There are a lot of reasons why I think that Salesforce is not a great CRM for most Not for Profits (NFPs).
Some may think that’s a contradictory statement when I’m actually supporting a Salesforce implementation for a large charity right now. However, I have good reasons to say this.
Just the other day, an employee in a small, members-based Not for Profit reached out to me for some advice.
“I’ve been doing some research, and I think that Salesforce can meet our requirements,” she told me.
“I think it’s a terrible idea,” I replied without hesitation.
I went on to explain my reasonings to her, which I’ll share here with you now.
Why Salesforce is not a great CRM for most Not for Profits
Salesforce offers 10 free licenses for its Sales or Service Cloud to Not for Profits. And for this reason, many organisations will consider them as an option. However, free licenses do not mean it’s a free CRM for several reasons.
- Add-on licenses are expensive. If your team requires more than 10 licenses or you decide to take advantage of other Salesforce products, your annual licensing costs will grow quickly.
- It requires ongoing maintenance and support. Few Not for Profits have internal system administrators or an IT department. Because Salesforce requires constant “tweaking” to meet your needs, it’s not unusual for support costs to quickly exceed the licensing costs of other CRMs.
- Salesforce resources are expensive. Because of this, most Not for Profits will need to find someone internally that is willing to be certified as an administrator if they can’t afford external support. This requires the right person with an interest and natural inclination towards understanding data structures and the functions of a CRM. Furthermore, because their role is changing, who does their old job if they no longer have the full capacity?
- It’s too flexible for your needs. Salesforce is an incredibly flexible CRM that can be configured to do just about anything, which is often part of the problem. Some NFPs will hire an implementation partner to design it initially. However, as time passes, the configuration changes (sometimes conflicting) can break the system because rarely does anyone document and fully manage these changes.
- Salesforce can’t do everything (at least not without significant costs). Be aware that you’ll still need to add integrations with your other systems like your website, Finance system, payment gateways, events management, LMS, etc. This again adds more cost to both your implementation and ongoing support.
- There might already be a fit-for-purpose solution out there. These other systems often require less configuration and administration, reducing your implementation and ongoing support costs.
What Not for Profits should consider Salesforce?
In general, I believe that Salesforce is better out of the box for a fundraising-focused organisation rather than a membership-based organisation, at least in Australia. Implementation partners in other countries have created configuration “templates” for other types of Not for Profits, but they’re not as readily available here.
As such, I’d recommend Salesforce as an option for a larger-size organisation that either has complex fundraising requirements and/or case management needs. Many of these bigger implementations could cost close to $1 million or more once you consider project management, internal resources and your first year of licensing. So, don’t underestimate the costs involved.
You still may ask… “But, Tammy – what about the small orgs like Roundabout Canberra who use Salesforce well?”
I would answer… Roundabout Canberra has been very successful with Salesforce because they had a lot of help. First, they largely adopted a proven Salesforce design of a sister organisation which reduced both cost and risk.
They also have a very committed staff member who has taken on the administrator role by spending significant training time with their implementation partner, Blaze Your Trail (learn about their organisational links in the podcast) and Salesforce’s Trailhead. Their CEO is also undertaking training.
Still, Roundabout Canberra truly is an exception. In the last year, I’ve advised several smaller Not for Profits who are using Salesforce now that they either need a major redesign of their current system or a new CRM altogether.
Replacing or establishing a CRM are not small investments. So, before you jump on the Salesforce bandwagon, make sure you truly understand the complexities and potential costs of this CRM.
For as I wrote before… free licenses do not mean that Salesforce is a free CRM.
I regularly help Not for Profits select a CRM. Let me know if you need some help.
P.S. If you found this article helpful, you might want to read this one too:
Tammy Ven Dange is a former charity CEO, Association President, Not for Profit Board Member and IT Executive. Today she helps NFPs with strategic IT decisions, especially around investments.