The Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP) is about engaging individuals in your mission. With a focus on donors, volunteers and program participants – it puts people first. But, what about those organizations that realize their mission by working primarily with businesses or other organizations? For these orgs a “native” use of Salesforce, which leverages Sales Cloud, might actually be the better path. In this post we aim to provide clarity by explaining the fundamental difference between the Nonprofit Success Pack and Sales Cloud and by identifying additional resources.
Salesforce.org
“Technology is the most powerful equalizer of our time, providing access to data, knowledge, and — above all — connections. Salesforce.org puts the world’s best technology in the hands of nonprofits and educational institutions, so they connect their organizations and accelerate their impact.” – About Us, Salesforce.org
Salesforce.org is the philanthropic arm of Salesforce that focuses on ‘community-driven innovation’. To make the solution accessible for organizations of all sizes, Salesforce created the Power of Us program, which gives ten Enterprise Edition licenses to 501c organizations at no cost. As the nonprofit grows, additional Salesforce licenses can be purchased at a discounted rate.
The Nonprofit Success Pack takes Salesforce’s commitment to accessible technology a step further. It is a Salesforce application that sits on top of Sales Cloud. NPSP was designed with out of the box functionality that is useful to nonprofits, including an open and flexible data architecture with pre-built constituent and donor management components. These components are not needed by organizations who do not rely heavily on individual philanthropy. As a result, some nonprofits may be better served by Sales Cloud.
Data Model Differences
NPSP and Sales Cloud both have the ability to manage various types of constituent relationships including donors, volunteers, partners and community members. The major difference between Sales Cloud and NPSP is the data model that serves as the base for the two solutions. Sales Cloud is typically oriented towards a business-to-business (B2B) model, while NPSP is a business-to-consumer (B2C) model.
Sales Cloud Data Architecture
The Sales Cloud data model is account-based. An account is a company or organization that can have contacts nested under it. In the B2B model opportunities are tracked at the account level rather than at the contact level. If needed contact roles can be associated with an opportunity.
NPSP Data Architecture
The NPSP structure also begins with Accounts, but its relationships are slightly more complex. An account can be a “household” or an organization, business or other grouping of people. In this model contacts are nested under household accounts and can only be connected to another account through an affiliation. The B2C model fits the nonprofit use case for tracking individual philanthropy and grouping gifts by household. These opportunities can include single donations as well as more complex gifts (e.g. grants). NPSP includes a suite of features and automation based on the individual philanthropy model.
Despite this fundamental difference, each solution can be configured to include components of both data models. Choosing the B2B or B2C data model will simply create a baseline for future system usage and development. The decision-maker should consider an organization’s budget and technical capacity – making the right decision early on will result in fewer costs, quicker adoption and leave more room for growth.
Support + Community Resources
Salesforce has deep knowledge specific to the social sector. This information is stored and shared on the Power of Us Hub, an online community for Salesforce.org users and partners. The Power of Us Hub is available to all .org users regardless of which solutions they leverage. It serves as a place for the nonprofit user community to ask questions, share knowledge, start groups, and connect with other professionals in the industry.
Trailhead is an additional resource available to all Salesforce users. It is a gamified learning platform that provides technical training and information in the form of bite-sized content. On Trailhead you can learn how to best leverage Salesforce products including Sales Cloud and NPSP.
In addition to the resources created by Salesforce, many organizations choose to work with a registered Salesforce.org partner. With the support of a partner, organizations can focus their resources on managing their mission, while a team of Salesforce professionals manages their systems. The right partner will offer a team of technical experts who have experience working in an organization’s space. For example, CDFIs should consider partners with knowledge on interest-free lending, adaptable repayment schedules, and high-touch application processes. Ultimately, leveraging the right resources can be as helpful to an organization’s mission as choosing the right tool.
Summary + Conclusion
Nonprofits are often faced with the decision to choose between NPSP or Sales Cloud. Both solutions can be tailored to meet specific needs, but the decision should be based on which model best aligns with an organization’s business processes. Less configuration will keep cost down and allow resources to be spent growing the use of technology across the organization.
If your organization is interested in further Salesforce projects or administration, get in contact with us.