GETTING STARTED WITH NPSPGETTING STARTED WITH NPSP

Planning Guide

A thoughtful rollout plan can help your organization successfully adopt NPSP. Before you

begin customizing features, importing data, or adding users, take a moment to review the

recommendations in this guide. By following the steps and examples outlined here, you’ll

create a custom rollout plan that guides your organization to success!

Please note that we are using fundraising as an example in this planning guide, because

your Nonprofit Cloud trial comes with NPSP which has been pre-configured to meet

most nonprofit fundraising needs with only minor adjustments. But you can use the same

planning process that we set out here with the Program Management Module if you want

to tackle that first.

For more on how to conduct your planning, check out the companion to this worksheet:

the Prepare for Success with Nonprofit Cloud Trail.

Introduction

0303Nail down your goals

Clear success metrics

will keep you and your

team accountable.

0404Involve your users

Find ways to include and excite your team during the planning process.

0505Set milestones

Establish a rollout timeline and go-live date.

0707Make it your own

Customize standard functionality to meet your unique needs.

0606Review NPSP Settings

Update your org’s settings per your preferences.

0808Understand Additional NPSP Features

Expand beyond the basics as you grow with Salesforce.

0101Gather your team

A successful rollout

requires the right mix

of roles and resources.

0202Define your fundraising processesMap day-to-day processes to NPSP.

Gather your team0101A successful rollout requires the right mix of roles and resources. We’ve listed the most

important ones below. Consider who might be best for each position and ask them for

support. Depending on the size of your nonprofit, it’s possible that one person may fill

multiple roles.

Organizations with resources that need

to get up and running quickly may take

advantage of Salesforce.org’s robust

network of consulting partners. While

engaging a partner has an upfront cost, this

is money well spent. Partners have years of

experience helping nonprofits successfully

implement NPSP in a way that supports

their business processses and allows room

for growth. Ask your Executive Sponsor if

engaging a partner is an option for your

organization, and see Partner

Selection for Implementation for more

recommendations.

NONPROFIT CONSULTANTNONPROFIT CONSULTANT

Executive Sponsor: An executive leader who prioritizes how time is spent with

Salesforce, can help champion the project, provide any needed budget, and remove

roadblocks. Prepare your sponsor to work with you by sharing the Executive Sponsor’s

Guide to Success with Nonprofit Cloud.

Operations Manager(s): Knows your company’s day-to-day operations, including

fundraising, marketing/engagement, and program management. Helps you mirror your

processes in Salesforce, and prioritize your implementation.

Super Users: Development managers, marketing/engagement specialists, and program

managers who provide ongoing feedback to make sure NPSP meets day-to-day needs.

Choose staff members who are passionate or vocal about process improvements. If

possible choose a super user for each job function.

Salesforce Administrator: Configures Salesforce and manages it day-to-day. Trains users

and creates documentation. (This may be you!)

Technical Expert (optional): Supports any technical implementations, system

integrations, or security measures that your sector requires.

For staffing guidelines, sample job descriptions and resources for staff training, check out

Building Your Nonprofit Salesforce Team.

Define your fundraising processes0202Salesforce lets you track constituent and fundraising data to get insights that make your

development team more productive. To gather the most accurate data for your organization,

you should adjust the pre-configured fundraising processes we’ve created for you in NPSP so

that they mirror your team’s processes.

NPSP lets you manage processes for all of your incoming revenue streams:

NPSP has processes for six common nonprofit revenue streams preconfigured for

you (donations, grants, major gifts, in-kind gifts, membership, and matching gifts).

For each revenue type, your fundraisers can click through a defined series of

steps that guide them through the actions they need to take at each stage.

For the most effective implementation, start mapping out your fundraising

processes now. Think through the stages of each process and what information

you gather at each stage.

Compare your processes to the ones we’ve preconfigured in NPSP.

On the next page, you’ll find an example of how you might visualize the steps in

a fundraising process.

