The State of Nonprofits on Salesforce in 2025: Lessons for Scotland

Across the world, nonprofit organisations rely on Salesforce to unify fundraising, volunteer management, and programme delivery. Yet as Salesforce Ben highlights, the reality is often messier: duplicate contacts, fragile integrations, and endless spreadsheets slow progress and cloud impact.

At FJB Digital, we see this story every day in Scotland. in the charities that we work with, and others that are striving to turn Salesforce from a data repository into a measurable impact engine — and discovering that transformation takes structure, governance, and the right support.

A platform evolving fast

The nonprofit ecosystem is currently split between traditional configurations (built on layered packages such as the Nonprofit Success Pack) and the newer Nonprofit Cloud, which unifies fundraising, programme management, and grants in a single data model.

This shift is far more than a technical migration. It’s a signal that Salesforce wants to give charities a single source of truth — one platform for every interaction, with automation and intelligence built in. Tools like Flow, Omni-Channel, and Data Cloud (Data 360) now allow charities to streamline processes, coordinate teams, and deliver joined-up reporting when the underlying data is clean.

But that “when” is crucial. For many organisations, the path to clean, reliable data remains the biggest hurdle.

The familiar frictions

1. Data duplication

Every Scottish nonprofit we’ve worked with has faced the same core issue: duplicated or incomplete supporter data. Contacts arrive from donation pages, referral forms, event lists, and legacy imports — often with inconsistent formatting or missing identifiers.

Salesforce’s built-in matching rules and duplicate jobs can manage much of this, but success depends on process discipline. Without ongoing governance, duplicates creep back in and dashboards lose credibility.

2. Manual processes and spreadsheets

Another widespread pain point is over-reliance on spreadsheets. Even when Salesforce is in place, many teams still manage parts of their workflow in Excel or shared drives. Receipt reconciliation, attendance tracking, and referral logs often live outside the system.

Analysis echoes this, noting that administrative tasks such as receipting and reconciliation consume far more staff time than they should. By automating these processes with Salesforce Flow, organisations can cut manual workload by around 60%.

3. Fragile integrations

Many nonprofits run lean operations and rely on low-cost integrations to link Salesforce with donation platforms, accounting tools, or email systems. These connections often “just about work” — until they don’t.

We’ve seen the same in Scottish charities where online giving data stopped syncing after a minor API update, leaving months of transactions unrecorded.

Our approach is to simplify integrations where possible and add automated monitoring where not. Using platform events and scheduled health checks, FJB Digital builds alerts for data sync failures so issues are caught before they escalate.

Evidence from the data

Modelling offers hard numbers that reinforce what we see in practice:

• In a database of 50,000 contacts, an 8% duplication rate equates to 4,000 redundant entries.

• Rule-based matching can remove 80% of duplicates, improving segmentation and raising campaign conversion by up to 8%.

• Automating core processes with Flow cuts manual workload by about 60%, reducing error rates and freeing staff for frontline activity.

Those numbers may look abstract, but their impact is tangible. A Scottish charity that mails 20,000 donors could waste thousands annually on duplicate mailings alone. Clean data isn’t just tidy — it’s efficient, measurable, and environmentally responsible.

Governance: the missing piece

Technology alone won’t solve these issues. 

At FJB Digital, governance is where we start. We help charities establish Digital Governance Frameworks that define:

• Data ownership and review cycles

• Change management and sandbox testing

• User permissions and access controls

• Documentation standards and onboarding

This lightweight governance ensures sustainability long after implementation. It also creates clarity: staff know which data to trust and how changes are approved.

The new Nonprofit Cloud opportunity

The arrival of Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud (NPC) represents a clean break from the patchwork of legacy packages. It unites programmes, fundraising, and grants under one consistent schema.

For Scottish organisations planning future upgrades, this shift presents both opportunity and challenge. Migrating from the long-established NPSP means re-mapping data, revisiting processes, and sometimes rebuilding automations. But the payoff is a simplified architecture aligned with Salesforce’s long-term roadmap.

At FJB Digital, we guide clients through this transition by:

1. Auditing existing data models to identify custom objects that need to be migrated.

2. Mapping outcomes and measures into NPC’s Outcome Management module.

3. Phasing migration to minimise disruption — starting with sandbox prototypes and user testing before full rollout.

The goal isn’t just technical parity; it’s about creating a unified system that supports real-world reporting on impact, not just activity.

Skills and adoption

Technology changes faster than capacity in most charities. The article rightly calls out Trailhead and Salesforce’s learning ecosystem as essential for ongoing upskilling.

In Scotland, we’ve seen that successful Salesforce adoption hinges on one principle: ownership must sit with the organisation, not the consultant. That means training internal champions, not just delivering finished projects.

We often run “train-the-trainer” sessions that empower staff to manage user permissions, build reports, and adjust flows. When a new funding stream or programme launches, teams can adapt Salesforce themselves — without waiting for external help.

Data quality and outcomes reporting

Scottish funders increasingly demand evidence of outcomes, not just outputs. They want to know whether interventions improve wellbeing, employability, or community connection. Salesforce is uniquely positioned to capture that — if configured thoughtfully.

By embedding these models into Salesforce, organisations can move from anecdotal reporting to data-driven insight:

• Track progression over time

• Compare locations or cohorts

• Demonstrate impact to funders quickly

To transform the platform from “a data repository into a measurable impact engine.”

Looking ahead

So, what does 2025 and beyond hold for nonprofits on Salesforce?

Three trends stand out:

1. Unified platforms over patchwork solutions.
   The move toward Nonprofit Cloud will simplify architectures and reduce maintenance overhead.

2. Automation as standard.
   Declarative tools like Flow and Omni-Channel will take over repetitive work, allowing teams to focus on relationships and strategy.

3. AI-assisted decision-making.
   As Salesforce integrates Einstein and Agentforce capabilities into NPC, expect predictive insights on donor churn, volunteer engagement, and grant performance — accessible without writing code.

For Scottish charities, this means the digital maturity gap could close rapidly. Those that invest now in governance and skills will be well-placed to adopt these tools responsibly.

Conclusion

A recent Salesforce Ben report paints an encouraging picture: the technology is more capable than ever, but success depends on execution. Duplicates, silos, and spreadsheets are not inevitable — they’re symptoms of systems without ownership - salesforceben.com.

In Scotland, FJB Digital is helping nonprofits move past those barriers. Whether it’s cleaning data, designing outcome frameworks, or guiding the migration to Nonprofit Cloud, our focus is always the same: making Salesforce work the way your organisation works — practical, sustainable, and focused on real-world impact.

At FJB Digital, we combine 25 years of technology experience with hands-on understanding of the Scottish nonprofit sector. If your charity wants to unlock the full value of Salesforce — from automation to outcome measurement.