In Chapter 9, Installing Nonprofit Cloud Solutions, we installed NPSP and did the required configurations for everything except the fundraising features.
Why did we do so? We did this because fundraising is at the very heart of NPSP. There are many ways to configure NPSP, as can be seen from the variety of use cases we have already discussed. Although we may not cover every configuration in detail, in this chapter, we will walk through the configurations of the most common use cases.
By the end of this chapter, we will have the following knowledge base:
As we work through each of these areas, it is a good practice to remember how vitally important it is to truly understand the organization and what its goals are as regards the Nonprofit Cloud implementation. In Chapter 9, Installing Nonprofit Cloud Solutions, we began with the installation of NPSP and the post-installation configuration. Here, in Chapter 10, Configuring Fundraising Features, we will complete the configuration of NPSP and discuss any use cases for the features that we are implementing.
Since you have already installed NPSP in Chapter 9, Installing Nonprofit Cloud Solutions, you will need to complete these additional configurations to adequately set up and test NPSP for your use cases. These steps are required before we can begin to refine what is required:
Note
Whether you are using a new instance or are installing NPSP in an already existing instance of Salesforce, check to make sure the post-installation configuration is done.
Once you are done with this, let's finish up the required configurations.
As a Salesforce administrator, you are already familiar with the standard object, Opportunity. In a Salesforce instance with NPSP, you should confirm that the following picklist values exist for opportunities based on the use cases you will use.
Go to Setup > Object Manager > Opportunity > Fields & Relationships to edit or add new stages as per the recommended stages list in the following table:
These are the suggested stages for opportunities when using NPSP. Additional stages may be required depending on specific use cases.
NPSP has four different sales processes that come as part of the standard package:
You need to confirm that they are available in your Salesforce instance by going to Setup > Sales Processes, as shown in Figure 10.2:
Each sales process may use a specific set of opportunity stages based on the business process the organization has shared. The recommended settings are listed here:
Additional sales processes may exist in the Salesforce instance for reasons outside of NPSP, while additional sales processes may be added to NPSP if the business processes are required.
NPSP also comes with six different opportunity record types as part of the standard package. Check to confirm that each of the six record types exists in the Salesforce instance by going to Setup > Object Manager > Opportunity > Record Type:
For each record type, you can create unique page layouts, picklist values, and business processes and enable those record types as the default for users of various profiles in Salesforce. There may be additional opportunity record types in the Salesforce instance, particularly if it has been in use for some time.
Note
This is an excellent reason to create a sandbox in an existing Salesforce instance. Some Opportunity record types may be duplicates in what they accomplish. Also, be aware of the Opportunity record type that is set as the default for existing users.
Confirm that the New button on the opportunity-related list is working as expected by following these configuration steps:
Once you have updated or confirmed these configurations, click OK.
You need to confirm that the following button lists exist on the Contact record:
There may be additional buttons on the page layout. The buttons listed here are the ones that are necessary for the fundraising feature configuration:
If these buttons do not exist in the Salesforce instance, you may need to create Quick Actions for each Opportunity record type and add these buttons to the Contact record.
Opportunity Contact Roles are used to connect Opportunities and Contacts. Although you can create whatever is appropriate for the nonprofit, the most commonly used roles are as follows:
To add, edit, or deactivate any Contact Roles, go to Setup > Feature Settings > Sales > Contact Roles on Opportunities.
There are two helpful workflow rules in NPSP that are inactive by default when NPSP is installed. The workflow rules are as follows:
To enable these workflow rules, go to Setup > Process Automation > Workflow Rules. Activate these two workflow rules. These two automations streamline the work done in fundraising and conclude the required configurations. Next, we begin the recommended configurations.
Now that the required and standard configurations for NPSP fundraising features are complete, the next step is to apply the recommended configurations. Applying some of these configurations will depend on the nonprofit's use case. Let's get started and look at what can be configured.
One of the most helpful configurations is the list view. Salesforce comes with default list views already created. For Nonprofit Cloud users, the following list views are recommended for Accounts and Opportunity:
The table shows the recommended name of the list view, the record type to be used as a filter (if applicable), and the fields to be included in the list view.
The All-Accounts list view does not require a filter. For the rest of the list views, select record type as the field, equals as the operator, and appropriate record type name as the value.
Your helpful list views should now be configured appropriately. Don't forget that you can pin the single most used list view so that the page automatically opens on that list view. Let's continue to Compact Layouts. List views that are filtered by one record type make inline editing available for many fields.
Already in this chapter and in Chapter 9, Installing Nonprofit Cloud Solutions, page layouts have had some updates. NPSP also adds new Compact Layouts to the Salesforce instance. Some of the Compact Layouts installed by NPSP are as follows:
These can be used as they are installed, or you can clone them to create more customized versions that work better for the use case.
As of the time of publication of this book, NPSP offers 20 different features that can be configured for specific use cases. The features are listed here. We are going to look at the most common features used in fundraising:
Of these features, the most commonly used are as follows:
Let's address configuring each of these in the next section.
