What’s New (and What’s Not) in Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud
- Erin Wright
- Apr 22
- 13 min read
A breakdown of what’s changed from NPSP (Nonprofit Success Pack) — and what that means for your organization.
Let’s be honest: reading product documentation isn’t exactly fun. And even after a few reads, it’s not always clear what it actually means for you. So we thought we’d make it easier.
We’re breaking down what’s new in Salesforce’s Nonprofit Cloud — how it’s different from NPSP (Nonprofit Success Pack) and what those changes really mean for organizations thinking about migrating.
We’ll walk through:
Key differences (like person accounts and program management)
What to expect if you’re migrating from NPSP
When it is — and isn’t — the right time to switch
This article just scratches the surface — Nonprofit Cloud includes far more functionality than what we’ve covered here. But if you’re trying to get oriented, this guide will give you a head start.
Want to fast forward to a particular area?
Digging Into the Details
The Account Model
TL;DR: Person Accounts are back — and now the recommended model. Grouping and relationship tools are more flexible, but they take some getting used to.
Let’s be honest — this one takes some getting used to. Especially if you’ve already been through a few rounds of account model changes.
Maybe you started out using Person Accounts, then switched to the NPSP Household Account model (and were finally loving it)... and now you’re being told to go back to Person Accounts? Yeah, that stings. You’re not wrong for feeling that way.
But there’s real value in making the switch — Person Accounts (the recommended data model) are better aligned with the rest of the platform and where it is headed.
Affiliations + Relationships
Just like NPSP, you can track how people and organizations are connected.
Instead of Affiliations, you now use Account-Contact Relationships
Instead of Relationships, you use Contact-Contact Relationships
One thing to note: Reciprocals aren’t automatic in Contact-Contact Relationships. So if you add someone as a parent-child, they won’t automatically show up as the other person’s child-parent — unless you build a quick flow or formula to handle it.
Account Hierarchies + Connections
Want to show how organizations relate to one another beyond the typical parent-child hierarchy? You can use Account-Account Relationships.
Great for mapping things like:
University divisions (e.g., School of Social Work or Public Health connected to the broader University)
Partner networks or coalitions
Local chapters tied to a national organization
The visibility this gives you — into how different parts of an organization (or different organizations altogether) are connected — is a big win. It’s the kind of insight that would’ve required custom work or creative workarounds in NPSP.
Households and Groups
What if you want to show who lives at the same address? Or group people into a volunteer team, support circle, or book club?
Nonprofit Cloud does not use the NPSP Household Account model, instead it uses Accounts and Party Relationship Groups (PRGs) to manage these kinds of connections.
Here’s how it works:
Let’s say you’re creating the Smith Household. Using native automation, you create a new Group and specify that it’s a Household. You enter related details (like whether they live at the same address), add the members, how they’re related (to the household and to each other) — and a new Account is created for the Smith Household.
That Account is linked to a Party Relationship Group, which stores the details you entered: group type (e.g., household, club, committee), group income, shared address, and any other info you want to track.
Why we like it: You can create any kind of group your org works with — from households to religious groups to alumni networks — and clearly define how people connect to the group and to one another, all using the same objects and data model. It keeps things clean — and makes reporting easier.
Program Management
One of the biggest changes in Nonprofit Cloud is that Program Management is now native — meaning it comes built-in instead of needing custom objects and heavy configuration like it did in NPSP.
TL;DR: Programs and Benefits are now native, making it easier to track participation, services delivered, and cohort-based engagement — no heavy customization required.
Programs and Benefits are now part of the core data model, making it much easier to track the full lifecycle of a participant’s engagement. Programs help you track the high-level focus areas of your mission — like workforce development, housing assistance, or youth mentoring. You can connect individuals to the programs they’re enrolled in and track their participation over time — either individually or as part of a cohort.
Benefits capture the specific services delivered to each participant, such as meals provided, stipends paid, or bus passes distributed. There’s built-in flexibility to manage benefit delivery, with the ability to track both what’s been allotted (like 10 free meals) and what’s actually been disbursed so far (4 used).
