📣 Nonprofit AMA Recap (EMEA) – February 2026 

Thank you to everyone who joined our February Nonprofit Ask Me Anything session. 

 Thank you to our panellists

We used Zoom AI and then ChatGPT to summarise and anonymise the questions and answers shared during the session. 

1. Formula Fields & Spanning Relationships

Attendee:

“Can you explain why we’re hitting spanning relationship limits in formula fields, and what alternatives we should consider?”

Panellists:

They explained that this issue commonly occurs when formula fields reference other formula fields, which can quickly breach Salesforce’s spanning relationship limits. As an alternative, they recommended moving complex logic into record-triggered Flows, which can reduce dependency on formula chains and help avoid these system constraints. 

2. Leads vs Custom Objects for Fundraising

Attendee:

“Should we be using Leads in Salesforce to manage fundraising activity, or is there a better approach?”

Panellists:

They advised caution when using Leads for fundraising. In many nonprofit contexts, donor relationships are ongoing and don’t fit neatly into the standard Lead lifecycle. They suggested using custom objects or reporting directly by Contact to better reflect fundraising activities and supporter engagement over time. 

3. Donor Data Management & Fundraising Pages

Attendee:

“We struggle to track fundraising pages for challenge events as they move through different stages. How are others managing this, especially when linking platforms like JustGiving to Salesforce?”

Panellists:

They acknowledged this as a common challenge. While Salesforce offers standard tools such as Campaigns and Leads, these often require customisation to work effectively for fundraising journeys. They discussed using custom fields, objects, and tailored automation to better track fundraising page statuses and relationships to donors and campaigns. 

4. Supporter Data Integrations

Attendee:

“How are people handling integrations between external fundraising platforms and Salesforce without creating duplicate or mismatched supporter records?”

Panellists:

They shared experience integrating Salesforce with Enthuse, explaining the use of unique identifiers and Flows to reliably connect supporter records between systems. It was noted that this approach helps maintain data integrity while supporting ongoing fundraising activity.

Another attendee example referenced Move Data handling initial record linking, but experiencing difficulties with managing fundraising pages before they go live. 

5. Custom Fundraiser Object Approaches

Attendee:

“Has anyone built a custom solution to manage fundraisers and fundraising pages more effectively?”

Panellists:

They discussed an example using a custom Fundraiser object, combined with native Salesforce integrations. This approach supports both automated and manual fundraising page creation, while maintaining strong links between fundraisers, donors, and campaign records. 

6. Move Data Documentation Challenges

Attendee:

“We’ve inherited undocumented Move Data customisations. What’s the best way to deal with this?”

Panellists:

They recommended contacting Move Data directly to request any existing documentation or historical context around the customisations. Undocumented changes can introduce long-term risk, and additional vendor support may be required to fully understand or refactor the setup. 

7. Recurring Donations Changelog

Attendee:

“In NPSP, changes to recurring donations don’t seem to update the effective date in the changelog. Is this a bug?”

Panellists:

They suggested this could be a Salesforce issue rather than a configuration problem and recommended raising a Salesforce support case to investigate further, particularly if the behaviour is consistent and reproducible. 

8. Salesforce Certificates & Security

Attendee:

“What’s the real value of Salesforce certificates, and when do they actually matter?”

Panellists:

They explained that certificates are used to verify trust between cloud instances and enable secure integrations. While they can seem abstract, they play an important role in maintaining secure data exchange. The discussion referenced an upcoming user group session led by Lawrence Newcombe

, which will cover Salesforce security topics in more depth, including certificates. 

9. NPSP Support & Future Planning

Attendee:

“With NPSP development stopped, should organisations be worried about support ending?”

Panellists:

They clarified that although active development on NPSP has stopped, it is still supported by Salesforce, and no end-of-support date has been announced. Organisations were encouraged to stay informed and consider long-term migration strategies, but not to assume immediate risk. 

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