Here recently, I have been having a lot of engagement with nonprofit organizations in the human services industry. All of whom are doing amazing work but behind the scenes it’s operational chaos. They have a google form here, an excel spreadsheet there, lots of back-and-forth emails, and way too much paperwork. My goal is to help them see there's a more efficient way to operate. INSERT Salesforce. But here is the caveat, some of them have not heard of Salesforce while others have but don’t really understand how this platform can help their organization.
I have used all the buzzwords:
- Streamlined Business Process
- Eliminating Data Silos
- Seamless Customer Experience
Yada Yada Yada
Really, what the hell does all that mean, and how can it help their organization?
So in effort to break this down into bit sized pieces that everyone can understand we broke Salesforce up into 4 concepts:
Intake
Pipeline
Fulfillment
Reporting
Here, I’ll use our nonprofit, the Meant2BFree Foundation (M2BF), as an example:
Intake
To market M2BF, we attend community events. At these events, people sign up through a short form on our website, indicating the program they are interested in. Instead of this data coming to my email, that I ONLY have access to, it goes to Salesforce where it is accessible to our internal staff. The process is the same regardless if we are at an event or posting on social media, we are funneling people to our website to sign up to participate in our program.
Pipeline
Alright, they are in so now what!? Let’s say for example, Noah Johnson completed the form on our website and he is interested in the Trade Program. His details are sent to our team, who then give him a call to confirm his interest. Before he can participate in our program we need a background check and he must complete a pre-program assessment. All of this is completed inside of Salesforce to help us stay organized in one central location.
Fulfillment
Fulfillment is where we deliver our program to Noah. He’ll go through five sessions, and during these, his mentors will keep track of how he’s doing—like if he’s asking good questions, getting involved, and improving his skills over time. At the end, both Noah and his mentors will complete an assessment to share their thoughts on their experience. This detailed tracking inside of Salesforce helps us put together a clear picture of how the program has worked from start to finish enabling us to create reports that effectively tells a story.
Reporting
Sharing this story will help us secure more funding and create new partnerships. Salesforce's native reporting tools offer insights into our leads (Intake), identify roadblocks (Pipeline), monitor program delivery (Fulfillment), and consolidate all data to provide a 360-degree view of our organization (Reporting).
Salesforce empowers nonprofits to tailor the platform to their specific needs, making it an invaluable tool and a worthwhile investment. To learn more about how Salesforce can support your nonprofit's mission and how you can get 10 free licenses, explore this informative resource . Alternatively, add some time on my calendar to learn how we can help your organization grow with Salesforce.
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