Understanding the Fundraising Data Model in Nonprofit Cloud: How It Compares to NPSP

In the nonprofit sector, effective donor management and streamlined fundraising processes are critical to sustaining your organization’s mission. 

Salesforce’s Nonprofit Cloud provides a powerful, purpose-built ecosystem to help manage donations, donor engagement, and campaigns at scale. One key differentiator between Nonprofit Cloud and the Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP) is the underlying fundraising data model, built exclusively for Nonprofit Cloud.

In this post, we’ll explore the dedicated fundraising data model within Nonprofit Cloud, highlight its key objects, and contrast it with the more general-purpose data model found in the NPSP. We’ll also provide insights into how Nonprofit Cloud’s approach can give your organization greater flexibility, efficiency, and long-term scalability.

Nonprofit Cloud vs. NPSP: A Data Model Comparison

The NPSP data model is well-known for its customizable, out-of-the-box approach to nonprofit data management. It leverages standard Salesforce objects - like Opportunities, Contacts, and Campaigns - and layers on nonprofit-centric functionality via custom code and configurations. While this works well for many nonprofits, it may require additional customizations as fundraising strategies evolve.

Nonprofit Cloud, on the other hand, is designed with a dedicated, purpose-built fundraising data model. It introduces fundraising-specific objects tailored to nonprofit use cases from the start. This approach creates a more direct, efficient, and scalable way to manage donors, gifts, commitments, and campaigns without excessive customization. The result is a cleaner, more maintainable data structure that better aligns with complex fundraising workflows.

Key Objects in the Nonprofit Cloud Fundraising Data Model

Although the full data model includes many objects, it can be conceptually divided into two main scopes.

Account as a Donor

In Nonprofit Cloud’s fundraising data model, the Account object (yes, right, that well-known native object with enabled Person Accounts) represents the donor entity (an individual, household, foundation, or corporate sponsor). All related giving - such as gifts, commitments, and payment schedules - links back to this donor record. Think of the Account as your central hub for donor management.

Campaign as an Outreach Source

The Campaign object (again that well-known native object) stands as the core outreach component. Campaigns are where your marketing efforts, fundraising appeals, and cultivation activities are recorded. The Campaign object links to gifts and donors, allowing you to track which campaigns drive the most successful fundraising outcomes.

And three primary objects form the backbone of the Nonprofit Cloud’s fundraising functionality.

Gift Commitment

This object represents a donor’s pledge or commitment to give a certain amount over time. Instead of just logging a single transaction, you can map out future giving schedules and understand long-term revenue projections.

Gift Entry

This object facilitates the efficient recording of new gifts. With a dedicated Gift Entry interface, data entry staff can quickly log checks, online donations, and other forms of contributions, ensuring a smooth intake process with fewer data quality errors.

Gift Transaction

The Gift Transaction object records the actual transactions tied to a commitment or standalone gift. It captures the details of each installment or gift payment, creating a clear audit trail and enabling accurate financial reconciliation.

Supplementary objects support these core elements, ensuring a holistic view of your nonprofit’s fundraising data:
  • Gift Designation
  • Gift Tribute
  • Gift Soft Credit
  • Gift Batch
  • Gift Commitment Schedule
  • etc.

Visualizing the Fundraising Data Model

As for December 2024, the simplified view of the fundraising functionality for Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud can be presented as on the scheme.
Entity Relationship Diagram for fundraising functionality at NPC SF
  • Yellow boxes - key objects
  • Parallelograms - key standard objects - Account (incl. personal) & Campaign
  • Dark red connections - master-detail relationship

Benefits of a Dedicated Fundraising Data Model

Reduced Complexity

Instead of adapting standard Salesforce objects to represent complex donor relationships, the Nonprofit Cloud model is designed for nonprofits from the ground up. This reduces the need for extensive custom fields, record types, and workflows.

Easier Maintenance

With fewer customizations, your organization spends less time maintaining code and workflows. As Salesforce updates the Nonprofit Cloud platform, your data model naturally evolves to incorporate best practices in fundraising CRM.

Scalability for Growth

As your donor base grows and your fundraising strategies become more nuanced, a dedicated data model can handle increased complexity without overhauling the system. You can add new campaigns, donor segments, or gift types without structural complications.

Better Analytics & Forecasting

Data recorded in specialized objects aligns closely with nonprofit reporting needs. You can more easily forecast revenue, track donor lifecycles, and measure campaign performance with prebuilt reports and dashboards tailored for nonprofits.

Conclusion

Transitioning to Nonprofit Cloud’s dedicated fundraising data model offers numerous benefits: it simplifies donor management, automates gift processing, and provides more robust reporting and forecasting capabilities compared to the NPSP. By embracing a purpose-built data model, your nonprofit can enhance operational efficiency, reduce complexity, and ultimately focus more time and resources on advancing your mission.

For organizations considering a move from NPSP or looking to build a scalable, donor-focused CRM for nonprofits, Nonprofit Cloud’s fundraising data model presents an exciting opportunity to streamline workflows and improve long-term sustainability.

Additional Resource Links

  • Manage Fundraising with Nonprofit Cloud trail.
  • The official relationship diagram for Nonprofit Cloud can be found here.
  • The entity relationship diagram for NPSP can be found here.

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