The Differences Between NPSP and the New Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud
You might be considering using Salesforce solutions for your nonprofit. As you research these offerings, you’ve probably come across references to both Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP) and the new Nonprofit Cloud, and it might not always be clear which is which.
It’s important to understand these two Salesforce offerings for nonprofits because they are not the same. So, let’s take a look at the differences between NPSP and the new Nonprofit Cloud.
What is Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP)?
NPSP is a managed package built on the Salesforce platform. It’s installed into your Salesforce environment, giving you access to nonprofit-specific features and functionality.
Until last year, when nonprofits wanted to adopt Salesforce for fundraising, the primary approach was to use Sales and Service Cloud for core customer relationship management (CRM) functionality and then install Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP) to support fundraising needs. Other popular managed packages for nonprofits included the Program Management Module and Volunteers for Salesforce.
What is the new Nonprofit Cloud?
In contrast to NPSP, the new Nonprofit Cloud, which Salesforce rolled out in Spring 2023, is not a managed package. It is built directly into the Salesforce platform, giving you access to nonprofit features and capabilities without the need to go through an installation process.
Salesforce continues to add features and functionality to the new Nonprofit Cloud, which includes:
- Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud for Fundraising
- Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud for Grantmaking
- Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud for Program Management
- Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud for Case Management
Because the new Nonprofit Cloud is built directly into the Salesforce platform, using it also gives you access to other features that are not nonprofit-specific, and that any organization can benefit from. These features include things like Business Rules Engine, Data Processing Engine, and OmniStudio. Collectively, these features are referred to as the “The Toolkit” in Nonprofit Cloud, and they expand the capabilities of the core Salesforce platform via both out-of-the-box features and new tools for customization.
Which Salesforce solution is right for your nonprofit?
There is not a one-size-fits-all answer to this question. However, here are a few more differences between NPSP and the Nonprofit Cloud to consider:
- Nonprofit organizations can still get, or can continue using, NPSP. NPSP is no longer receiving major innovation, but it’s still receiving regular product updates. Salesforce is still supporting it and it does not have a sunset date at this time. NPSP is a proven solution and still serves thousands of nonprofit customers.
- Salesforce is focusing innovation on the new Nonprofit Cloud. Salesforce continues to roll out new and exciting features in the Nonprofit Cloud, including artificial intelligence capabilities. It’s an option worth considering if your organization is new to Salesforce and/or if you want to take advantage of a dynamic offering and the advanced features that are available in the core Salesforce platform.
- Functionality and costs aren’t the same. While Nonprofit Cloud offers enhanced features and innovation, it does not yet offer some functionality available in NPSP. For example, NPSP works with Volunteers for Salesforce to provide dedicated volunteer management functionality, while Nonprofit Cloud does not yet offer volunteer management functionality and this functionality does not appear on the roadmap at this point. There are also many third-party applications that have developed integrations around the NPSP data model but have not yet developed integrations for Nonprofit Cloud. If there is a specific payment processor or online fundraising tool, for example, that your organization needs to work Salesforce, be sure to check if they are compatible with Nonprofit Cloud. Also, depending on the nonprofit’s needs, licensing for Nonprofit Cloud may cost more than NPSP.
Can I switch from NPSP to Nonprofit Cloud?
Short answer: Yes. Long answer: NPSP is built on a different data model than Nonprofit Cloud, so moving from NPSP to Nonprofit Cloud is not necessarily a quick process. However, Salesforce is working on making this process as smooth as possible, and we highly recommend engaging with a partner like Heller to help you with the migration.
Learn more about Salesforce solutions for nonprofits
Salesforce is continually rolling out products and functionality for nonprofits. So, if your organization uses or is considering a move to Salesforce, 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 find out more about the differences between NPSP and the Nonprofit Cloud in our guide, The Basics of Salesforce Solutions for Nonprofits.
Also, our team here at Heller Consulting is 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 Author
Comments