UPDATE: May 1, 2023 Salesforce released a preview at the May 1 foundationConnect user group that the retirement of foundationConnect will be officially announced later
On 3/14/2023, Salesforce announced a significant shift of all their nonprofit products. As a reminder, Salesforce has many products geared towards nonprofits: NPSP for Constituent
Salesforce released a preview at the May 1 foundationConnect user group that the retirement of foundationConnect will be officially announced later this summer (forward-looking statement, safe-harbor, subject to change). This does not mean fC is being retired this year, it just means Salesforce will officially share the retirement date next month.
In the last few months, several foundationConnect customers have reached out to us to inquire about transitioning from foundationConnect and I wanted to share our approach with you in case that is useful.
As a recap, Salesforce has not *officially* announced a date or a timeframe for the retirement of foundationConnect (see update above). Per their product retirement philosophy, they will provide at least 12 months to customers to make a shift off of the existing product, though there is a potential Salesforce provides upwards of a 18-24 month transition period. Again, at this point, we do not know when this window will start. (see update above)
However, if you are ready, it is not too early to start planning and in particular start considering your options: for some of you it might be building on the Salesforce grants management product, but for others it might be to do a full custom build. For some, a grantee portal experience is essential, for others the simplicity of a form builder is the priority.
To accommodate the uniqueness of each foundation, we have designed an engagement to explore your current system, discuss your future requirements and provide enough information for you to make an informed decision. We called this engagement the Sputnik fC Migration Assessment & Requirements (SFMAR). It will complement and go beyond the free assessment Salesforce is offering for fc clients.
The Sputnik fC Migration Assessment & Requirements includes the following activities:
With this preparation work complete, your organization will be better equipped and ready for the transition from foundationConnect, when the timing is right for you of course.
We anticipate that a full migration will be similar in time and cost to your original fC implementation, but we can verify that during this engagement.
We know that this transition could be daunting, but with the right planning & preparation, this could be an opportunity to enhance your current grants management system. If you would like to speak with us further about planning your foundationConnect migration, please connect with Pierre Kaluzny to set up an initial exploratory conversation specific to your migration needs.
Thanks.
