5 Common Mistakes Nonprofits Make When Using Salesforce NPSP (And How to Fix Them)

So your nonprofit is using Salesforce NPSP — that’s a huge step toward modern donor management. But if things still feel clunky, confusing, or underutilized… you’re not alone.

Many small to mid-sized nonprofits run into similar issues after adopting NPSP — often because they never had a full implementation partner or admin.

Here are 5 of the most common NPSP mistakes we see (and how you can fix them).

1️⃣ Mixing Up Individuals and Households

The problem:
Donor records are often created inconsistently — sometimes as Individuals, sometimes as Accounts. This leads to duplicate contacts, disconnected donation history, and confusion about who gave what.

The fix:
Use NPSP’s Household Account model. Every person should be tied to a Household Account. Review your settings and use the NPSP Data Importer or a cleanup tool to standardize past records.

2️⃣ Entering Donations in the Wrong Object

The problem:
Some users enter donations as “Opportunities,” others try to use Activities or custom fields. This breaks reports and automation — and may confuse your fundraisers.

The fix:
Stick to the standard NPSP Donation (Opportunity) object. For pledges, recurring gifts, and soft credits, use the fields and related objects built specifically for those use cases.

3️⃣ Neglecting Soft Credits

The problem:
Board members, event hosts, and peer-to-peer fundraisers don’t get recognized in reports because only the paying donor is tracked.

The fix:
Use NPSP’s Soft Credit system to attribute influence or connections properly. This helps with stewardship and more accurate donor pipelines.

4️⃣ Ignoring Recurring Donation Structure

The problem:
Recurring donations are often entered manually as separate one-time gifts — which inflates reports and hides donor retention patterns.

The fix:
Use NPSP’s Recurring Donations object. This ensures gifts are grouped and reported correctly, and lets you automate reminders or upgrades.

5️⃣ Skipping Reports and Dashboards

The problem:
The team collects great data… but doesn’t use it. Executive directors and development staff may not have visibility into progress or trends.

The fix:
Build and share custom reports and dashboards tailored to fundraising goals. Even a simple LYBUNT (last year but not this year) report can improve retention dramatically.

🛠️ You Don’t Need a Full-Time Admin to Fix These

These issues are common — and fixable — especially with a little outside help. If your team is struggling to make the most of Salesforce, you're not alone.

📣 Need a Quick CRM Health Check?

We help small nonprofits clean up and optimize Salesforce NPSP — so donor data works for your mission, not against it.

👉 Schedule a free discovery call to get started — even if you're not sure what's broken.