Unlock your potential with Salesforce for Nonprofits
Build capacity, solidify finances, and amplify impact
What is Salesforce for Nonprofits?
‘Salesforce for Nonprofits’ is the term used by Salesforce® for all solutions dedicated to the nonprofit sector. In 2023, Salesforce launched Nonprofit Cloud (NPC), a product suite built on Salesforce’s Core platform that allows nonprofits to manage their fundraising, grantmaking, program delivery, and outcomes, while also leveraging other core products and features (like Data Cloud). Salesforce for Nonprofits also includes managed package solutions from Salesforce, like the Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP) and Program Management Module (PMM). All these solutions integrate with numerous AppExchange products, like Amp Impact, which can extend solutions with additional features and functionality.
In the early 2000’s, Salesforce created a program to help nonprofit organizations get up and running on Salesforce solutions. It is called the Power of Us Program and, 20+ years later, it continues to offer free and discounted licenses to qualifying nonprofit and social sector organizations. Power of Us is part of Salesforce’s 1-1-1 model, a commitment to giving back to the community. We can guide you through the process of obtaining free and discounted licenses to get you on your way.
Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud (NPC)
Having taken an advisory role in the Nonprofit Cloud product suite development, we have some key insights and recommendations on where the new Salesforce NPC can add value and drive efficiencies for your organization.
Salesforce NPC helps nonprofits more efficiently manage their fundraising, grants, program delivery, operations, and outcomes. With the right implementation partner, NPC can help nonprofit and social sector organizations strengthen relationships with key stakeholders such as donors and program participants with a single source of data.
Salesforce NPC is built on the Core Salesforce platform and provides nonprofits with access to advanced tools like Omnistudio, Data Processing Engine, Business Rules Engine, and more. Within NPC there are two main SKUs: Salesforce NPC (which includes Programs, Fundraising, and Outcomes) and NPC for Grantmaking.
Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud for Programs enables nonprofits to plan, manage, and deliver their programs and services. Key features include session and benefit scheduling, participant enrollment, case management, and attendance and benefit tracking. Bringing together program and case data allows program managers to provide personalized participant experiences, assess their impact, and prepare reports with donors and funders.
Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud for Grantmaking equips grantmakers with the tools to manage their funding opportunities, streamline their application and review processes, and manage budgets, disbursements, and grantee reporting for active grants. Key features include a grantee portal template via Salesforce Experience Cloud, a simplified budget planning and actuals reporting, and compliant data sharing to facilitate grantor/grantee collaboration.
Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud for Fundraising empowers nonprofits to effectively manage their relationships with donors, from individuals to institutional funders. Fundraisers can streamline their high-touch fundraising using the fundraising portfolio and donor profile features, use segmentation and source codes for mass market fundraising, and manage gifts with batch gift entry, designations, and soft credits.
Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud for Outcome Management enables nonprofits to integrate outcome tracking into their program delivery, helping them better monitor program progress, make outcome-driven decisions, and share their impact.
Additional Salesforce Clouds Beneficial for the Nonprofit Sector
Salesforce offers a range of Cloud solutions that provide optional add-ons / plug-ins when considering Salesforce implementations.
Salesforce Experience Cloud creates online spaces (technically called ‘Sites’ though many refer to them as ‘portals’) for organizations to engage with partners, volunteers, members, funders, or grantees. It offers customizable collaboration tools and integration options, fostering interaction, support, and knowledge-sharing, extending the power of the internal.
Salesforce Platform. At its core, Salesforce is a cloud-based CRM platform for sales, customer service, marketing, and more. In addition to tailored industry solutions like NPC and cross-industry offerings like Sales and Service Cloud, it also gives access to Salesforce AppExchange apps, along with app-building and analytics tools. The platform helps to streamline data, automate processes, and support businesses of all sizes. Almost all customers have some needs that need to be met through configuration on the platform, so the best Salesforce partners know the platform inside-out rather than solely having expertise on one or two Salesforce products.
The Salesforce Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP) is a free set of managed packages that enable nonprofits to manage donors and accelerate fundraising and drive marketing and engagement. It can be extended with the free Program Management Module (PMM) for programs, services, and attendance tracking. These earlier products provide a free alternative to NPC.
Salesforce for Nonprofit solutions can be extended with other third-party applications and tools to further meet your requirements. Some of these tools include Amp Impact, document generation tools (such as DocuSign Gen and PDF Butler), e-signature tools (such as DocuSign and AdobeSign), form tools (such as FormStack, FormAssembly, FormTitan), and middleware platforms (such as Mulesoft and OpenFn) to address further integrations.
Salesforce Customer Testimonials
Why Choose Vera for your Salesforce implementation?
At Vera, we’re committed to amplifying the impact of the social sector, and that starts by recommending a technology solution that will meet your staff and stakeholders’ needs over the long run.
With over 14 years of experience serving nonprofits, Vera Solutions has been a leader in developing program management and impact measurement solutions on the Salesforce Platform, while building expertise across a wide range of Salesforce Clouds (Sales, Service, Experience, Nonprofit, Analytics, etc).
Currently, over $12 billion of programs, grants, and projects advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals are managed using Vera’s flagship product, Amp Impact. Our team has both extensive knowledge of the nonprofit sector and deep experience in delivering powerful, flexible, and sustainable solutions for a wide range of clients.
As a long-time Salesforce International Impact Partner, we’ve been dedicated to the Salesforce ecosystem for 14 years. With the growth of Amp Impact, Vera Solutions has also been recognized twice as Salesforce.org Product Partner of the Year (2019, 2022) and with a Partner Innovation Award (2021). We are constantly on-top of the Salesforce Platform’s latest features and enhancements and how they can be leveraged to support our clients’ missions.
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FAQs
Salesforce’s secure data environment is trusted by 150,000 businesses and 50,000 nonprofits for cloud data protection. Its ‘Clicks not Code’ interface provides easy navigation and customization.
More than 50,000 nonprofit organizations leverage Salesforce’s capabilities. Organizations of various sizes within the nonprofit sector harness Salesforce to optimize their capabilities, funds and drive impact.
The total cost of ownership depends on the number of licenses and solutions your organization requires. Salesforce offers a free and discounted license program called The Power of Us which, as of Oct 2023 has enabled 56,000 nonprofit and educational organizations the ability to start their journey on Salesforce.
It depends what the organization’s objectives are. Implementations can vary from basic CRM, to managing fundraising, inbound and outbound grants, programs and projects, operations and volunteers, to outcomes and impact measurement. These functionalities can be implemented individually or seamlessly integrated in a complete end-to-end Nonprofit solution.
We are proud to have served over 420 organizations, of all sizes, across all regions, for the past 14 years. Dedicated to the nonprofit and social sector, we understand the challenges many organizations face in identifying and implementing the right solution to meet their needs. Coupled with our wealth of expertise in having over 300+ Salesforce Certifications, we are able to help you maximize your solution to save time, money and headaches as you transition from complex spreadsheets to a flexible, scalable and integrated technology solution.