There’s some built-in automation to help manage things like assigning benefits to participants. That said, it’s not all perfectly streamlined just yet.
For example, you can assign a benefit from the program or as part of a care plan (more on that in Case Management) — but not directly from the participant record (at least not natively). So depending on how your organization works, some of this may feel plug-and-play, while other parts might still need a bit of customization.
But overall? This is a huge step forward — especially for orgs looking to track service delivery, program outcomes, or participant support in a more structured way.
Fundraising
There’s a lot going on here — and a lot that’s different from NPSP.
TL;DR: Say goodbye to Opportunity/Payment. Fundraising now centers around Gift Transactions and Commitments, with built-in features for batching, soft credits, and donor gift summaries.
The biggest shift? Say goodbye to the old Opportunity/Payment model and the GAU / GAU Allocation setup. Fundraising in Nonprofit Cloud now centers around a new core object: the Gift Transaction.
Gift Transaction represents the payment — including details like due date, received date, amount, and payment method.
Gift Commitment captures the broader intent behind the gift — like a pledge or recurring donation. You get flexible tools to manage what’s been paid, what’s coming up, and the overall gift schedule. Not to mention the included functionality to upgrade, downgrade, pause, or cancel.
Opportunity finally gets to serve the role it was originally meant for: the ask, the solicitation — not the payment itself.
Other key fundraising functionality includes:
Gift Refund – No need to edit the original record to reflect a refund. The original gift stays intact, and full or partial refunds are recorded separately. Bonus: the system automatically updates the current amount on the gift, so your reporting stays clean.
Soft Credit – Much simpler than NPSP. There’s just one soft credit object now (no more split logic between individuals vs. organizations or full vs. partial). Add the soft credit contact or account, assign the amount or percent — and you’re done.
Tributes – A full workflow for tracking in honor/memorial gifts. Capture honoree info, manage notifications, and streamline the process without custom solutions.
Gift Designation – Track how a gift is allocated or restricted (e.g., to a specific fund, program, or initiative). You can even set a default designation on a Gift Commitment so future transactions apply it automatically — though you can override it as needed.
Campaign / Source Code Tracking – Easily connect each gift to its campaign or source code, whether you’re tracking broad campaigns or specific outreach efforts.
Gift Acknowledgements – You can generate PDF acknowledgments for individual gifts or batches, use document generation tools to create donor briefs, and even set up year-end summaries — all built-in.
Two things we’re especially excited about:
Gift Entry & Batching
NPSP’s Gift Entry got the job done, but Nonprofit Cloud offers more streamlined and flexible capabilities.
You can enter all gift details — transaction, soft credits, designation, etc. — and with one click, all the connected records are created. No need for extra automation or checklists to make sure it’s done right.
What’s better:
Gift Entry shows you open transactions for a donor on the screen. So you can tell if this is a new gift or part of an existing commitment — without flipping between pages.
Need custom info? You can map custom fields from Gift Entry to Account, Transaction, or Commitment objects.
One caveat: Some native fields don’t auto-map between Gift Entry and Transaction. Not ideal, but you can work around it by adding and mapping custom fields instead of building a full Flow to copy data. Hopefully this gets addressed in a future release.
Batch Entry uses the same Gift Entry setup, but lets you enter and process multiple gifts at once — perfect for entering a large batch of checks.
You can:
Test the batch before processing
Validate number of transactions and total amount
Make sure what you entered matches what you received (no hunting for a missing penny later)
Donor Gift Summaries
We’ll be honest — one of the best things about NPSP was the customizable rollups. Admin-friendly and powerful, but not always lightweight. With too many in play, things could slow down your system or get messy.
Nonprofit Cloud keeps the spirit of rollups alive, but shifts the execution to the Data Processing Engine — a much more powerful and scalable approach.
Here’s how it works:
It gathers relevant data, runs calculations, and writes to a summary record — no real-time triggers or automation needed.
You get a few out of the box, but the standout to us is the Donor Gift Summary — a rollup view of each donor’s giving history.
It’s easy to turn on: just activate the included Data Processing Job in Flow.
Records update automatically (daily or whatever frequency you choose), giving you fresh insights without the overhead.
