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Salesforce Has a New Vision for Nonprofit Cloud, What Does This Mean for Your Organization?

Cloud for Good 2023 blog titled Salesforce Has a New Vision for Nonprofit Cloud, What Does This Mean for Your Organization?

Salesforce has announced a new version, and a new vision, for Nonprofit Cloud.  Through partnerships with organizations across the nonprofit sector and partners like Cloud for Good, Salesforce has created a refreshed solution that helps nonprofits deliver better programs and services through programs and case management, grant-making, engaging with stakeholders, and measuring impact.  By grouping and expanding existing industry solutions and grouping them into nonprofit targeted functionality, Salesforce’s new vision for Nonprofit Cloud (just like the new Education Cloud announcement) promises to create innovation through consolidation with the core Salesforce platform.

This new model provides industry-targeted solutions specifically for nonprofits that can be added to your Salesforce org as they are made available with no additional package installs.  It also means that the nonprofit group within Salesforce isn’t working in a silo and developing their own version of something that already exists within the industry cloud suite of products, opening up greater possibilities for innovation on the Salesforce platform.

OmniStudio Opens up New Opportunities

One particular innovation, related to the no-code-driven, digital automation tool known as OmniStudio, has the Cloud for Good team particularly excited.  As a close partner to Salesforce, Cloud for Good received early access to the new features and was able to certify many of our consultants on this technology already.  A new business rules engine, FlexCards, and updated types of data processing are poised to open additional pathways for automation and user interface previously unavailable to nonprofits.  With this new version of Nonprofit Cloud, a greater level of control over individual Salesforce orgs is achieved, allowing organizations the tools needed to tailor Salesforce to the exact needs and processes of each respective nonprofit.

This also provides a better experience for the end users.  Better yet, advancements made in the latest version of Nonprofit Cloud are designed with admin-level users in mind, ensuring accessibility and achievable impact right out of the box for most users.

A New Form of Case + Program Management

Taking a deeper look into the technology, the new Case + Program Management solution within Nonprofit Cloud represents an architectural shift for Salesforce.  This shift allows for a more sophisticated tracking of relationships related to individuals with not only their household but also with professional connections, family members, and several other relationships.

As a result, Nonprofit Cloud leverages more core functionality around how standard objects of accounts and contacts relate to each other.  The way in which the new Nonprofit Cloud now pulls from components of Salesforce’s core technology and industries such as the Health and Public Sector, to specifically benefit the nonprofit industry means there is now more space to target innovation and build off a stable foundation.

Key features of the new Nonprofit Cloud Case Management solution include Care Plans, Dynamic assessments, Inbound referrals and intake, Interaction summaries (or Notes tracking), Case Tracking, Participant Profiles, and Complaints.

Care Plans & Dynamic Assessments

New Care Plans help to save time and improve consistency through reliable templates and personalization features designed with unique client needs in mind.  These plans will assist in the tracking of client goals and the assigning of benefits and tasks that help clients work towards those goals.  The new templates now available make it faster and more consistent to create Care plans and plans can now be linked to Benefits.

Dynamic Assessments assist users in gathering and recording information about clients through a guided workflow that also uploads supporting files.  The questions found in these new assessment forms update dynamically based on answers to previous questions within the forms.  Users can upload files within the context of the assessment and track via a checklist all the required assessments for a given client via new action plan checklists.  A timeline view will help keep all members of a case team on the same page.

Intake Improvements

Improvements to the intake process connect back to the exciting updates related to OmniStudio.  Salesforce has built an OmniStudio flow that allows for customization and also helps with the initial setup of intaking new people into the process.  This, again, simplifies the user experience to make updates and input the data needed to create new program participants or track cases.  The intake process has adopted a much more wizard-like approach that walks users through processes.  Clients will receive the right support quickly through guided flows from referral to intake to enrollment.  Key jobs supported through these enhancements include the tracking of inbound referrals, improved navigation through the intake process, and completion of necessary assessments as well as setting up eligibility criteria to evaluate intake.

Program Management is greatly enhanced through these advancements.  Previously, adding new participants to programs required upwards of seven separate steps when factoring in creating new contacts, program enrollments, associations, etc.  Now, users simply enter the necessary data once and the intelligent solution distributes the information everywhere it needs to be.  This is a huge benefit of this new functionality.  Greater customization and more intuitive user experiences are one of the overarching goals of these improvements so that nonprofits can be freed up to spend time and resources on what will derive the greatest impact.

New Case Manager Notes

The new model of case notes within the refreshed Nonprofit Cloud is much more robust, detailed, and customizable, and includes greater tracking abilities.  Users can now grant access to notes based on access to the parent record and create richer notes using a larger note-taking canvas capable of displaying rich text formatting.  Case manager notes are much easier to use and navigate than the previous iteration, which will ultimately allow nonprofits to streamline internal processes and provide better services for clients.

Case tracking has also been improved to ensure the right users have access to the right information to keep clients on track.  Users can create a case spanning one or more programs, assign multiple case participants, and assign case teams of service providers to support clients.  Permissions are now more easily assigned using Case Teams and case can relate to more participants than just the individual.

All in all, Salesforce’s new Nonprofit Cloud vision and solutions provide a single offering that is built directly into the Salesforce platform.  This allows for greater unification across programs, fundraising, engagement, and outcomes while paving the way for quicker access to innovation through streamlined processes and automation.

Salesforce has rolled out Nonprofit Cloud’s Case + Program Management functionality first, but updates to outcomes, engagement, and grant management are all planned for release later this year.

Follow Cloud for Good for more information as updates roll out and contact us today to explore how these new innovations can help drive impact at your organization.

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