Field Law Community Fund Program: Website Design and Development
Project
Since 2013, Field Law has gone beyond legal services to invest directly in the communities they serve through the Field Law Community Fund Program. This initiative provides funding to support grassroots ideas and local organizations across Alberta and the Northwest Territories. The program reflects Field Law’s deep commitment to strengthening the communities in which it lives and works, having distributed nearly $1 million in funding to date in support of education, health, arts, inclusion, and access to justice.
Reimagining the Digital Experience for Impact
The existing Community Fund Program website wasn’t telling the right story. Its outdated visuals lacked the warmth and vibrancy that reflect the heart of the program, and it didn’t align with Field Law’s newly refreshed firm website.
Behind the scenes, administrators faced even bigger hurdles. Each year, they were forced to manually copy and paste hundreds of submissions into massive Word documents — sometimes over 700 pages — to prepare voting packages for regional judging panels. It was a painstaking process that drained time and energy that could have been better spent on supporting the program itself.
The user experience also needed rethinking. Applicants had no way to save drafts or return to edit submissions. Voting tools weren’t intuitive. As the program moved through its phases — from applications to voting to judging — the site lacked the flexibility to adapt to each stage.
Strategy That Blends Creativity and Functionality
Cubicle Fugitive partnered with Field Law to reimagine the Community Fund Program website, honouring its unique identity while aligning with the firm’s refreshed brand. Our approach strikes a balance between visual creativity and functional efficiency, addressing both the public-facing user experience and the behind-the-scenes administration.
Key strategies included:
- Visual refresh: Building on the new firm website’s visual system while incorporating secondary brand colours and playful elements to give the Community Fund site its own charm and personality.
- Streamlined administration: Developing a custom backend tool that automatically packages submissions by region into pre-formatted Word documents or allows them to be downloaded individually, reducing hundreds of hours of manual work to a single click.
- Improved user submissions: Introducing autosave and draft functionality, giving applicants the ability to return and edit submissions without losing progress.
- Phase-specific functionality: Designing the site to adapt as the program moves through its stages (applications, voting, judging, and winners). For example, voting buttons only appear during the voting phase, and messaging updates dynamically to keep users informed.
- Milestone tracking: Creating a homepage milestone calendar with a custom countdown timer that lets users know exactly how many days remain until the next program phase begins.
- Content strategy: Working with Field Law to refresh the approach to archival content, ensuring that only relevant and timely information appears on the new site.
Saving Time, Driving Engagement, Building Community
The redesigned Community Fund Program website launched on September 8, 2025, to coincide with the opening of the application phase. The site now provides a vibrant, user-friendly experience that reflects the energy and inclusivity of the program while vastly simplifying administration.
Highlights of the project outcome include:
- A fresh, engaging design aligned with the firm’s visual identity yet infused with its own community-focused personality.
- A seamless user experience that makes it easier to apply, vote, and track program milestones.
- A transformative backend export feature that eliminates hundreds of hours of manual work for administrators.
- Increased efficiency and clarity across all program phases, from applications to judging.
Early results show a rise in idea submissions and enthusiastic feedback from Field Law’s internal team, who are thrilled with the time savings and ease of use. The site has positioned the Community Fund Program for continued growth and impact as it celebrates its $1 million milestone in 2025.