Want more? You can extend the job with custom rollups or adjustments — without heavy dev work.
Case Management
Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud brings a powerful set of tools for organizations delivering individualized care and services — from human services to health-based programs and everything in between.
TL;DR: Fully native case tools — care plans, notes, referrals — make it easier to deliver and track individualized support in one system.
We won’t list every object or function (there are a lot), but here are a few highlights that show just how much is possible:
Care Plans & Templates – standardize and personalize support plans
Interaction Summaries + Participants – for tracking detailed case notes
Complaints – log and manage incidents or concerns
Referrals – inbound or outbound referrals between programs or providers
Care Barriers – document obstacles that may prevent participants from progressing
…plus many other supporting records working behind the scenes to make it all connect.
Care Plans
This is a huge win for any org focused on delivering personalized, structured care.
You can create Care Plan Templates to give your team a standardized starting point when working with participants — ensuring key steps and services aren’t missed.
Care plans are designed to track the information and resources your team uses to support participants, including:
Primary and milestone goals
Programs and benefits
Tasks, notes, and related services
Once assigned, plans can be customized at the individual level — so your team can add or remove elements based on what that participant actually needs. Maybe their goals shift, they’re eligible for additional support, or they’re progressing faster than expected — your team can update the plan accordingly.
Because care plans are part of the core data model, everything stays connected. And when put into practice, templates reduce data entry, help standardize processes across your team, and give staff the flexibility to tailor support without losing consistency.
Interaction Summaries
Another standout feature: Interaction Summaries.
Yes, the data model here is a little complex (it includes Interaction, Interaction Participant, and a few related records), but the functionality is well worth it.
At a high level, Interaction Summaries allow you to:
Capture detailed case notes from any interaction with a participant
Track who was involved (staff, volunteers, household members, etc.)
Record date, time, and method of interaction (phone, in-person, virtual, etc.)
This gives your team better visibility into what's happening with each participant, allows for stronger continuity of care across teams, and helps ensure compliance or audit readiness when notes are required.
Outcome Management
TL;DR: Define your impact strategy, link it to outcomes, and measure progress using connected indicators and results. Real-time visibility into what’s working.
Outcome Management has a data model that helps you clearly define and track your impact strategy — and connect it directly to the work you're doing every day.
Start with your Impact Strategy — this outlines the broader goals your organization is working toward.
Link that to specific Outcomes — the tangible changes or results you're aiming to achieve, both short- and long-term.
Each Outcome includes Indicators and Outcome Activities, which define how you’ll measure success and track progress over time.
Indicators can connect to things like Programs, Benefits, Applications, or Goals — and they can measure both activity and impact.
Some are program-level indicators (e.g., how many participants received job coaching).
Others are outcome indicators that measure actual progress (e.g., change in income or employment status).
For example: “Average number of missed meals per participant” is an outcome indicator tied to food security — not just whether meals were distributed, but whether access to food is improving.
The best part? All of this connects back to your Programs, Goals, Benefits, and Grantmaking (Individual Applications, Funding Opportunities, or Funding Awards) — so you can literally see the line between what you planned to do and what’s actually happening.
Depending on how your organization tracks outcomes — and how robust your framework is — this is something we recommend thinking through early. We want to make sure you're capturing the right data, aligning it with your reporting needs, and setting yourself up for measurable results (and meaningful impact stories).
Grantmaking
Surprise — even more new functionality! Honestly, this could be its own article (and probably will be), but here’s the high-level breakdown.
TL;DR: A full application-to-award lifecycle is now built in — with tools for application reviews, timeline templates, budgets, disbursements, and impact tracking.
Individual Application
Replaces the old Funding Request from Outbound Funds and acts as the hub of the application lifecycle. It’s tied to a Funding Opportunity, supports multiple reviews with a single decision, and lets you track participants, assign tasks (to staff or grantees), and define who's responsible for what — all in one place.
Budgeting
Budgets now include categories, periods, and allocations — and you can track planned vs. actuals over time. It’s flexible, structured, and makes budget tracking feel way less painful (finally).
