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Nonprofit organization · Client engagement

Mimi's Mission

Designing one digital home for an entire community ecosystem.

A Southeast Michigan nonprofit supporting autistic individuals and their families, with several programs, many audiences, and one website that had to serve all of them.

Organization
Mimi's Mission
Industry
Nonprofit, autism support and community programs
My role
Digital strategy, design, development, and content systems
Status
Live

Visit mimismission.com

Client engagement led by Brendan Schmidt. Not delivered through The North.

The Mimi's Mission website, as it is published today
The problemSix distinct audiences, each needing a different first step, arriving at the same front door.

A working demonstration

Six audiences arrive at the same front door. Pick one and see its path.

Not a video and not a picture of an interface. It runs here, in the page, on the same logic the argument rests on.

Go on, move something.

Try it

Six audiences, one front door

Pick who you are. The path that appears is the one the site was built to give you. The architecture problem was that all six of these arrive at the same homepage and need a different second click.

  1. Events and outings, filtered to what is coming up
  2. What to expect: setting, sensory notes, who it suits
  3. Register the family
  4. Consent and waiver, handled in the same flow
  5. Confirmation, plus the next event

Notice where consent and waivers sit. Inside the registration flow, not after it. That is the step where a willing family usually gives up.

Situation

Before anything was designed.

Where this started

Mimi's Mission supports autistic individuals and their families across Southeast Michigan. It runs several programs at once: an Autism Acceptance Group, Young Adults programming, family events and outings, workshops, and 911READY, a program built around first responders.

Each of those programs has its own audience, its own calendar, and its own way in. A parent looking for a family event, a young adult looking for programming built for them, a donor, a volunteer, a sponsor, and a first responder are all valid visitors, and they need different things within a few seconds of arriving.

Before the rebuild, that variety was the problem. Everything was present, but the paths crossed. A visitor had to understand the organization's internal structure before they could find their own next step.

The core challenge

The problem to solve

Serve six audiences and several programs from one website without making anyone read past their own reason for visiting.

Who it had to work for

The people on the other side of it

Families
Programs and events their family can actually attend, with clear expectations.
Autistic young adults
Programming addressed to them directly, not to their parents.
Donors
A clear, dignified path to give and an understanding of what it supports.
Volunteers
A straightforward way to offer time and hear back.
Sponsors
Visible recognition and a sense of who else supports the work.
First responders
The 911READY program, its purpose, and how to participate.

My responsibilities

First person, on purpose.

What I was responsible for

Stated by specific verb, so it is clear what I did rather than what the project did.

  • LedWebsite strategy and the approach to serving multiple audiences from one site.
  • DesignedInformation architecture and program organization.
  • BuiltThe website, its event presentation, and its content structure.
  • DesignedRegistration, donation, volunteer intake, and newsletter journeys.
  • BuiltConsent and waiver workflows attached to event registration.
  • DesignedSponsor presentation and recognition.
  • DesignedThe 911READY program experience and first-responder pathways.
  • SupportedEvent promotion with supporting graphics and digital materials.

Strategic approach

How I approached it

  1. Route by reason for visiting, not by org chart

    The navigation was organized around why someone came, not around how the organization is structured internally. A donor and a volunteer should never have to learn the difference between a program and an initiative to find their own path.

  2. Write with dignity, not sympathy

    Copy addresses autistic individuals as participants and community members, never as a problem being solved. Young Adults programming speaks to the young adults it serves. This was a content decision before it was a design decision.

  3. Accessibility as the baseline, not the audit

    For an organization serving this community, an inaccessible website is a contradiction. Semantic structure, keyboard operability, contrast, clear focus states, and readable forms were part of the build rather than a final pass.

  4. Registration is where good intentions get lost

    Event registration, waivers, and consent are where a willing family gives up. Those flows got the same attention as the homepage: short, clear, one thing at a time, and honest about what happens next.

The journey

The path it had to support

  1. ArriveFrom search, a shared event post, or a community referral.
  2. Recognize yourselfFind the path that matches the reason for the visit within seconds.
  3. Understand the programWhat it is, who it is for, when it happens, and what to expect.
  4. ActRegister, donate, volunteer, sponsor, or join the 911READY program.
  5. Complete requirementsConsent and waiver steps handled inside the registration flow.
  6. Stay connectedNewsletter registration and event calendar for the next thing.

Diagram

Six audiences, six first steps

The architecture problem in one picture. Every audience shares a front door and needs a different second click.