In Chapter 2, What Is NPSP?, we discussed soft credits to track a donor's influence on donations that are made to the nonprofit. We outlined a situation where Diana, a board member with a nonprofit, donates to the nonprofit. Her employer matches her donation. For the donation from the employer, Diana should receive soft credit for that donation. So how do we configure NPSP to make that happen? Let's see.
Firstly, we need to confirm that the Advanced Mapping for Data Import and Gift Entry system tools are enabled.
With these tools enabled, there are several steps yet to confirm:
Other available configurations include the following:
Determine which of these will be needed using the tools for discovery as discussed in Chapter 8, Requirements - User Stories – Business Processes – What Is Your Organization Trying to Achieve?. Resources for additional configurations are listed at the end of this chapter.
Remember
A best practice is to only reveal what is needed. Less complexity aids in easy user adoption. Additional features can be configured as demand requires.
Another important feature that will automate manual processes is the ability to define General Accounting Units (GAUs) that correlate to a nonprofit's chart of accounts. Donations are then assigned and tracked based on the allocation. The objects involved in donation allocations are as follows:
There are several steps involved in confirming configurations for donation allocations:
Let's now see the steps to automate allocations:
With this configuration, all incoming donations are automatically allocated to General Fund. Rollups for Allocations in NPSP are pre-defined. If you choose to customize allocation rollups, you can exclude specific Opportunity record types using filters and set day values or fiscal years. These settings are available to edit in NPSP Settings > Donations > Customizable Rollups.
Gift Entry is an important tool for facilitating the entry of donations in Salesforce and maintaining consistent data integrity. By default, Gift Entry is disabled in NPSP.
To enable Gift Entry, you can follow these four steps:
Confirm that the users have the Gift Entry Recommended permission set assigned so they can access the appropriate tools. There is an extensive list of standard permissions that should be confirmed for the Gift Entry Recommended permission set; see the Resources and additional reading section at the end of this chapter. Additional permissions may be granted based on the nonprofit's specific use cases.
In the Gift Entry tab, you can update the list view for Batches. You can also edit or create a new template for Gift Entry, which is specifically based on the nonprofit's business processes.
Advanced options for configuration include adjusting Gift Entry and advanced mapping so that a contact's address field is autopopulated in the Gift Entry form. Advanced options are documented in the Resources section for Configure Gift Entry.
Recurring donations are what every nonprofit hopes for – donors who pledge to give over and over on a recurring basis. NPSP needs to be configured to accept and track those recurring gifts. Because recurring donations are so important, NPSP introduced Enhanced Recurring Donations in March 2021. To configure the ability to track gifts that donors have pledged (monthly, quarterly, yearly, and even custom schedules), the Recurring Donation and Opportunity objects are used.
The Recurring Donation object is where the donation schedules and amounts are set; this object also related the donor to the donation. The Opportunity object tracks each installment paid per the schedule and amount set in the Recurring Donation field.
To configure Recurring Donations, review the settings in NPSP Settings > Recurring Donations > Recurring Donations.
The settings are editable based on the nonprofit's business processes; however, NPSP does provide default settings. You will also need to confirm that Recurring Donations users have the appropriate object, field, and Apex class permissions, specifically for the Recurring Donations and Opportunities objects. There is no default Recurring Donation permission set installed; you may want to create your own based on the detailed information supplied in the Resources section of this chapter.
You also need to confirm that the Active Schedules and Upcoming Installments components are visible on the Recurring Donations lightning record pages.
Recurring Donations is a simple way to visualize these vital gifts as well as project future income based on pledged funds.
In this chapter, we have gone much deeper into the actual setup and configuration of the fundraising features of NPSP. The commonly used features include applying soft credits, donation allocations, gift entry, and recurring donations. We have outlined how to enable and configure each of those fundraising features in general.
There are additional, more self-explanatory, configurable settings in the NPSP settings based on the nonprofit's use cases and business processes. There are also additional configurations documented for less-used features. In Chapter 12, Declarative Tools and Modules, we will take a deeper dive into Customizable Rollups and Matching Gifts that we touched on in this chapter. And then, in Chapter 13, To Customize or Not to Customize, we will learn the advanced configuration of Table-Driven Trigger Management (TDTM) and its use cases.
Before we start more advanced studies, let's finish configuring the standard PMM, case management, and V4S applications, and address data management and security in Chapter 11, Configuring Additional Features and Security.
Sales Process |
Recommended Opportunity Stages |
Donation |
Pledged, Closed Won, Declined, Closed Lost |
Grant |
Prospecting, LOI Submitted, Application Submitted, Awarded, Withdrawn, Declined |
In-Kind Gift |
Prospecting, In-Kind Not Yet Received, In-Kind Received, Withdrawn |
Major Gift |
Identification, Qualification, Cultivation, Solicitation, Proposal/Review, Verbal Commitment, Awarded, Closed Won, Withdrawn, Declined |
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