In August we launched a redesign of the EA Funds website. The main goal was to improve overall perception and make the site feel modern, trustworthy, and more consistent with the effectivealtruism.org brand. We also wanted to aim the site more towards donors, increase transparency around grantmaking and evaluation, and improve overall usability.

We've been making incremental improvements since launch and will continue to do so.

The update includes:

• Improved messaging and visual design
• Designed the site to speak to donors as well as applicants
• Better explanations of the grantmaking process and concrete examples of impact
• More reasoning transparency (including detailed rationale for specific grants)
• Expanded FAQs, especially for applicants
• Added signals of activity (Forum posts, headline numbers) and removed outdated content
• Brand alignment with effectivealtruism.org, while maintaining a distinct identity

A closer look at the changes

A key focus for EA Funds moving forward is increasing reasoning transparency. In that spirit, I’ve included an audit of the previous site along with the rationale behind design decisions in the new version.

Critiquing the old site

Explaining the changes

Early results

Since launch, bounce rate has decreased from 46% to 38% and time on site is up by 7%^[1]. Users in interviews and surveys prefer the new version over the old. We haven’t yet seen a measurable increase in donations, but are are monitoring this and expect the redesign to pay off in future fundraising.

Future work

We're hoping to build out our own donation flow to allow us to optimize it and strengthen donor relationships. We're also looking to do more work to increase transparency and help both donors and applicants better understand how decisions are made.

Share your thoughts

Would love to hear your thoughts on the redesign: what am I missing, what would you like to see more of? Leave a comment or share your feedback anonymously here.

1. ^{^}

   These numbers are based on an earlier version of the redesign, and are likely to change slightly.