Define your fundraising processes (cont.)0202PROSPECTING

AWARDED (CLOSED WON)

Grantmaker Invitation to Submit Application or Decline

Research or Networking

LOI Submitted

LETTER OF INTENT SUBMITTED

APPLICATION SUBMITTED

DECLINED (CLOSED WON)

WITHDRAWN

DATA NEEDED AT THIS STAGE

GATHERED VIA

PROGRESSES TO NEXT

STAGE WHEN

Letter Per Grantmaker Requirements

• Close Date • Program Areas • Grant Requirements Website • Is Grant Renewal • Previous Grant/ Gift Opportunity

Grantmaker Notification

Grantmaker Award or Decline Decision

Grantmaker Notification

Fundraiser Determination

• Close Date • Requested Amount• Amount • Program Areas• Grant Requirements Website

• Close Date• Ask Date• Requested Amount• Amount

• Close Date • Amount • Grant Contract Date• Grant Period Start Date• Grant Period End Date

• Close Date• Amount• Closed Lost Reason

• Close Date• Amount• Closed Lost Reason

Application Per Grantmaker Requirements

STAGE

Below are the steps you might visualize in order to secure a grant.

You may wish to customize the six processes we’ve provided for you, or configure your own

processes for things like earned revenue or fee-for-service. See Understand and Customize

Sales Process and Path for more information.

Define your fundraising processes (cont.)0202

PLEDGED

Donor submits payment

Donor Notification

Donor fulfills or withdraws pledge

POSTED (CLOSED WON)

CLOSED LOST

Check or Credit Card Payment

• Close Date • Amount • Campaign Source

Note - Most nonprofits do not enter small Closed Lost donations except for unfulfilled pledges

• Close Date • Amount• Campaign Source

• Close Date• Amount• Closed Lost Reason

Donor Notification

DATANEEDED AT THISSTAGE

GATHERED VIA

PROGRESSES TO NEXT

STAGE WHEN

STAGE

Nail down your goals0303Next, meet with your planning team and review the vision that brought you to Salesforce Nonprofit

Cloud (bonus points if you were inspired by the Nonprofit Cloud Vision and Values Trailhead module).

Now identify areas for improvement in your organization, and then set a specific measurable goal for

addressing each improvement using Salesforce. Agree on priorities and pinpoint the metrics needed.

Record meeting notes using a table like this one. Later, use these metrics to inform how to tweak features

so that they track towards these goals. Customize NPSP reports, dashboards, and list views to surface

insights buried within your data. Fine-tune workflows for features such as Path and Kanban to reflect

improvements and reinforce best practices. For more ideas, check out Nonprofit Metrics for Success.

GOAL RELATED METRICS

Example: Establish a single place where the development team can get insights into fundraising progress in real time

The number of donations v. Goal Total income v. Goal

Example: Understand expected revenue from grants Grants pipeline by stage

Example: Understand which campaigns have been the most effective

Total donations by campaign

Involve your users0404You want your staff to be as excited about Nonprofit Cloud as you are. Revisit the goals

that you and your planning team established, and think about how you want to frame the

benefits when you describe them to your users. Consider whether to adapt messaging

for different roles or job responsibilities. Including members of each department in your

planning team will ensure that all users benefit.

GOAL RELATED METRICS

Example: Establish a single place where the development team can get insights into fundraising progress in real time.

The number of donations v. Goal Total income v. Goal

Example: Understand expected revenue from grants Grants pipeline by stage

Example: Understand which campaigns have been the most effective

Total donations by campaign

STAFF BENEFITS

Fundraisers can check in on how they are tracking towards their goals in real time

Fundraisers can more easily track the lifecycle of their grants

Fundraisers can focus their efforts on successful fundraising strategies

Set milestones0505Think about major rollout milestones and start plotting a timeline. We recommend you aim to

complete your rollout in 90 days or less unless you have a substantial amount of historic data to

import. Avoid busy stretches and major fundraising events like year-end giving season or your biggest

gala of the year. Once you’ve decided on a go-live date for NPSP, work backwards from that point.

