and visible outcomes, allowing people to connect contributions directly to areas of impact including health, education, nutrition, shelter and water.

Inspired Gifts message explaining that ten school bags have been given on someone’s behalf, translating the contribution into a specific outcome that is easier to picture and understand.
Inspired Gifts message explaining that ten school bags have been given on someone’s behalf, translating the contribution into a specific outcome that is easier to picture and understand.

Every interaction should earn the next. The experience was redesigned as a trust-building and participation platform rather than a content destination.

A place where every interaction contributes to confidence in the organisation and clarity in the impact of support. Campaigns became entry points, building understanding before asking for action.

Pacific impact map connecting specific programmes with local statistics and expected outcomes, helping make what support can contribute towards more concrete.
Pacific impact map connecting specific programmes with local statistics and expected outcomes, helping make what support can contribute towards more concrete.

The Digital Trust Journey

AD → WEBSITE → STORY → DONATION → IMPACT → RETENTION

Awareness → Understanding → Belief → Action → Evidence → Belonging

Personalised UNICEF thank-you confirming a regular donation and the appeal it supports, continuing the experience after action with reassurance, evidence and a clearer sense of what the donor has joined.
Personalised UNICEF thank-you confirming a regular donation and the appeal it supports, continuing the experience after action with reassurance, evidence and a clearer sense of what the donor has joined.

Behind the experience, a connected system of UX, content structures and CMS tools ensured consistency across campaigns and regular weekly content updates.

All while while giving internal teams the flexibility to move quickly, communicate clearly and respond with urgency at scale.

Inspired Gifts campaign presenting humanitarian support through a familiar gift-shopping format, giving people another understandable way to choose how they want to help.
Inspired Gifts campaign presenting humanitarian support through a familiar gift-shopping format, giving people another understandable way to choose how they want to help.

476% increase in online donations

The result was a completely connected digital journey that turned fragmented touchpoints into progressive belief.

From first encounter to contribution and the pathways to continued support - a massive shift from passive browsing to active participation:

446% increase in donation revenue

560% increase in conversion rates

Campaign-film still pairing a child with the message “The climate crisis is a children’s emergency”, turning a large global issue into a clearer child-centred reason to understand and act.
Campaign visual using the direct outcome phrase “Educational equipment”, making one practical form of support easier to understand.
Campaign visual using the direct outcome phrase “Educational equipment”, making one practical form of support easier to understand.
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