What's working well
Strong media, strong brand.
- Beautiful homepage video that communicates the mission.
- Strong copy and consistent branding.
- Optimized mobile version with good readability.
- High quality imagery throughout.
1. Navigation
The menu is more complex than it needs to be, and can be simplified for immediate clarity. The main nav should guide people into parent pages, rather than present every option.
The menu structure hides what's on offer
“Free programs”, “Talk on the phone” and “See all programs” are clickable links to # that go nowhere. “Start here” and “Meet in person” both open the Friendship Services page. Each link deserves a unique destination.
The menu runs three levels deep, with fly-out panels that need precise mouse control. This is the hardest to navigate, especially for an older audience.
Every program appears twice, under two different names
The “Free programs” menu lists the programs by description, then “See all programs” at the bottom lists the same six again by name. A visitor cannot tell that these are the same thing.
About and Volunteer carry items that don't belong
The About menu holds items that can be folded into parent pages - Annual reports and the 990. Contact can move to the footer. Volunteer Portal is handled by the footer. Latest News deserves to be it's own nav category.
Smaller snags in the same menu
- “Home” is the last item and wraps onto its own row on desktop. The logo already links home.
- “Refer an older adult” is not in the menu at all.
- Because programs are listed twice, two menu items are marked as the current page at once - screen readers announce both.
- “Most recent 990” opens a PDF with no warning.
2. Homepage Hero
The homepage misses an opportunity to land the mission statement on first impression.
The homepage prioritizes a donation form that competes with the video, weakening both
The video is one of the site's best assets and explains the mission well, but here its story is never heard: it plays muted with a non-functioning pause button, and the captions create visual noise.
The mission statement sits below the donation callout
The only action in the first screen is choosing a donation amount. The sentence that explains the mission - “We bring people together to reduce loneliness and build meaningful friendships” is hidden below it.
A clear presentation of the mission and offer will help donors give more readily.
Homepage solved
Let the first screen answer “what is this, and is it for me?” Then let the video shine with sound and captions.
Proposed Homepage Hero
- The mission sentence - Meaningful connections for older adults - as a strong full page headline with a caption-free still (or autoplaying clip) of the video behind it
- A large play button "Watch our story" that opens the video with sound and captions.
- Move the donation call to action below the hero section, paired with the main mission statement - We bring people together to reduce loneliness and build meaningful friendships.
Donation flow solution
One clear door, and the best story told right beside the form.
Proposed Donation Flow
- “Support” leaves the menu. “Give” gets more design impact in the header. See above image.
- Search becomes a simple icon, with a label for screen readers.
- The Give page opens with the dollar amounts and form, beside a strong photo, one impact line and a donor quote.
- The donation form takes on the colors and branding of the rest of the site.
- A “More ways to give” band below the form: monthly giving, planned giving, sponsorship, stock and donor-advised funds.
- One phrase everywhere for cohesion: “Give” or perhaps “Support our mission”.
- Move the donation amounts out of the hero and into a support section just below it that calls out the ways to give.
- The Support page redirects to the Give page.
- Corporate sponsorship and Other ways to give become sections of the Give page.
A modern donation form
- Amount and frequency together at the top, monthly as the friendly default, an impact line under each amount.
- Mobile wallets and PayPal beside the card field, all on one screen.
- Invisible fraud protection instead of a checkbox captcha.
- Styled to the brand, with a photo and a donor quote beside it.