Goodbye NetCommunity: Integrating Your Online Giving with Salesforce
- Ohana Focus Team
- Jan 17
- 8 min read
By Ohana Focus | January 11, 2025 | 17 min read
NetCommunity served its purpose for years as the web presence bundled with Raiser's Edge. But as you migrate to Salesforce, you're presented with an opportunity—and a necessity—to rethink your digital presence. The question isn't whether to leave NetCommunity (you must), but what to replace it with. The good news: modern website and online giving platforms offer capabilities NetCommunity never could, integrate beautifully with Salesforce, and cost less than you might expect.
This guide walks through NetCommunity replacement options, explains how modern platforms integrate with Salesforce NPSP, compares leading solutions for website and online giving, and provides decision frameworks for choosing the right combination for your organization.
Understanding What You're Replacing
NetCommunity wasn't a single tool—it was three systems bundled together: a content management system for your website, donation processing for online gifts, and email marketing for supporter communications. Each of these needs a replacement, and you don't have to replace them all with a single vendor.
NetCommunity's Three Functions
Website/CMS: NetCommunity provided basic content management—pages, navigation, images, and news. The interface was clunky, design options were limited, and mobile responsiveness was an afterthought.
Online Giving: Donation forms captured credit card gifts and created records in Raiser's Edge. The forms looked dated, customization was limited, and the giving experience felt transactional rather than inspiring.
Email Marketing: Basic email campaigns to Raiser's Edge constituents. Templates were rigid, deliverability wasn't great, and analytics were minimal.
The NetCommunity Reality Check
Be honest: how many times did your team express frustration with NetCommunity? The slow page editor, the difficulty making simple design changes, donation forms that looked like they were built in 2005, email templates that never quite looked right?
NetCommunity's main advantage was integration—everything connected to Raiser's Edge automatically. But that convenience came at the cost of innovation, user experience, and flexibility. Moving to Salesforce eliminates the technical reason to tolerate NetCommunity's limitations.
Website Platforms: Your Options
Your website is your organization's public face. Modern CMS platforms offer exponentially more flexibility, better design options, and superior mobile experiences compared to NetCommunity.
WordPress
The open-source CMS powering 43% of all websites. WordPress offers unlimited design flexibility, thousands of plugins, strong nonprofit adoption, and a huge developer community — it's the default choice for most nonprofits replacing NetCommunity.
Strengths:
• Completely customizable design
• Huge library of themes and plugins
• Easy for non-technical staff to update
• SEO-friendly out of the box
• Strong hosting options at all price points
• Integrates with everything (Salesforce, giving platforms, email tools)
Considerations:
• Requires ongoing security updates
• Plugin quality varies widely
• Need hosting (but many good options)
• Can become slow if poorly configured
Cost Range: $20-200/month for hosting + $0-5,000 for initial theme/design
Best for: Most nonprofits. WordPress's combination of flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and ease of use makes it the default choice unless you have specific reasons to choose something else.
Webflow
Visual web design platform combining design, CMS, and hosting. Webflow enables designers to create stunning, custom sites without writing code, while still giving developers full control when needed.
Cost Range: $29-212/month for Webflow hosting + $3,000-15,000 for professional design/development
Best for: Organizations prioritizing cutting-edge design and willing to invest more upfront. Great for nonprofits where brand presentation is critical to mission.
Squarespace / Wix
All-in-one website builders with drag-and-drop editors. These platforms make it easy for anyone to build and maintain a professional-looking website without technical knowledge.
Cost Range: $16-49/month including hosting, templates, and basic features
Best for: Very small organizations (under $500K budget) with simple website needs and limited technical resources. Good for getting online quickly.
Online Giving Platforms: Where Donations Happen
Online giving is where NetCommunity's limitations were most painful. Modern platforms offer beautiful donation forms, inspiring giving experiences, and seamless Salesforce integration.
Classy
Comprehensive fundraising platform with sophisticated campaign capabilities. Now owned by GoFundMe, Classy specializes in nonprofit fundraising with strong peer-to-peer, event, and crowdfunding features.
Key Features:
• Powerful campaign and P2P fundraising
• Beautiful, customizable donation forms
• Robust Salesforce integration
• Strong analytics and reporting
• Recurring gift management
• Corporate matching gift tools
Cost: $1,500-5,000+/year platform fee + 2.9% + $0.30 processing fees
Best for: Organizations running sophisticated campaigns, events, or peer-to-peer fundraising. Worth the investment when you need advanced fundraising capabilities.
