Over the past decade, Salesforce has been using two separate brands/legal entities to manage their philanthropic efforts: Salesforce Foundation (501c3) and Salesforce.org (501c4). These two organizations are now rebranded and will exist as Salesforce.org, a brand that more accurately describes their long-term goals: a nonprofit, social enterprise dedicated to Salesforce’s technology, people, and resources improving communities around the world.
Salesforce.org, like many foundations, delivers grants to nonprofit organizations and worthy causes. Additionally, they develop and deliver world-class technology solutions that empower nonprofits and educational institutions while delivering services that help those customers continue to innovate and flourish.
“We wanted to let you know that today, we are taking a natural next step in our evolution as a leader and innovator in corporate philanthropy by unifying all of Salesforce’s philanthropic activities under one brand: Salesforce.org.
Salesforce’s philanthropic mission remains the same—to deliver the world’s best and most innovative philanthropy through the 1-1-1 model. Salesforce.org, a nonprofit social enterprise, will continue to leverage Salesforce’s technology, employees and resources to improve the communities in which we live and work. Salesforce.org will continue to grow and scale, and as a result, fund more grants and philanthropic activities than ever before.There will be no impact to your account or contacts as part of this change. However, you will see us phase out the Salesforce Foundation brand as we move everything to Salesforce.org.”
Suzanne DiBianca, President of Salesforce.org
Why the change?
Over the last few years, we have seen tremendous growth in the impact created by Salesforce.org. Their grants, customers, and volunteers’ hours have nearly doubled. In addition, Salesforce.org’s 990s on Guidestar suggest substantial growth in revenue from ~$13,000,000 in 2012 to ~$28,000,000 in 2014.
This accelerated income generation required a change in Salesforce.org’s legal structure from a 501c4 to a tax-paying social welfare organization. The Salesforce Foundation will remain a 501c3 and continue to exist solely for disaster relief efforts.
How do I explain the growth?
I believe there are three main reasons for this rapid growth:
- I have been with the Salesforce ecosystem for more than 10 years. It took all of the amazing organizations on the platform time to mature. Over the last few years, we have seen numerous great success stories and use cases. The successes of these organizations in raising more funds, collaborating more effectively and communicating more efficiently with their constituents, along with their abilities to provide better services to their communities with the Salesforce platform has now been proven! As a result, more and more organizations are adopting the technology. We have seen tremendous growth and I strongly believe that we are only now approaching the tipping point.
- While implementing Marc Benioff’s vision of integrated philanthropy, Suzanne DiBianca, the President of Salesforce.org, has created a strong, disciplined leadership team led by Rob Acker, Salesforce.org’s CEO. Rob’s business acumen is a key driver to increasing the generated revenue.
- The Salesforce.org partner community has matured and helped Salesforce.org reach more nonprofits and educational institutions. As I wrote in a blog post a few weeks ago, according to a new study compiled by IDC, the partner ecosystem generates 2.8 times the revenue of Salesforce itself and is expected to grow 3.7 times as large as Salesforce in the coming years. As a Salesforce.org partner, Cloud for Good has reported 715% growth in revenue over the last 3 years and more than quadrupled the size of our consulting practice during the same period. It truly is an exciting time to be a part of the Salesforce world!
How will it influence your nonprofit?
The new structure will allow Salesforce.org to focus on maximizing their impact at an accelerated pace. Salesforce.org will continue to grow and scale to meet future demands, funding more grants and philanthropic activities than previously possible operating as two separate entities.
There will be no impact to accounts or contacts as part of this change as all the Master Service Agreements (MSAs) and other Agreements are already signed under the Salesforce.org legal entity. The new unified brand applies to Salesforce.org customers all over the world, excluding APAC which will be joining the brand in the next fiscal year.
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