Is it Time for Your Nonprofit to Invest in the Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud?
It’s been just over a year since Salesforce launched the new Nonprofit Cloud. While it’s still relatively new, there is excitement around this offering as Salesforce continues to roll out new features and functionality. You might also be hearing more people from Salesforce and Salesforce partner organizations encouraging nonprofits to move to the Nonprofit Cloud.
But you might be thinking, “We’ve already made a big investment in Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP) and other Salesforce products. Should we invest in the Nonprofit Cloud? And if so, how much and when?”
These are reasonable and important questions to ask. But the answers will be different for every organization based on current technology investments, organizational goals, and long-term technology strategies.
Tips for when you’re considering the Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud for your nonprofit
Based on our knowledge of Salesforce and experience working with nonprofits on their technology plans, here are some ideas to help you make the right choices about the Nonprofit Cloud for your organization.
1. It’s important to weigh your “pushes” and “pulls”
When you’re considering any technology change, be sure to think about the pushes and pulls for making the move. A push to think about a technology change might be experiencing challenges with your existing software or vendor. A pull might be the desire to take advantage of features and functionality that can help you accomplish new things and/or work more efficiently.
So, as you think about if you should make an investment in the Nonprofit Cloud, ask yourself if the problems you’re having with your existing software are worth the time and effort of moving to a new solution. Also, ask yourself if the benefits of new features and functionality in the Nonprofit Cloud outweigh the effort and cost of a new technology implementation.
2. You don’t have to make an all-or-nothing decision
There’s a lot of buzz about the Nonprofit Cloud. But keep in mind that there is more than one way to invest in Salesforce technology, and it’s important to choose the solution, or combination of solutions, that’s best for your organization.
For example, you might be using NPSP for fundraising and another non-Salesforce product for program management. If the program management solution isn’t working well for your organization, then you might consider moving to the Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud for Program Management to take advantage of the latest program management capabilities from Salesforce while staying with your NPSP investment for the time being.
Another example: You might have a complex and growing fundraising program and find that it’s worth moving from NPSP to take advantage of the advanced fundraising functionality available in the Nonprofit Cloud.
You might have requirements that make a different set of Salesforce solutions other than the Nonprofit Cloud better suited for your nonprofit.
The key point here is that moving all of your technology to Nonprofit Cloud isn’t the only option. There are multiple Salesforce solutions available to help nonprofits reach their goals and meet their technology needs.
3. Start thinking about Nonprofit Cloud now
This might seem like a contradiction to the previous point about not assuming you need to move to Nonprofit Cloud. However, the truth is that Salesforce is focusing time and innovation efforts on Nonprofit Cloud. So, if you are using NPSP and want to continue to benefit from Salesforce’s ongoing innovations and new features, it’s a good idea to start developing a plan for when and how an implementation of Nonprofit Cloud will fit into your organization’s technology strategy.
That doesn’t mean that you need to rush out and move from NPSP to the Nonprofit Cloud today. But your technology choices today can have broader implications in the future. So, be sure to have a comprehensive technology plan in place that addresses your organization’s needs and goals not just today, but also for the next three to five years, and consider at what points it might make sense to add the Nonprofit Cloud to the mix.
Learn more about Salesforce solutions for nonprofits
If your organization uses or is considering a move to Salesforce, there’s a lot to think about. It’s a good idea to stay current on the latest offerings from Salesforce and start to plan now how they will fit into your organization’s technology strategy.
You can learn more helpful tips and ideas in our guide, The Basics of Salesforce Solutions for Nonprofits.
Our team here at Heller Consulting is also ready to help you determine what mix of Salesforce solutions might be the right fit for your needs. If they are the right fit, we can also help you to develop a business case and roadmap as well as implement and support the solutions. Contact us to find out more and get started.
About the Authors
Jennifer Thall
Jennifer has been working with nonprofit organizations for over ten years, starting at the National Community Tax Coalition on the policy and advocacy team where she used Salesforce to monitor and enhance campaigns and operations. Jennifer’s experience analyzing and optimizing... Read More
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