Inspiration

BC has nearly 29,000 nonprofit organizations — food banks, newcomer support centers, youth shelters — that collectively serve hundreds of thousands of people. Yet behind the scenes, coordinators are overwhelmed. Volunteer scheduling happens over group chats, onboarding is word-of-mouth, and when a volunteer encounters a real-world challenge, there's no structured way to record or share what happened.

We were inspired by a quote from Kevin Huang, Executive Director of Hua Foundation in Vancouver:

"When there's high turnover, institutional knowledge and key relationships built upon trust are lost."

That stuck with us. We wanted to build something that preserves that knowledge — and makes the first shift feel less lonely.

What it does

FirstStep is a two-sided workforce support platform for BC nonprofits serving newcomer communities.

Coordinators get a unified dashboard to:

Manage volunteer onboarding progress and missing items
Handle shift scheduling, absence alerts, and open shift posting
Review and approve volunteer-submitted scenarios into a shared, living FAQ

Volunteers get a role-specific portal with:

Step-by-step role instructions
Shift management and one-tap absence reporting
A direct channel to submit real-world scenarios they encountered

The key innovation is the Scenario Submission Loop: when a volunteer encounters something the FAQ doesn't cover, they submit a suggested Q&A. An AI draft answer is generated for coordinator review. Once approved, it's instantly added to the live FAQ — powered by Firebase Firestore — and visible to all volunteers in real time. Institutional knowledge stops disappearing.

How we built it

Design: Figma Make — full coordinator and volunteer flows with consistent component systems and realistic nonprofit content
Frontend: React + Vite, Tailwind CSS, shadcn/ui components
Authentication: Firebase Auth with role-based routing (coordinator vs volunteer)
Database: Firebase Firestore — stores FAQ items and scenario submissions with real-time sync between volunteer submission and coordinator review
FAQ System: Fully connected to Firestore — when a coordinator approves a submission, it immediately appears in the volunteer-facing FAQ without any manual steps

Challenges we ran into

Scope management: Two distinct user types with very different needs, built in 48 hours
Figma Make export issues: figma:asset image imports don't resolve outside the Figma environment, requiring manual fixes before local development could run
Design tension: Making the volunteer experience warm and accessible for low-digital-literacy users, while keeping the coordinator side information-dense and efficient
Real-time data sync: Ensuring the FAQ updates propagated correctly between Firestore and both portals without page refreshes

Accomplishments that we're proud of

✅ Fully functional two-sided platform with real Firebase authentication and role-based routing
✅ End-to-end scenario submission loop — volunteer submits → coordinator reviews → FAQ updates live in Firestore
✅ Shift management system with absence alerts and open shift posting — replacing the WhatsApp group chat most nonprofits rely on
✅ A design system that feels genuinely accessible and warm, not like enterprise software

What we learned

The real problem in nonprofit workforce management isn't a lack of tools — it's that existing tools weren't designed for organizations with no IT support, high volunteer turnover, and multilingual communities.

Simplicity is a feature, not a compromise.

We also learned that institutional knowledge is fragile. The moment someone leaves, it walks out the door with them. Building systems that continuously capture and share knowledge is more valuable than any single feature.

What's next for FirstStep

Real AI integration — Connect scenario review to Claude API for genuinely AI-generated draft answers
Push notifications — Alert volunteers about open shifts and coordinators about urgent submissions
Analytics dashboard — Volunteer retention trends, most-searched FAQ topics, and onboarding completion rates for grant reporting
Expand roles — Settlement Support, Peer Support, and coordinator-created custom roles
Deeper integrations — Connect with Google Workspace and tools BC nonprofits already use