Even better? You can share predefined budget templates with applicants, so they report their budget details using the same categories and allocation structure your team expects. No more chasing down mismatched line items or trying to translate their spreadsheet into your system.
It saves time, reduces errors, and sets clearer expectations — on both sides.
Funding Awards
If the application is the hub of intake, the Funding Award is the hub of fulfillment. Awards connect to:
Programs
Budgets
Amendments & disbursements
Award requirements
And — yes — Outcome Management
Clean, connected, and impact-driven. Are we fans? Absolutely.
Recap:
Being honest, the differences between NPSP and Nonprofit Cloud are big — especially when it comes to the data model and native functionality.
Nonprofit Cloud’s data model is significantly larger, with far more built-in connections, objects, and apps available right out of the box (and we didn’t even cover half of them). It also brings greater parity with other Salesforce clouds meaning nonprofits can now take advantage of powerful features originally built for other industries.
Bottom line? It’s more flexible, more scalable, and better aligned with where the Salesforce platform is headed.
So What Does this Mean For Me?
If you’re a nonprofit considering Salesforce for the first time — whether you’re coming from spreadsheets, another platform, or a legacy CRM — Nonprofit Cloud should be your starting point.
Yes, NPSP is still supported (for now), but it’s no longer being actively developed. And let’s be honest: if you’re about to invest time, energy, and budget into a new system, why would you start with something that’s already on its way out?
Using NPSP and Thinking About Migrating?
You're not alone. Here are a few reasons you might want to start thinking seriously about the move to Nonprofit Cloud:
Reasons to Consider Migrating:
You’re already planning a major overhaul (e.g., new programs, integrations, org restructure)
You want to consolidate systems — grantmaking, constituent management, fundraising — into one place
You’re feeling limited by the current NPSP data model or finding yourself customizing too much
You want to align with Salesforce’s long-term roadmap and take advantage of newer features and functionality
Reasons to Pause (for now):
Your current NPSP setup is working well, and you have no major pain points
You just finished a big implementation and need time to stabilize
Your team isn’t ready for a significant change in data structure or processes
Your org doesn’t need the additional complexity (yet) — and you're not looking to expand use cases anytime soon
You want to wait for greater parity or maturity in some Nonprofit Cloud functionality to avoid adding tech debt or workarounds you’ll later need (or want) to undo
Now What?
If you're not sure where to go next — or even where to start — our recommendation is simple:
Take inventory.
Not just of your platform, but of your people, your processes, and your tech. Understanding where you are now is the best way to decide where (and how) to go next.
Here are a few questions to get you started:
People
Change doesn’t happen in a vacuum — it happens with people. Before making any system or strategy shift, ask yourself:
Are your teams ready for change?
Do you have internal champions who can help lead it?
Have you started building buy-in or socializing the idea of a shift?
Because change isn’t just technical — it’s human.
Process
Even the best tools can’t fix broken or outdated processes.
Are your current workflows helping people do their jobs — or getting in the way?
Have you asked your team what’s frustrating them or slowing them down?
Do you know how your constituents or donors feel about how you engage with them?
Consider anonymous surveys or interviews and process mapping sessions— and really listen. The insights you gather here will help guide better decisions.
Technology
Now take a hard look at your tools.
What’s working well?
What’s creating more manual work than it should?
Do you have the data you need to make decisions that move your mission forward?
Are your systems being used the way you hoped — by your staff and constituents?
Technology should support your people and your purpose — not slow them down.
Not sure what’s next or what your inventory is telling you? We’d be happy to help you think it through.
Our Take
We’re not saying everyone needs to migrate tomorrow (nor would we ever recommend that). But Nonprofit Cloud is the future of Salesforce for nonprofits. If you’re starting fresh, start there. And if you’re already in the ecosystem, now’s the time to get informed — so you’re ready when the timing makes sense for you.
The value is in doing this thoughtfully — planning for the shift, understanding how your org might benefit (or not), and being intentional about timing. But the longer you wait, the more technical debt and missed opportunities you may be carrying forward.
So start asking the questions now — and set yourself up for where things are going, not where they’ve been.
