How Salesforce can help NGOs How are you managing your contacts? Are you using an outdated database, or maybe something like blackbaud/ Raiser’s Edge? Maybe you’re using the classic standby: spreadsheets. Are these systems providing you with a 360 degree view of all your stakeholders? Do you know who the people in your organization know or what they are doing with them? You’re investing a lot of time and resources in developing relationships for your organization. So are the people working with you. If you allow that knowledge to live only with certain people, or in isolated systems, it IS costing you money in lost opportunities. Even worse, you risk losing that investment when they leave. You really need to protect your investment and develop a system that works for you- even if it’s not salesforce. In case you couldn’t tell, I’m slightly enamored with salesforce . Ever since my first peek at it, I knew it was something special. I guess it was kind of a geeky version of “love at first sight”. And since that time, through multiple configurations, implementations, and explorations, my fondness has only deepened.It is the king of collaborative tools. Like no other program I’ve seen- it can give you a 360 view of who you’re working with (or should be), including clients, staff, volunteers, and other key stakeholders. Salesforce integrates with everything else you’re doing in a way that can only leave competitors drooling with envy. Seriously. I don’t want to go too far off track (you can probably tell I get a little excited talking about it), but I will say: I haven’t seen what it can’t do yet.Everything may not come standard, but the capabilities are there and it’s not overly challenging to figure out. It’s so flexible, even I was able to develop a module to manage grants- from initial research, development, and reporting.Built in reporting, dashboards, apps (many free), and incredible integration help round out some of the features. This is one of the most powerful tools out there (I say this with full confidence, having worked with many and compared even more). Salesforce is a cloud based platform. That means, there’s no need for the kind of in-house IT support traditional software often requires. In fact, there is no software. You can access it from any computer. Anywhere. And security? Salesforce tackles that issue too- with multi-levels of security and the ability to limit access to specific information for different types of users. Incredible as it may seem, this powerful tool is available- with 10 licenses included- for free (yes, FREE), to qualified nonprofit organizations. Salesforce foundation provides access to their full-on enterprise edition or you can choose the more specific nonprofit starter pack. If you need more than 10 licenses, you can get them for a major discount. Non-profits (and B-corps) have access to the same
free, online trainings offered to paying customers. For anyone with more talent and time than dollars, these courses, combined with videos on youtube, make it so easy to do what you need. Plus, the people at Salesforce really, really want you to succeed, so they provide lists of certified consultants who can help you with anything from just getting started to full-on organization wide development and roll-out.Why am I singing their praises? I must be getting a commission from Salesforce, right? That would be nice, but I’m not. I simply think that this is the best thing going for nonprofits who have data to manage.You can even try it out with a free 30-day trial. Of course, if you like it… there’s still nothing to pay. What could you possibly have to lose? The Cloud awaits… If you have any questions or if this was helpful, be sure to let me know. -Nikhil Miranda Co-founder and Operations Head Treedom solutions