4 Burning Questions Nonprofits Have About Reporting with Salesforce (and the Answers)

Don’t miss our webinars on reporting and measurement this month:
Measuring Your Mission: How and Why (watch recording)
Year Up Levels Up Its Impact with Wave Analytics (register to watch live Tuesday, May 23 @ 2pm ET/11am PT)

It’s a fact of life: no one likes reporting. And we know that it comes with a special set of challenges for nonprofits because each organization’s programs and mission are unique, which means that everyone’s reporting needs are a little different. Plus, funders, board members, and other stakeholders are demanding more data than ever. So we wanted to point you in the right direction by answering some of the questions we see most often about reporting.

Q1: What reporting capabilities do Salesforce and the Nonprofit Success Pack provide out of the box?

A1: If you’re using the Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP), you already have some of the most powerful, flexible reporting tools around. Whether you’re an “accidental admin” or a diehard data nerd, standard Salesforce Reports & Dashboards can help you slice and dice your data to get the metrics you need. NPSP even comes with over 60 pre-built reports just for NGOs.

The best resource for getting started is the NPSP Reports Workbook.

Q2: How can I get better at reporting?

A2: Trailhead, Trailhead, Trailhead. The workbook above is a great start, but you can take it to the next level with Trailhead, a fun, free tool that helps you learn Salesforce. We recommend starting with the Reports & Dashboards and Lightning Experience Reports & Dashboards modules.

By the way, if you need help importing your data into Salesforce from spreadsheets (you’ve got to have data before you can report on it!), check out the NPSP Data Import Guide.

Q3: Where do I go if I have a question about reporting?

A3: The Power of Us Hub, our online community for nonprofit Salesforce users, is the place for you. There’s a whole group dedicated to Reports & Dashboards with over 14,000 members!

Q4: I’ve heard about something called Wave Analytics… what’s the difference between that and standard Reports & Dashboards?

A4: Good question. Reports & Dashboards are included with every Salesforce subscription. But if you need a more robust business intelligence (BI) platform for doing deep analytics and data visualization, you can purchase Salesforce Analytics Cloud (aka Wave Analytics) at an additional cost.

Download the side-by-side comparison data sheet below if you’re interested in learning more about Wave.