Key Differences between Salesforce NPC and NPSP: Changes to Constituent Management
December 19, 2023
This article was written by Matthio Lim, Salesforce Consultant
With the release of Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud (NPC), many have been left wondering: what is the difference between NPC and Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP)? While there are many differences between the two (you can read more about the differences of Nonprofit Cloud and NPSP here), we’ll focus on what you will get with the new NPC (enhancements) and what’s not included with NPC (features only available in NPSP), specifically as it relates to Constituent Management and what it really means for your nonprofit’s Salesforce instance.
What You’ll Get with Nonprofit Cloud (NPC) - Enhancements
Nonprofit Cloud (NPC) Feature Enhancement: Person Account
With NPSP, the Household Account model is a familiar concept. It operates by automatically generating Household Accounts for Contacts classified as constituents. However, this approach often results in many Household Accounts functioning as mere placeholders with only a single Contact, creating what we refer to as “dummy records.”
While Household Accounts still have a place in Nonprofit Cloud, they’ve undergone a significant transformation. In this product, Household Accounts still exist, but it’s no longer the default option. Instead, the spotlight is on Person Accounts, recommended for tracking all constituents within Salesforce.
The beauty of Person Accounts lies in their ability to seamlessly combine Accounts and Contacts. This streamlines the process of managing constituents and liberates Household Accounts to fulfill their intended purpose: capturing and organizing multiple constituents under a single Household.
Nonprofit Cloud (NPC) Feature Enhancement: Relationships
In the NPSP realm, Relationships capture contact-to-contact connections, and Affiliations handle contact-to-account connections. NPC, however, takes it a step further with the introduction of the Party Relationship Group (PRG) Object.
This innovative feature links constituents, Households, and organizations together in a cohesive network. Ultimately, it allows for flexibility, accommodating a variety of complex and simple organizational use cases in the tracking of connections. Within this relationship group, each member can assume different roles with regards to other members, resulting in a dynamic network of connections that can be merged or split as needed. This network complexity has been simplified through NPC’s upgrade from NPSP’s Relationships Viewer to the Actionable Relationship Center (ARC). Now, users can easily visualize and manage these intricate relationships at a glance.
The table below breaks down how NPSP and NPC differ in managing relationships:
What’s Not Yet Included in Nonprofit Cloud (NPC) - Features only available in NPSP
Address Management
While excelling in many ways, Nonprofit Cloud currently lacks robust Address Management, and stands out as a feature exclusive to NPSP. At this time, the main functionality you’ll be losing in NPC is the ability to have multiple seasonal Addresses for constituents and Households. While this feature is under consideration for Nonprofit Cloud’s future roadmap, it’s currently not available.
In NPC, Address Management has been simplified to Salesforce’s traditional Mailing and Billing Address fields on Person Accounts. With that, NPSP’s support of National Change of Address (NCOA) Verification has also been impacted. Overall, this means that clients with a high dependency on up-to-date Address Information for marketing, gifts, or visitation purposes will have to explore additional means to maintain their address data.
NPC vs NPSP Constituent Management Feature Takeaways
Person Accounts - Nonprofit Cloud brings a new level of flexibility to Constituent Management through the utilization of Person Accounts.
New Actionable Relationship Center - Nonprofit Cloud has a more robust relationship data model, alongside the practical Actionable Relationship Center which allows users to visualize and manage relationship networks at a glance.
More Simple Address Management Functionality - Nonprofit Cloud currently does not have the ability to have multiple seasonal Addresses for constituents and Households. Impact to Data Model for nonprofits who leverage Address information related to Marketing, Gifts, or Visitation purposes.
More Complex Data Model - Nonprofit Cloud has an intricate data model and requires a deeper understanding in order to effectively leverage data to enhance your business processes.
There are lots of technological changes not just with Salesforce, but with so many other technologies out there in the ecosystem today. These new enhancements and tools can be extremely powerful to nonprofit organizations to help create more efficiencies in their day-to-day lives, and we’re excited to be a part of that impact!
We would love to chat with you and learn more about how we can help you navigate your digital transformation project. Please click the button below to book a time with one of our nonprofit experts.
About the Organization
Belmar Consulting is an award-winning Salesforce implementation partner, who works with various organizations and enables them to succeed in their digital transformation journey. We combine our intimate knowledge of the public sector and the nonprofit industry with Salesforce to create and implement innovative solutions for our clients. Belmar’s dedication to delivering successful client projects means our clients are more effective in their role to fulfill their organizational missions.
About the Author
Matthio Lim is a Salesforce Consultant at Belmar Consulting, with a passion for using Salesforce to help nonprofits improve their day-to-day processes. With a knack for simplifying complex technical details, Matthio excels in crafting solutions that make a tangible impact, all while ensuring they are easily digestible for clients.
