I've met with and worked with nonprofits interested in using Salesforce or already using Salesforce who wonder what the difference is between these two editions.

In an effort to help current and future nonprofit organizations make better decisions around the Salesforce edition to apply for and implement, this blog will:

1. Compare the two editions side by side, as they relate to nonprofit management.
2. Discuss the pros and cons of each edition based on nonprofit use case scenarios.

If you'd like to read more about the differences:

• Click here for Cloud for Good's article
  
• Click here for the Salesforce Developers article

This month, I decided to devote some time to review the 1,000 free apps currently available on the Salesforce AppExchange. As you can imagine, a majority of those apps, I didn't find as useful or relevant when thinking about how they might provide efficiencies to nonprofit Salesforce users. Many of them are specific to vendors and sales companies. 

Fortunately, I  was able to find 31 apps that could be very helpful for nonprofits currently using Salesforce for their data management and tracking needs. To highlight these apps, I've created an AppExchange Menu and am sharing it with all the Salesforce users I know!

Written by Michael Cochran, Communityforce.com

I wanted to repost this article as it speaks to why I am always referring nonprofits to Salesforce and the benefits to cloud-based software for everything from student tracking to grants management. Here's a small snippet followed by the link to the full article!

"The rise in cloud computing has been great for the nonprofit sector. Cloud-based technology makes it easier for foundations, associations and other organizations to improve all sorts of internal processes like grant management or donation management. What you may not know, however, are some of the additional benefits of how moving certain procedures to the cloud could make your organization better."


Read the full article at:
http://www.communityforce.com/why-cloud-based-software-is-a-necessity-in-the-nonprofit-sector-2/

I have used FormAssembly with two organizations now, both South Central Scholars and the California College Guidance Initiative. I've also referred it to three of my clients, one of which is currently using it. Here are the benefits of FormAssembly:

1) A Professional account ($39/mo.) comes with 3rd party integrations. That means that you can set up your online forms to map back to Salesforce and Google Docs spreadsheets. There's some other cool capabilities that I haven't tried, like creating PDFs with WebMerge and publishing forms with WordPress.
2) All accounts, including the free Starter account, have unlimited forms, online reports and charts, and email notifications to you about responses. 
3) Any plan other than Starter allows you to brand your forms with your own logo. There are lots of options for customizing the look and feel of your forms too with themes.
4) Any plan other than Starter allows respondents to attach files to their form submissions.
5) Professional and Enterprise accounts also allow payments with PayPal and FreshBooks.

What does that mean for you and your program? Here is how I've seen FormAssembly used by nonprofits:

- Survey or evaluation
- Program application (e.g. after-school program, scholarship, mentorship)
- Reports (e.g. mentor report, workshop attendance on-site)

If you have Salesforce, you can map entries from your form into Contacts, Leads, Accounts, as well as custom objects. That means you can put the onus of updating information directly into the hands of your clients (i.e. students, schools). 

How might you use this? 
Create a contact information update form (school, address, email, job, etc.), send it to all of your students, and watch their responses update their contact information in Salesforce. No double-entry or copy-and-pasting their responses from a Google spreadsheet into Salesforce!

How might you use file attachments?
Create a check-in form that asks students to upload critical files, such as resumes, transcripts, or financial aid awards. Watch their responses update their contact information AND create an Attachment linked to their contact record in Salesforce! No more saving email attachments to your desktop just to upload it into Salesforce for numerous contacts!

Wondering if FormAssembly can fill a need that you have? Contact me!

Click here to find FormAssembly on the appexchange!
Click here to go directly to FormAssembly's website!

A colleague at UCLA referred a CSULB student to me looking for advice on when he should go get his MBA. He's a third year majoring in business considering taking a few years off.

Long story short, I agreed with his initial thoughts on waiting a few years to work first. But here's the longer version of the advice I gave him, in case it can be helpful to students or alums that you work with.

"There are a couple questions you should ask YOURSELF as you make this decision:
1) Why should I or shouldn't I go right after I graduate from college?

• For most of my students, they think they have to go straight because parents or other influencers are telling them too.
  
• It may be easier to go straight to grad school full time after college, your loans are already deferred, you can include your living costs and not have to work, etc.
  
• Keep in mind also that depending on the degree, such as an MBA, most strong programs may prefer/require a few years of full-time work experience. Meaning that if there are specific programs you want to apply to, it may not be a good fit for you to apply and go now.