Helping Your Nonprofit Navigate the Rapids of Technology
Salesforce Resources for Your Nonprofit
The Power Of Us Hub:
This is the nonprofit specific community. Only nonprofits and approved partners are allowed in this space so you know you are interacting with people who understand what you do. Many applications that focus on nonprofits also have groups in the Hub where you can ask application specific questions. This is the most important resource at your disposal. We highly recommend that you join the Hub and get involved. We’ll highlight a few groups you can get started with below. You can use your normal Salesforce login credentials to login. (Only nonprofit credentials will work.)
- About the Hub
- Nonprofit Success Pack – the best place to ask NPSP questions
- AppExchange – share cool app exchange apps and ask for recommendations
- Amplify – The nonprofit sister of Women in Tech
- System Administrators – Share tips with other administrators
- Nonprofit Success Pack – Beta Testing – Learn about upcoming features, report bugs, engage with others in the community that are testing improvements to the starter pack. Also a great resource for those converting to NPSP3.
Salesforce Community:
Just like the Power of Us Hub above, Salesforce has a community where their customers can interact with each other and with Salesforce employees and share knowledge. This is a valuable place to network and to learn. Join groups that meet your interests, follow MVPs and other Salesforce thought leaders. Engage your specific community. We’ll highlight a few of our favorite groups below. Here’s a video about communities and how to set up your profile. You can use your normal Salesforce login credentials to login.
- Women in Tech – What began as a Dreamforce Happy Hour for women to network has branched into chapters all over the country. These groups are usually more informal than user groups an focus more on mentorship and support. We recommend that you join the main “Women in Tech” group in the Community and also look for a Chapter in your area. Don’t see a Chapter in your area? Perhaps consider starting one. Ask how in the Women in Tech Leadership group.
- Salesforce Certification Study Group – Join a session and study with a group in your time zone for 14 weeks to prepare for your exam. Collaborate and succeed together!
- Salesforce User Groups – With more than 200 user groups and growing, you are likely to find a group near you. Many cities have a regular User Group and a Nonprofit User Group. These groups are community led and meet several times a year. They are a great place for networking and for meeting other people in your area. We strongly recommend attending your local user group.
- Admin Tricks – a great group for ideas about potential apps and for tips and tricks an admin might find handy.
Salesforce.org:
- Events and Webinars – Make sure you get on the newsletter list for upcoming webinars. These webinars will always be nonprofit focused and relevant to your needs. Especially keep an eye out for new release webinars.
- Weekly Office Hours – new users can get help here each week
- Salesforce.org Youtube Channel – great How-To videos and recordings of past webinars
- NPSP3 Documentation
- NPSP3 Workbook
General Salesforce Resources:
- Trust.Salesforce.com – Is Salesforce down right now? Is there maintenance in my region? Get up to date status information here.
- Help & Training – from within your Salesforce org, you can click on Help & Training to access articles and information that may help you troubleshoot a problem. You can also open a ticket with Salesforce support by clicking “Contact Support” and then “Open a Case”.
- Salesforce Release Information – Salesforce releases updates three times a year to the overall platform. They give administrators time to learn about what’s coming in the release and to prepare for new features. We recommend that all administrators at least sign up for the Salesforce.org Release Webinars. It’s also recommended that you check out the release notes and other valuable resources here. You can bookmark this page and it will update with each release.
- Salesforce Ideas – the Salesforce Community’s customer engagement area. Have you ever been frustrated that Salesforce doesn’t have a particular feature and wish it did? They take your feedback into account when designing future improvements to the platform. Submit your own Idea or vote other ideas up or down and help make Salesforce better.
- Salesforce Answers – the general Salesforce Community’s Question & Answer Area – Use this to ask questions that are not nonprofit related and/or to search for existing answers. We often find great examples of formulas and other tips and tricks here. It’s not the best place to ask Nonprofit Starter Pack questions as the Salesforce community as a whole is mostly not familiar with the platform.
- Salesforce Administrator Exam Information – Interest in getting your Salesforce Administrator Certification? Learn more and find a study guide to get started here. Don’t forget, there are study groups in the Community to help you meet your goals!
Additional Third Party Resources:
- Button Click Admins – This blog turned podcast is incredibly useful for new admins, nonprofit or not. They also have an active group in the community if you search for their group
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ForcifyMe – This is a free site (registration is required) with access to wonderful training videos for nonprofits. One word of caution – the site is not updated for NPSP3, so some videos may be out of date.