Social Finance Fund

Overview

The Social Finance Fund was a government-backed initiative aimed at educating Canadians on social finance. The complexity? The project was stewarded by multiple independent organizations, each with its own leadership, priorities, and communication breakdowns. With no shared vision or clear product owner, the need for alignment was urgent—but consensus felt impossible.

I was brought in by Briteweb to provide not just UX strategy, but structured facilitation to help resolve these organizational tensions. What began as a lightweight wireframing engagement quickly evolved into something deeper: a wayfinding effort to help teams define what they were even building.

Key Challenges

Conflicting priorities: Executive stakeholders from 3–4 organizations, each with different agendas

Power dynamics: One org (Boann) was leading, but others were resistant to follow

Low trust & unclear ownership: Hierarchies were blurred, and collaboration was strained

Low budget / limited scope: We had under $10k to deliver a usable outcome

My Approach

Rather than jump into designs, I began by co-creating a multi-branch survey with Boann to collect data from users. I helped structure the logic, draft the content, distribute the survey, and clean the data. I then used Obsidian to turn the results into a shareable, markdown-based knowledge hub that became the de facto source of truth for the entire project.

Conditional logic flow from the Social Finance Fund survey, illustrating role-based question branching for SPOs, SFIs, investors, and other user types.

Next, I facilitated multiple stakeholder workshops to:

Define shared goals

Map user and content needs

Create draft site structures (sitemap, IA)

We used AI tools to generate early conceptual sitemaps and page flows—less for final outputs, and more as visual conversation starters. These drafts helped spark critical debate and surfaced both tension and consensus.

Deliverables

User survey design and analysis: Microsoft Forms + Excel

Obsidian-based research documentation: Structured markdown synthesis for team alignment

Information architecture & sitemap: AI-supported concepts refined into practical flows

Mid- to high-fidelity wireframes in Figma: Key pages including homepage, about, articles, impact, and directory

Stakeholder Navigation

One of the most pivotal moments came during a stakeholder alignment meeting that began with tension in the room. There were conflicting perspectives, and one executive in particular voiced early skepticism—both toward the lead organization and the proposed design direction. I focused on listening with patience, validating concerns, and encouraging open critique. As the conversation evolved, we gradually shifted from resistance to collaboration. By the end of the session, that same executive acknowledged the value of the discussion and expressed appreciation for the space to challenge and align constructively. It was a turning point that helped set the tone for future working sessions.

Outcome

The wireframes and research package are now being used to inform an open RFP process for phase two of the project. Briteweb is in a strong position to win the bid—thanks to the clarity, vision, and organizational alignment established during our engagement.

Learnings

Wireframes as diplomacy tools: They helped resolve team conflicts through shared visual reference points

Obsidian for early-stage strategy: Lightweight, markdown-based documentation worked better than heavier tools

Prototypes spark better conversations: Especially in high-stakes, multi-stakeholder environments

The biggest takeaway? Sometimes the real UX problem isn’t the interface—it’s misalignment at the human level.
Let’s connect if you’re looking for someone who can help navigate that too.

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