Maldo
A donation and fundraising app made for animals, shaped by research and two rounds of testing
- Platform
- Mobile app
- Method
- Design Thinking
- Stage
- Tested prototype
- Year
- 2024
The Beginning
Stray cats are everywhere, and there are more of them each year. Shelters take some in and keep the street population down, but every animal they take in has to be fed, treated and housed. Most shelters run on donations, and the donations rarely cover it.
Donation apps do exist, but they are built mostly for people. Animal campaigns sit beside human ones and sink out of sight, so the people who would like to help cannot find where to give, and the people caring for animals have no place made for them.
The gap
People want to help animals, and animals need help. Something in between is missing.
So the research question became
What makes giving to animals hard, for the one who gives and the one who asks?
The Research
Who we asked
We began with an online survey of 43 people who like animals: 22 had donated for animals before, and 21 had not. Then we interviewed five more over Zoom, three donors and two people who had raised money for their own pets.
Two things stood out. Online giving still frightens people, mostly the fear that money is misused. And nearly half of those who never gave simply did not know where to find an animal campaign. All respondents agreed on one point: fundraisers must show where the money goes and how the animal is doing.
I always try a big platform first, but it is slow. The help an animal needs is urgent, and I’m afraid it won’t make it in time.
FundraiserI didn’t want to open a campaign there. I assumed the money would take long to come out, and that some would be cut for admin fees.
FundraiserI can’t help every stray I see, so I give food or money. What I give, I don’t ask back.
Donor
What we made of it
We grouped every answer into an affinity diagram and read it twice, once from the fundraiser’s side and once from the donor’s. Each side lacked something the other could give.
| Fundraisers | Donors | |
|---|---|---|
| Today | Open a campaign on personal social media, track funds in a spreadsheet and post updates by hand. | Give only to people they trust, often anonymously, and ask the fundraiser for news. |
| In the way | Slow verification and payout, admin fees, a clumsy campaign form, and proof that takes hours to put together. | Animal campaigns are hard to find, past scams made them wary, and nobody tells them what happened after they gave. |
| Needs | A simple, beginner-friendly app with no heavy fees, funds counted for them and fast payout. | Anonymous giving, verified campaigns, and updates on the animal and on how the money was used. |
- K
Karina, 28
Office worker in Bandung · fundraiser
Shares her home with several cats, one of them seriously ill. She needs money fast, and is tired of being doubted for asking.
- A
Ardi, 22
Student in Malang · donor
Loves animals but has little money and time. He gives from afar, and only when he can see where it goes.
Three problems were worth solving first: fundraising apps are too complicated, fundraisers struggle to prove where the money went, and donors are afraid to give online.
So the design question became
How do we make giving to animals easy, and trustworthy?
The Idea
Three questions, three answers
We turned each problem into a “how might we” question and brainstormed until each had a concrete answer.
| How might we… | What we proposed |
|---|---|
| …simplify fundraising for people who want to collect help? | A guided first campaign, donations counted automatically, and 100% of every donation paid out with no admin cut. |
| …help donors feel safe giving online? | Verified fundraisers, condition updates right under every campaign, a discussion forum and anonymous giving. |
| …help fundraisers show where the money went? | Funds recorded as they come in, a receipt added at each payout, and the totals shown openly to donors. |
Nine features
The answers became nine features. Four task flows, eight-minute Crazy 8’s sketches and shared wireframes put them in order before any screen was polished.
- 01
Galang Dana
Open a campaign for an animal in need.
- 02
Donasi
Browse campaigns, read the story, give any amount.
- 03
Update Kondisi
Follow the animal’s condition after giving.
- 04
Transparansi Dana
See what was raised, paid out and spent.
- 05
Donasi Saya
Your giving history, with the updates that came after.
- 06
Donasi Bulanan
Give a fixed amount every month, to all campaigns or one category.
- 07
Donasi Barang
Give food or supplies straight to a shelter.
- 08
Animal Helper
Book grooming, a driver, a pet sitter or a pet hotel.
- 09
Connect
Ask to have a campaign shown beside another one.
Animal Helper is there for a reason beyond services: it gives people a reason to come back, and it helps pay for running the app, since fundraising carries no admin fee.
The Design
The solution
Maldo is a mobile app for raising and giving money for animals. Its answer to distrust is to make the proof part of the product, on both sides of every donation.
The unique value
A donation that keeps reporting back.
Giving, with the proof in view
Progress you can check
The amount raised against the target, and the date the campaign closes. No guessing how close it is.
Four tabs for four doubts
Detail, Transparansi Dana, Update Kondisi and Forum Diskusi answer what donors asked: what is this, where did the money go, how is the animal now, and can I ask?
One clear action
Donasi Sekarang stays at the bottom while the donor reads, so giving is always one tap away.
Fundraising, without the friction
For the person asking, the app takes over the parts that used to be done by hand.
Verification happens once, so the campaign form shrinks to three short steps. Every payout is 100% of what was raised, with a record that donors can read.
More than a one-off gift
Not everyone can give a lump sum, or money at all, so there are three more ways to help.
Every flow below plays by itself, straight from the final screens. When one ends, the next begins. Pick a journey to watch it, pause to look closer, or jump to any step.
The Testing
We tested twice, on 3 and 4 May 2024. Each round was a moderated remote usability test over Zoom with the prototype in Maze, seven tasks long, followed by the User Experience Questionnaire. Four testers took part each time, a mix of people who had donated, had never donated, and had raised funds. After the first round we fixed what they stumbled on, then tested again.
Usability score
81.8598.42Average across the seven tasks. Every tester finished every task in both rounds.
Experience (UEQ)
2.5002.531Useful and enjoyable at once, and a little better after the changes.
| The three hardest tasks | Wrong tapsfirst test → second | Time on taskfirst test → second |
|---|---|---|
| Give a donation | ||
| Start a fundraiser | ||
| Book an Animal Helper |
The first task stayed the slowest in both rounds, because testers explored the app before acting. That told us something too: people wanted to understand Maldo before they committed to it.
What testers showed us, and what changed
| What we saw | What we changed |
|---|---|
| Testers wanted to see what Maldo does before signing up. | The app opens on a short intro and a tour of its main features. Login comes later. |
| The navigation bar was hard to read, so people hesitated. | Higher contrast on every label. |
| “Donasi Tanpa Uang” confused people. | Renamed Donasi Barang, with a line explaining it. |
| Notifications sat in the profile, easy to miss. | A bell beside the search bar on the homepage. |
| Donors had questions about condition updates. | Comments under each update, the forum under the detail tab, a shorter invoice and campaign cards in a single line. |
| Starting a fundraiser took four forms and raised identity questions. | Verify once up front, then three forms, with a step bar, a clearer thumbnail upload and terms that must be scrolled before agreeing. |
| Monthly giving felt too general. | Category choices, a short note, and a day of the month to give. |
The Ending
In the end, animals got a place of their own in giving.
A donor can see where the money goes and how the animal is doing, before and after giving. A fundraiser can open a campaign in three short steps and keep every rupiah that was raised. And in testing, a first task that took 248 seconds took 68 the second time. Maldo was designed and tested as a prototype in Figma and Maze; it has not been built or released.
Without Maldo
With Maldo
Where animals appear
Lost among campaigns for people
→
A place built for them
Trust
Taken on faith
→
Verified fundraisers, open totals and condition updates
Raising funds
Social media, a spreadsheet and admin fees
→
Three short steps, funds counted, 100% paid out
Giving
A one-off gift, then silence
→
One-off, monthly, items or services, with news
Making giving easy, improving animal welfare.