  • One front doorSearch, social, referral
  • FamiliesEvents and outings
  • Young adultsProgramming for them
  • DonorsGive
  • VolunteersOffer time
  • SponsorsSupport and recognition
  • First responders911READY
  • A completed actionRegistration, donation, intake
  • One front doorconnects to Families
  • One front doorconnects to Young adults
  • One front doorconnects to Donors
  • One front doorconnects to Volunteers
  • One front doorconnects to Sponsors
  • One front doorconnects to First responders
  • Familiesconnects to A completed action
  • Young adultsconnects to A completed action
  • Donorsconnects to A completed action
  • Volunteersconnects to A completed action
  • Sponsorsconnects to A completed action
  • First respondersconnects to A completed action

What was built

Designed, specified, and shipped

  • Website strategy, design, and development
  • Information architecture and program organization
  • Autism Acceptance Group presentation
  • Young Adults programming section
  • Family events and outings
  • Workshops
  • Event presentation and registration
  • Consent and waiver workflows
  • Donation experience
  • Volunteer and community intake
  • Sponsor presentation and recognition
  • 911READY first-responder program experience
  • Newsletter registration
  • Content organization and supporting digital materials

Selected work

Captured from the live site.

Selected visual work

The Mimi's Mission homepage: the year's fundraisers front and centre, with enrollment, donation, programs, forms, and 911READY each one step away in the navigation.
The homepage routes by reason for visiting rather than by internal structure.
The 911READY program page, explaining the first-responder initiative with two entry points: participate today or request assistance.
911READY, a program with an audience nobody else on the site shares.
The annual enrollment form on the Forms Center page: the form families complete once a year to be eligible for events.
Registration in one place: enrollment, waivers, and program sign-ups rather than an email thread.
Upcoming events on mimismission.com: a family day, the Hero Walk for Autism, and a Museum of Illusions outing, each with its own promotional graphic.
Event promotion as it runs on the live site.

Systems

Systems and integrations

WordPress
Website platform and content management
Event registration and forms
Registration, consent, waivers, and intake
Donation processing
Online giving
Newsletter platform
Ongoing community communication

Outcome and evidence

Numbers only where there is proof.

What came of it

The organization has one website that gives each of its audiences a direct path, with registration, consent, donation, volunteer, and sponsor workflows handled in place rather than by email.

The clearest result is structural: a family, a donor, a volunteer, a sponsor, a young adult, and a first responder can each complete their own action without needing to understand the others.

  • Described, not measured

    Unified digital home

    Consolidated several programs, events, and audiences into one site with a distinct path for each.

  • Described, not measured

    Self-serve registration and intake

    Event registration, consent and waiver steps, volunteer intake, donations, and newsletter signup complete online. Ticketed events route to Eventbrite.

  • Described, not measured

    Accessible by design

    Built with semantic structure, keyboard operability, and readable forms as a requirement rather than a later audit.

Held back on purpose

One further result is awaiting supporting evidence and is intentionally not published here. Numbers appear on this site only once they can be backed by a screenshot, a report, or written client confirmation.

How results are stated on this site

Verified
Backed by a screenshot, report, or written client confirmation. May be shown as a figure.
Qualitative
True and describable, but not measured. Shown as language, never as a number.
Pending
Claimed but unconfirmed. Never published until evidence exists.

Reflection

What I would tell you about it

This was the project where information architecture did the most visible work. There was no clever interaction to build. The value was entirely in deciding what belongs where and what a person should see first.

Writing for a community that is frequently written about badly required slowing down. Several passes were spent on tone alone, and the Young Adults section in particular needed to address the young adults themselves.

The consent and waiver flows are the part I would point to if someone asked what operational thinking looks like on a nonprofit site. They are unglamorous, they are where events actually get stuck, and getting them right is worth more than another hero animation.

Working on something like Mimi's Mission?

If your situation rhymes with this one, the conversation is usually short and useful. Tell me where it is stuck.

Open to select opportunities

Available for remote, hybrid, travel-based, and select on-site work.

Career and collaboration

Working with me

Full-time roles, contract work, project collaboration, speaking, and introductions. This one comes straight to me.

Start a career conversationme@brendan.business
Consulting

Hiring The North

Digital strategy, business systems, customer journeys, websites, automation, and operational infrastructure. Delivered through The North.

Start a consulting conversationthenorth.consulting