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Innovating With Heart

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Editor’s Note: Justin Ruthenbeck is a (long time) Intuit engineer who’s passionate about bringing consumer experiences to enterprise software development. Don’t ask him about adventures in the mountains unless you’ve got a couple hours to burn.

Intuit CEO Brad Smith asked a million dollar question. How could the company help the American Heart Association, or AHA, raise $1 million during an auction that would last no more than 15 minutes?

Here was the pain point. Each June, the American Heart Association hosts the Silicon Valley Heart Ball. The event has been instrumental in raising significant funding for the organization. But it never got over that $1 million hurdle. At the annual event, volunteers would scurry from table to table to tabulate donations using pen, paper and calculators. It was a difficult task to figure out the total amount raised towards the evening’s fundraising goal.

Here’s the journey of how AHA, in collaboration with Intuit, raised more than $1 million in a single night at the event.

Brainstorming a big idea

The app started as a casual email with a question: If there was a simple application where the amounts donated during the event could be sent in a text message and a big screen would continuously update to show how close the event was to the goal, would event attendees be inclined to donate more?

A small and scrappy Intuit team, using their unstructured time, rallied together to test the idea.  They came up with multiple ideas to try and build a quick prototype on the most promising one.

“It turns out we were thinking too much about technology,” said Justin Ruthenbeck, Intuit engineering lead and a member of the team, “After interviewing past event attendees and the AHA, we realized that motivating people to give at this event was more about social interactions. The solution had to be simple to execute, and it had to feel like anti-technology.”

Emboldened by the insights, the team made some changes and held a mock Heart Ball where a gaggle of Intuit’s Innovation Catalysts and other volunteers tested the entire experience. Led by an auctioneer-for-the-day, the group simulated the fundraising event to test the leap-of-faith hypotheses. Would the solution work in a rapid fire auction? Would people be motivated to give more and reach a target?

Hearts falling from the sky

The app itself was simple. On a big screen, donators would see small, red hearts appear as donations flowed in. Once hearts filled the screen, it signaled the donation goal of $1 million was met. This gave donators in the room an instant view of the total money raised and also encouraged everyone to keep giving until the goal was met.

Keri Janssen, executive director of the Silicon Valley AHA, was floored by the results of the mock Heart Ball. “Wow! I can’t thank you all enough for the ‘love’ you are putting into the project,” Jaansen said. “This is going to make a huge impact on the income we are going to raise during the event.”

A night to remember

At the event, the newly named Intuit Give app flashed up on the 30-foot-high screen.

A few donation bids flowed in at the $25,000 level. The numbers rolled up with each. More came at the $15,000 and $10,000 levels. By the time the auctioneer had reached the $1,000 level, bids were coming fast and furious.

As the auctioneer called out $100 bids, the total rolled up to $950,000. Then $960,000. Although far from the goal, it felt like a big number. But it didn’t look possible that the total would get to $1 million.HeartAssociation

But something was happening. A few folks were scurrying around from table to table in the room, talking amongst themselves. One of the attendees called out and said, “We’re in for $25,000 more!” Two others chimed in. The numbers rolled up past $1 million and the crowd erupted in a cheer. A goal few thought possible had been surpassed.

“This project was a great example of how technology and design can take a complex group activity, and transform it into an experience that inspires people to make a positive impact,” said Michael Mahmood, principal visual designer at Intuit and a member of the team.

Time well spent

“Unstructured time is almost like working for a startup,” said Sherry Ding, experience designer on the team. “We had almost no budget, limited time, and just an idea. But we worked as a small group of passionate people and inspired each other through this project.”

Added Ruthenbeck, “My favorite part of unstructured time like this is that I get to work with people I’d never normally get to work with, doing things I’d never get to do, for customers I’d probably never think about in my day-to-day job. Working with such a small, talented and focused team is so energizing.”

Success at the Silicon Valley event was quickly followed by success a week later at the San Diego Heart Ball. At that event, attendees donated a total of $600,000, a 33 percent increase from the prior year’s event.

“The Intuit Give app helped us showcase such generosity and passion in the ballroom on Saturday night,” said Maria Olson, executive director of the San Diego AHA. “The Intuit technology worked seamlessly into our program and was definitely the buzz as guests were leaving.”

As for the future, the team is looking at how to make the app available to more non-profits and to validate how well it works for other types of large and small events.

 


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