When we talk about the NPSP, what do we mean? It’s a common acronym in the Dictionary of Salesforce, but is it so common outside of that context? We’re not sure it is. That’s why we’re here today to tell you exactly what is meant when we refer to your organization’s NPSP, or Nonprofit Starter Pack.
Salesforce designed the NPSP knowing that its most common features were useful to nonprofits, but maybe needed a little bit of tweaking to be considered efficient and effective. Working on top of the Salesforce Enterprise Edition, the Nonprofit Starter Pack helps organizations manage donors, donor memberships and affiliations. It also allows for the creation of Household accounts and household giving, and incorporates recurring payments and gifts.
We talk a lot about Households when we work with clients because it is such a significant feature for nonprofit Salesforce instances. With this feature, your organization can keep track of who is related to whom, the relationships between spouses and children, and the total amount of donations given from a specific household.
What’s neat is that whenever you update a household account, whether by adding a family member, changing a name or phone number, etc. the household updates itself with the appropriate information. For instance, if you have John Smith in your instance, he would likely show up as a member of the John Smith Family. But, let’s say John’s wife, Mary, recently made a donation in her own name, and you want to record that, too, but you want to make sure that everything the Smith family does shows up in the same record view. When you add Mary Smith to the household, Salesforce will autofill to change the account to the John and Mary Smith Family. It’s so cool! It will also update the Formal and Informal Greetings – think, Dear Mr. and Mrs. Smith versus Dear John and Mary. BUT, don’t forget to hit ‘Save!’
This is just one of the really awesome things that the NPSP does, and there is so much more to cover. However, a blog post only allows for so much. If you’re curious about more of the NPSP’s nifty tricks, check out this video by the Salesforce Foundation.
Other useful things you can do with the Nonprofit Starter Pack include giving hard and soft credit for donations, effectively managing your organization’s volunteers, and creating a 360 degree view of your donors.
Overall, the NPSP is an amazingly effective tool for nonprofits, no matter what their size or mission. In addition to all of the great native features available, there are tons of applications built specifically for the NPSP available in the AppExchange.
And then there’s us. At 501Partners, we are nonprofit experts and Nonprofit Starter Pack Experts. If you’re thinking that the NPSP looks like a great tool for your organization, give us a call or shoot us an email. We’re here to help you make the most of Salesforce so that you can spend less time dealing with technology and more time changing the world.
