Whether or not you consider testing to be exciting (“HEY EVERYONE! COME SEE WHAT I BROKE!!!!!”) or dulling to the senses, it is utterly necessary. And when we are talking specifically about User Acceptance Testing (UAT) done by our clients, it always improves the overall quality of the system being built. And isn’t improving your…
Choosing the right database platform for your organization is a critical decision. In our (and many other people’s) experience, Salesforce is an excellent choice for nonprofit organizations. Here’s why: Eliminates data silos The Salesforce platform is powerful and flexible enough to centralize or integrate a nonprofit’s data management needs into a single system. This single…
As you delve into the Salesforce admin world, you may find yourself suddenly juggling multiple usernames and passwords. “I thought I only had one database!” you may be thinking. You do! But there are other parts of your Salesforce experience that have their own logins. This can quickly feel overwhelming and even frustrating, especially if…
Many nonprofit organizations manage cohort groups. This includes leadership development organizations, educational cohorts, and alumni organizations. The requirements of these organizations typically include: Nominations and/or applications via a website. Tracking where the nominee is in the process for cohort selection. Sending communication to cohorts and/or individual members. Tracking the progress of cohort members through the…
Human and social services organizations often care about the geography of clients or services needed by clients. This can include picking up donated goods or finding the closest referral partner to a client’s home. I recently got to know Geopointe for a Dreamforce presentation. It’s a powerful tool for anyone who cares about the “where”…
Many of the biggest hurdles organizations face when implementing Salesforce are not about technology at all. In fact, they are much more about the approach the organization takes towards the process overall. Our friend Sam Dorman has created an excellent Getting Ready Playbook that’s available for download and is also part of the Salesforc.org’s Power of…
At Dreamforce a group of us pulled together a panel to share our collective experience building and scaling Salesforce applications for the nonprofit sector. This post is a collaborative effort with Alex Bernadotte from Beyond 12, Zach Goldstein from Health Leads, Tiffany Eng from Capital Impact Partners, and Jesse Maddex from the Salesforce Foundation. The…
We’re ready to dive into the project! Of course we want to hear all about your data. We want to learn about your programs and the specific fields you are hoping to bring over into Salesforce. We love to see the reports that would make your funders happy. But before all of that, we need…
This summer the Salesforce Foundation provided a number of new reports and dashboards for the Nonprofit Starter Pack (NPSP). If you haven’t look at them or considered installing them, you should. There are 5 new dashboards and 47 new reports. I’d like to highlight a few of my favorites. But take a look, there are…
As nonprofit Salesforce consultants, we ALWAYS recommend that organizations have a designated database administrator. In fact, we feel so strongly about it that we don’t start a project unless the organization commits to finding (and allowing time for) someone to fulfill that role. Here’s why: How much time should you allocate for your Salesforce administrator?…