The Tipping Point for Nonprofits Utilizing Salesforce

The past three years have been incredibly exciting for nonprofits who utilize Salesforce to #LevelUp their development, volunteer, and programmatic operations.

In fact, the pace and breadth of change have been so spectacular that we are truly witnessing a Tipping Point in the evolution of Salesforce.org that will be felt for years.

Three distinct developments have contributed to this unique moment in time:

First, the Power of Us Hub launched in 2013.  This user-friendly online community quickly became the go-to resource for nonprofits utilizing Salesforce.  Did we mention it is 100% free!

Second, there was the revolutionary release of Cumulus (aka NPSP v.3) in 2014.  This upgrade re-aligned the architecture of the Nonprofit Starter Pack so that nonprofits could benefit more readily from the same features enjoyed by Fortune 500 companies.

In addition, the upgrade included goodies such as improved management of households, donations, and addresses as well as a centralized location for all NPSP settings and trigger management for the geeks out there.

Third, is the surprise release this week of the Nonprofit Success Pack, the successor to the original Nonprofit Starter Pack and first major upgrade of 2014’s Cumulus release.

According to Salesforce.org the Nonprofit Success Pack includes these new features to help nonprofits #LevelUp:

• Campaign Advancements: Nonprofits can create personalized engagement plans that track the steps needed to engage with different types of donors and volunteers to improve fundraising and volunteerism. In addition, nonprofits can merge campaigns and reports to generate new groups that can be targeted with integrated marketing campaigns, helping nonprofits to engage more deeply with constituents.
• Donor Management Advancements: New innovations that track employer matching programs, manage memorial gifts, and in-kind gifts so nonprofits can better manage their all of their donor relationships.
• Constituent Levels: Nonprofits can create different levels of contact classification based on any number of variables (donations, volunteer hours, etc.) so that engagements can be tailored to many different kinds of supporters.
• Lightning Ready: NPSP is built on Salesforce Lightning, providing a modern and intelligent user experience on any device, enabling nonprofits to work faster and smarter.
• New Languages: NPSP is now available in three additional languages, Spanish, German and Japanese.

Source: http://www.salesforce.org/introducing-salesforce-nonprofit-success-pack

This is only the beginning according to Kevin Bromer, VP of Product Delivery at Salesforce.org, “We release a new version of the Nonprofit Starter Pack every two weeks and that’s a real part of our commitment to keep the product on the cutting edge.”

Of course, with so much positive change coming so quickly it can be tough to keep up and ensure your nonprofit is getting the most out of its investment.

As always, we encourage nonprofits to stay on top of new developments through participation in the Power of Us Hub; however, if your nonprofit needs a little – or a lot – of extra help Now IT Matters will be here to assist.