These Are Not Turnkey Products
Summary
This text highlights the common misconception nonprofits have that Salesforce Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP) or Nonprofit Cloud products work out-of-the-box without configuration. It explains that what nonprofits get initially is essentially a platform requiring extensive setup for fundraising features to function properly. The article emphasizes the difference between a turnkey product (like a trial org) and a platform that needs customization and warns against expecting instant use after installation. Salesforce’s strength lies in its extensibility as a platform compared to fixed products like Raiser's Edge.
Takeaways
- NPSP and NPC require extensive configuration before being usable for fundraising.
- Trial orgs are pre-configured products, but real orgs start as clean platforms.
- Users must customize page layouts, record types, and permissions for donor management.
- Expect Salesforce to be a platform, not an instant turnkey product for nonprofits.
- Salesforce’s extensibility beats fixed-feature products like Raiser's Edge for customization.
A few weeks ago I wrote about the distinction between platform and product . It's a blurry line (at best) with a lot of things in the Salesforce world. I think this is confusion that the nonprofit Salesforce world has been bedeviled by for a long time, particularly due to the fact that most of us use a common tool, the Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP). I ran across a great illustration of the confusion when I was at NPSP Day Philly the first week of December. ( A great event, by the way. Watch for one near you! ) There were several people at the event that were on the fundraising and development team of a local nonprofit that is known as a place to swim or exercise. (You've heard of them...) Their organization is in the middle of a Salesforce implementation that, honestly, sounds like it's been mismanaged. I'm sure there is more going on than just what I heard from those folk in side conversations throughout the day.