MAKE IT YOUR OWN (60 DAYS) ROLLOUT (30 DAYS)

Establish rollout team Prepare and schedule staff training

DRIVE ADOPTION (ONGOING)

Check login frequency

Define business processes and goals Announce rollout schedule Send “Tips and Tricks” email or lunch and learn

Send teaser email to staff Add users to Salesforce Hold check-in meeting or office hours

Review NPSP Settings Hold training Tweak features

Tour preconfigured features Gather feedback from usersKeep up on Salesforce releases and announce impactful changes

Learn to customize features Tweak features

Customize features

Test, get feedback from stakeholders, tweak features

Review NPSP settings0606The NPSP Settings tab is command central

for the Nonprofit Success Pack. Check that

your settings are aligned with your internal

processes. For more information about

these settings, complete the Administer

Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP) trail.

SECTION SETTING

Households• Review Household Name • Review Formal Greeting format• Review Informal Greeting format

Addresses

• Consider Enabling Organization Account Address management• Consider whether a simple address change should be treated as an update

Donations Review Opportunity Name format

Payments

• Consider enabling Automatic Payment Creation• Exclude Opportunity Record types from automatic payment creation (i.e. In Kind Gifts)• Select Opportunity stage for fully paid opportunities with multiple payments

GAU Allocations• Consider enabling default allocations• Review default General Accounting Unit

Contact Roles Review default Contact Roles

Campaign MembersConsider enabling Automatic Campaign Member Management

Make it your own0707Salesforce includes standard objects and fields such as Contact as a baseline for every customer.

NPSP also includes objects and fields that are commonly used by nonprofits. Learn about NPSP

fields and get best practices for customizing them to match your internal processes.

OBJECT STANDARD FIELDS

Contact See NPSP Data Dictionary - Contacts

See NPSP Data Dictionary - Accounts

See NPSP Data Dictionary - Opportunities

CUSTOM FIELDS TO ADD

Account

Opportunity

Payment See NPSP Data Dictionary - Payments

PICKLIST VALUES TO ADD/MODIFY

Understand additional NPSP features0808In this worksheet, we’ve covered the bare bones of planning an NPSP rollout for constituent

management and fundraising. But the great thing about NPSP is that it can grow with you as you

begin to feel more comfortable with Salesforce. Here are some common needs for nonprofits,

and how to solve for them using NPSP.

You can find a complete index of NPSP features in the documentation section in the

Power of Us Hub.

And check our out Learning Paths if you’re ready to dive deeper into Fundraising,

Program Management or Marketing/Engagement.

WHEN YOU NEED TO... CHECK OUT THIS NPSP FEATURE

Understand how successful your fundraising efforts have been

Campaigns

General Accounting Units and GAU Fund Allocations

Payments

READ THE DOCUMENTATION

Ensure that you are segregating funds for specific purposes or because of special restrictions

Split a Single Donation or Other Opportunity into Multiple Installments

Track gifts that donors have pledged over a period of time

Recurring Donations

LEARN MORE ON TRAILHEAD

Credit donors for donations they directly or indirectly influenced (soft credits)

Opportunity Contact Roles and Customizable Rollups

What are Campaigns and How Do They Work?

Allocations Overview

Manage Multiple-Payment Donations

Recurring Donations - Overview and Setup

Soft Credits Overview

Campaign Management with Nonprofit Success Pack

Configure GAU Allocations and Payments

Configure GAU Allocations and Payments

Manage Recurring Donations

Set Up Soft Credits

The best practices we’ve created here are based on years of experience helping

organizations like yours as they setup, customize, and rollout NPSP. By following these

steps, you’ll create a rollout plan that ensures your implementation is a huge success.

We can’t wait to see what you do with Salesforce.org’s Nonprofit Cloud!

In Conclusion

THANK YOU.THANK YOU.