Foundational Salesforce NPSP Training – 5 By Job Function

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Salesforce NPSP – Also known as the Salesforce Nonprofit Success Pack is a leading CRM (Constituent Relationship Management) tool for nonprofits. Based upon the long-standing machine which is Salesforce, combined with platform flexibility, feature sets, and the free 10 user licenses, Salesforce NPSP has been the nonprofit CRM recommendation for many. Often, nonprofits start with Salesforce by trying to do it themselves in an effort to be frugal and show good stewardship.

If you are looking for help with the Salesforce Nonprofit Starter Pack, this is one and the same. The toolset has gone through a few name changes. The NPSP remains one of the Salesforce solutions targeted specifically at nonprofit organizations.

Whether you are new to Salesforce as a user, a Salesforce Administrator, or a fundraising professional, there is a base level of knowledge that will assist you in succeeding in your role, and ultimately, your organization. The Salesforce Trailhead program is a wonderful resource with self-guided training. Below we list our top Salesforce NPSP Trails for nonprofit teams to go through and establish a baseline for future success.

The following Salesforce training trails are optional depending on whether you will be managing your programs or your volunteers with Salesforce NPSP.

Salesforce NPSP - Administer Nonprofit Success Pack

Administer Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP)

The Administer Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP) trail is really designed for the people who will have a deep knowledge of what is possible in the platform, the configuration of the vast array of settings and options, and the overall administration of the system. These people will be your subject matter experts when it comes to the Salesforce NPSP platform. Sometimes it is best to get the administration help you need from a Salesforce consultant depending on the skillsets of staff you have on staff.

  • Nonprofit Success Pack Administration Basics – Learn the basics of implementation, customization, best practices, and understanding the data model.
  • Contact and Account Settings in Nonprofit Success Pack – Set preferences and automation around Household naming, contact and account relationships, address management, and duplicate management.
  • Opportunity Settings in Nonprofit Success Pack – Set up and configure fundraising lifecycles, soft credits, roll-up calculations, accounting calculations, payments on a pledge, and recurring donations.
  • Nonprofit Success Pack Health and Optimization – Run health checks, prepare for new releases of both Salesforce and the NPSP, engage in the community.

A question that is raised often is about how to prevent or how to merge duplicate accounts (households) and accounts. Many times this comes up regarding accounts and contact records which are created automatically from the integration of an online donation platform like iDonate or RaiseDonors. The Contact and Account settings module includes coursework regarding the prevention, detection, and merging of duplicate records.

Who: Development Director, I.T. Manager
Trail: Administer Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP)
Time to Complete: ~5 hrs 25 minutes

Engage Constituents with Nonprofit Cloud

In the world of nonprofits, dollars need to come from somewhere. Advocacy and engagement are key. This trail provides a solid base of understanding as to how the Salesforce NPSP platform can assist you in marketing and digital fundraising strategies. As you go through the modules in this trail, it is important to learn what Salesforce NPSP actually is, as well as what it is not. Need to supercharge your engagement efforts, bringing in an external resource can be the key to driving huge success and/or rapid deployment.

  • Salesforce.org Nonprofit Cloud Basics – Basics of how the Salesforce NPSP can help your organization. Not administration.
  • Marketing and Engagement with Nonprofit Success Pack – Introduction to salesforce marketing tools, standard vs custom data, and how to navigate and use the platform.
  • Data Management for Engagement with Nonprofit Success Pack – The basics of campaigns, relationships, affiliations, and leads.
  • Campaign Management with Nonprofit Success Pack – All about campaigns including hierarchy, engagements, tracking, and measurement.
  • Engagement Plans and Levels in Nonprofit Success Pack – This is all about engagement plans for build lift.
  • Constituent Email Management with Nonprofit Success Pack – Individual, small group and advanced email management.

A common question is “Can salesforce send my marketing emails?” Maybe. It is not intended to be your email marketing platform as is. You can find out more in the Sending Email to Small Constituent Groups module.

Who: Development Director, Marketing Manager, Community Engagement Director
Trail: Engage Constituents with Nonprofit Cloud
Time to Complete: ~6 hrs 15 minutes

Fundraise with Nonprofit Cloud

  • Salesforce.org Nonprofit Cloud Basics – Another introduction to the platform with basics on all of the above.
  • Donor Management with Nonprofit Success Pack – Understanding of information organization, contacts, accounts, relationships, and affiliations.
  • Donation Management Basics with Nonprofit Success Pack – How to create and edit donations, payments, recurring donations, allocations/designations, and acknowledgments.
  • Donation Soft Credit Management with Nonprofit Success Pack – Contact roles, soft credits, and matching gifts.
  • Moves Management with Nonprofit Success Pack – Prospects, plans, donors, tasks, events, activities, and Chatter.
  • Fundraising Reports and Dashboards with Nonprofit Success Pack – Standard, custom and dashboard reporting.

Who: Development Director, Development Representative, Development Assistant, Customer Service Manager
Trail: Fundraise with Nonprofit Cloud
Time to Complete: ~9 hrs

Manage Programs with Nonprofit Cloud

Salesforce NPSP can help you manage relationships with your donor constituents. But, did you know your nonprofit program management might also be assisted by the platform? This trail gives you some context in relation to program management using the Salesforce Nonprofit Success Pack. Now, you may need more specific functionality for your programs than what comes out of the box. That is where engaging with a technical resource can come in handy. Just be careful. Customization is not a one-time expense. Each new release of Salesforce and the NPSP will require testing and potentially the cost of updating the customizations, increasing your long-term expenses.

  • Salesforce.org Nonprofit Cloud Basics – Yes, the same basics of the platform at a high level.
  • Nonprofit Program Management with Salesforce – Overview of how Salesforce NPSP can help in program management followed by learning your way around the platform.
  • Constituent Data Management with Nonprofit Success Pack – Create and edit constituent records, relationships, affiliations and program activities.
  • Nonprofit Client Services with Service Cloud – Program management using the Service Cloud, case management and the Lightning dialer.
  • Nonprofit Program Management Reports and Dashboards – Evaluating and managing programs with standard and custom reports and dashboards.

Who: Program Director, VP of Programs, Development Director, Program Manager
Trail: Manage Programs with Nonprofit Cloud
Time to Complete: ~5 hrs 45 minutes

Manage Volunteers for Nonprofits

Volunteers are the backbone of some nonprofits. They work hard, are not asking for a paycheck and truly have a heart for the mission. Now you can recruit, manage and communicate well with your volunteer teams using the Salesforce NPSP.

  • Volunteers for Salesforce (V4S) Basics – Orientation to the Volunteers for Salesforce application.
  • Volunteer Registration – Learn about the creation and management of jobs, shifts, and events.
  • Website Integration for Volunteer Management – Register volunteers through your website.
  • Volunteer Management – Select the right volunteers, track and report on their participation.

Bonus Link: Read the FAQ from the Power of Us Hub.

Who: Volunteer Coordinator, Community Engagement Manager, Program Director
Trail: Manage Volunteers for Nonprofits
Time to Complete: ~4 hrs 15 minutes

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Associate Executive Director - Nonprofit

Tom is a multi-disciplined leader with over a decade of experience in nonprofit operations, technology leadership in government, and over two decades of servant leadership.

It is the process of growing others in confidence that drives Tom. "We get to help shape the leaders of tomorrow. I want that future to be bright."

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