Soapbox Engage Blog

Earlier this year, Salesforce announced a new vision for the Nonprofit Cloud, the suite of Salesforce nonprofit technology solutions built for the nonprofit sector and designed to meet a variety nonprofit needs with a single platform-based solution.

As you consider migrating or beginning your journey with the new Nonprofit Cloud, one important change you’ll notice from our community's typical implementation of Salesforce is the use of Person Accounts as a core capability. This is significantly different than the familiar Contact and Account data model present in the Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP). Let's dive into more detail about Person Accounts, and learn more about why Salesforce is breathing new life into an old data model approach.

The introduction of Person Accounts allows nonprofit organizations to:

• Enhance relationship management
• Align with nonprofit industry best practices
• Streamline operations
• Personalize stakeholder experience
• Analyze data comprehensively

At Soapbox Engage, we want to help your nonprofit organization navigate all things Salesforce, and we’re here to assist as you evaluate a transition from the Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP) to Nonprofit Cloud (NPC). Keep reading to learn more about this shift and how it will impact your nonprofit.

Table of Contents

• What is a Person Account?
• What are the Benefits of Person Accounts?
• How Do Person Accounts Differ from Other Salesforce Account Models?

What is a Person Account?

Person Accounts are used to represent an individual rather than an organization or business. Building relationships with your community using this business-to-consumer (B2C) model is extremely common for businesses that prioritize direct consumer relationships. They include a 1:1 relationship between an Account and Contact, seamlessly merging the characteristics of both the Account and Contact entities into a unified record.

From a user experience perspective, Person Accounts closely mirror the functionality of traditional Accounts. They seamlessly integrate into standard lookup fields, such as those found in Cases and Opportunities. This ensures a smooth transition for users, as the selection process remains consistent and familiar.

It's important to note that in the context of Person Accounts, individuals are considered entities in their own right and are not confined to being part of a Household. This shift in Salesforce's approach is a reflection of the prevalent way fundraisers engage with their donors – as distinct individuals rather than representatives of an organization. However, recognizing the utility of households, Salesforce provides the flexibility to incorporate Person Accounts into different groups (such as households), allowing users to leverage this feature based on their specific needs and preferences.

What are the Benefits of a Person Account?

Recognizing the importance of cultivating personal connections in the realm of donations, it is important to move beyond a one-size-fits-all approach. Donors are unique individuals, and fostering meaningful connections requires a personalized touch. Person Accounts help facilitate a more meaningful and individualized relationship with each donor, catering to their specific interests and preferences.

Person Accounts streamline the process of integrating individuals into the system, allowing them to be dynamically treated as both Accounts and Contacts. This versatility enables organizations to effortlessly capture and manage crucial information such as donation history, volunteer activities, and more, providing a comprehensive overview of each donor's engagement with the cause.

Person Accounts give nonprofit organizations a 360-degree view of their constituents, which makes it easier to understand their needs, preferences, and engagement patterns. This information can also be used to personalize communications with each person with tailored messaging, targeted appeals, and customized program offerings.

How Do Person Accounts Differ from Other Salesforce Account Models?

If you've been around the Salesforce nonprofit community for a while, you've seen many iterations of account/contact models. Organizations may currently have one of many different ways of representing individuals, organizations, households, affiliations, and more. Here's a breakdown of how Person Accounts differ from other Salesforce account models in our nonprofit space, including some much older approaches for those looking to make it through a big upgrade path.

• Individual Accounts ("bucket accounts"): This is a very old and out-dated approach, where one Account represents most (but not all) Contacts relationships with an Account. If maintaining a large number of contact records, Person Accounts are more suitable than Individual Accounts because they combine individual and account data for better user experience.


• 1-to-1 Accounts: These are another older approach to contact data modeling, where every Contact has exactly one Account record. This is very similar in philosophy to Person Accounts, but implemented quite differently. Person Accounts can provide granular information at an individual level, with increased feature richness in the new Nonprofit Cloud. Relationship building can be a bit more fluid as well, especially when handling roll-ups in the new Nonprofit Cloud.


• Household / Organizational Accounts: This is the most common account / contact model in the NPSP, where a household is represented by an Account, and a Contact has a direct Account-Contact relationship to exactly one Account (the household). The mashup of Accounts and Contacts by Person Accounts represent a single individual that has the ability to be related in more complex ways (through "groups" or "parties") to ensure increased flexibility in defining Account-Contact and Contact-Contact relationships.

In summary, Person Accounts form a significant shift in the way that Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud handles account management. The process has become more streamlined and efficient, alleviating common issues faced by former solutions.

Person Accounts introduce enhanced flexibility by enabling individuals to be managed with the same level of versatility as organizations. This opens the door to creating dynamic automations and leveraging advanced tracking capabilities for a more comprehensive and tailored approach.

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Do you want more assistance navigating the new Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud? Soapbox Engage offers Salesforce Consulting Services to implement and customize your Salesforce CRM and maximize your impact. If you’re interested in setting up a demo, contact us today!

Here are three more resources to help you on your journey:

• Overview of the New Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud for Grantmaking:Want more information on how Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud can improve your funding outcomes? This blog post shares details of the new Nonprofit Cloud for Grantmaking.
• Top 10 Features of the Salesforce Winter ‘24 Release: Salesforce is always innovating and improving upon their product, and the Winter ‘24 release is just around the corner! This blog post shares the top 10 features of the Salesforce Winter ‘24 Release to look forward to.
• Creating The Best Fundraising Event For Your Nonprofit: We’ve told you how to plan your event and sell tickets, but how do you choose what event is right for your organization? This blog post shares how you can choose the best type of event to help you meet your fundraising goals.