Night of a Million Spreadsheets (or How I Learned to Love Salesforce)

Picture it: a wintry night in New York City, 2013.

A lone Executive Director sits at her desk, illuminated by a single desk lamp, while the rest of the office is dark and her staff has left long ago. Alone, she sits, squinting and scrolling through a million spreadsheets to put together a grant report for tomorrow.

She mutters to herself. She curses to herself. She wonders why they don’t stock booze in the office.

I JUST NEED TO FIND OUR ATTENDANCE DATA she screams in her mind, WHY IS THAT SO BLOODY DIFFICULT?

Oh, the pain. The humanity. If she had time, she would put her head down and cry.

And that, my friends, was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

I confess that that Executive Director was me and that night was the breakdown that led to the breakthrough.

We couldn’t go on like this.

As they say, the first step is admitting that you have a problem. And we had a big freaking problem.

We couldn’t track our program data in a million spreadsheets owned by different members of the team. What we needed was a database to house all of this information that was easily accessible and reportable. Even better was if it could house our fundraising database and volunteers as well.

Was this possible?

Was I reaching for the stars here?

The light at the end of the tunnel for me was converting us to Salesforce.

Why Salesforce?

So, the first thing I should say is that I do not work for Salesforce. They don’t pay me anything (though, SF, if you want to, I’m open). We looked at a couple of different systems and ultimately we chose Salesforce because they offer ten free licenses to nonprofits, it’s on the cloud, accessible via mobile device and highly flexible.

Cool, so what’s the catch?

For us, the flexibility of Salesforce was both the blessing and the curse. Out of the box, the Nonprofit Success Pack can be implemented fairly easily without a lot of bells and whistles. The trickier part was customizing for our specific program needs and metrics. For the first time, we had discussions about our business processes and could have meaningful conversations about program design and why we were tracking certain metrics that went beyond, “Because that’s how we always did it.” But, it took a significant amount of staff time and capital. In order to do this right, it takes investment.

What’s the bottom line?

I know you EDs are all looking for pro bono, but in this case, you get what you pay for. We explored some pro bono options and concluded that it would be more trouble than it was worth because they couldn’t get us to where we needed to go. And, in the case of a new database, a bad implementation is worse than no implementation at all. Thanks to a generous capacity building grant, we were able to build out a really robust system, but if we hadn’t, we would have built the system in phases.

In the case of a new database, a bad implementation is worse than no implementation at all.

Ok, enough already, how much did it cost?

I’m not trying to be coy, but it really depends on many factors like the state of your current data, whether you’re transferring out of a legacy system, and the features you want. But, if you’re going to force me, I would say that a reasonably good implementation will start at $5,000. And, depending on how fancy you want to get, you could spend millions.

So what else do I need to know?

Try to find a good developer to meet your needs. Once you get your Salesforce license, you can look on the Salesforce App Exchange or ask for recommendations from your Salesforce rep. The most reliable source for me was among my ED network: who did they use? Were they happy with the results? Could I get a demo of their system?

Finally, you can develop a request for proposal if you have a solid idea of what you want. Otherwise, narrow your list to potential consultants down and talk to at least three of them. Get a feel for their working style: do you feel like they understand your needs? Are they bringing innovative ideas to the table? Have they worked with other reputable agencies? Also, don’t let the money cloud your decision: if you have a developer who is a bit more expensive but you think might do a better job, don’t be penny wise and pound foolish. You’re going to trust this system with your most important assets: your clients and donors.

You’re going to trust this system with your most important assets: your clients and donors.

Next post: Burn the ships, no turning back: Salesforce Implementation

Rhea Wong was Executive Director of Breakthrough New York for 12 years and grew the organization from a $200K per year budget to just $3M per year. She can be reached at [email protected]