Givebutter
Free fundraising platform with no platform fees—donors can choose to cover costs. Strong peer-to-peer capabilities, beautiful forms, and comprehensive features without the typical platform subscription.
Key Features:
• Zero platform fees
• Beautiful, modern interface
• Strong P2P and event fundraising
• Native Salesforce NPSP integration
• Live streaming for virtual events
• Text-to-give capabilities
Cost: $0 platform fee (donors can optionally add tip) + standard processing fees
Best for: Organizations wanting comprehensive fundraising features without platform fees. Excellent for runs/walks, peer-to-peer campaigns, and events.
Fundraise Up
AI-powered donation experience focused on optimizing conversion and increasing gift sizes. Modern interface with smart suggestions, donor nudges, and sophisticated UX optimization.
Cost: 0.5-1.5% platform fee (decreases with volume) + processing fees
Best for: Organizations focused on optimizing donation conversion and average gift size. Great when direct online giving is your primary revenue source.
Completely free donation processing—donors give 100%, nonprofit receives 100%. Every.org covers all fees through donor-advised funds and donor tips, making it truly no-cost giving.
Cost: $0 (Every.org covers all costs)
Best for: Organizations wanting to maximize donor dollars and willing to accept a simpler feature set. Good for straightforward online giving without complex campaigns.
Platform Comparison Table
Platform | Best Use Case | SF Integration | Cost Model |
Classy | Complex campaigns, P2P, events | Native, robust | Platform + processing |
Givebutter | No-fee fundraising, events, P2P | Native NPSP | $0 platform (donor tips) |
Fundraise Up | Conversion optimization | Real-time API | Volume-based fee |
Simple giving, crypto/stock | Via Zapier | Completely free | |
Donorbox | Quick setup, recurring | Via Zapier | 1.5% + processing |
Integrating online giving with Salesforce: Making It All Work Together
The magic happens when your website and online giving platforms feed data seamlessly into Salesforce, eliminating manual entry and ensuring donor information stays synchronized.
Native vs. Third-Party Integrations
Native integrations are built and maintained by the platform vendor. Classy's Salesforce connector, for example, is developed by Classy and handles all the nuances of syncing donation data to NPSP. Native integrations are generally more reliable and receive ongoing updates.
Third-party integrations use middleware tools like Zapier, Workato, or custom API connections. These work well but may require more configuration and ongoing monitoring. They're often the only option for platforms without native Salesforce support.
What Should Sync?
Not everything from your giving platform needs to flow to Salesforce. Focus on syncing:
• Donor information: Name, email, phone, address
• Gift details: Amount, date, payment method, designation/program
• Recurring gift schedules: For monthly donors
• Campaign attribution: Which appeal generated the gift
• Tribute/memorial information: If giving in honor or memory
• Corporate matching gift data: Employer information
Real-Time vs. Scheduled Sync
Most giving platform integrations offer real-time or near-real-time sync. When a donor completes a gift, the data flows to Salesforce within seconds or minutes. This enables immediate acknowledgment workflows and real-time campaign tracking.
For most nonprofits, real-time sync provides the best donor experience—immediate confirmation emails that reference the gift in Salesforce, development officers who can see gifts as they arrive, and accurate real-time campaign totals.
Implementation Strategy
Replacing NetCommunity isn't a weekend project. Proper implementation takes planning, but the payoff is worth it.
Replacing NetCommunity isn't a weekend project. Proper implementation takes planning, but the payoff is worth it.
1. Audit Your Current NetCommunity Usage: Document what pages you have, which donation forms are active, what email templates you use. Understand what's actually being used vs. what exists but nobody remembers creating.
2. Select Your Platform Stack: Choose your website CMS and online giving platform. Consider trying free trials—actually create test pages and donation forms to see how they feel.
3. Design and Build Your Website: Invest in professional design. Your website represents your organization—make it count. Budget 2-4 months for design, development, and content migration.
4. Configure Donation Forms: Set up giving forms with proper branding, suggested amounts, recurring options, and tribute fields. Test thoroughly on multiple devices and browsers.
5. Set Up Salesforce Integration: Configure the integration between your giving platform and Salesforce. Map fields carefully, test with various donation scenarios, and verify data flows correctly.
6. Migrate Content: Move pages, blog posts, images, and documents from NetCommunity to your new platform. This is an opportunity to refresh content and improve SEO.
7. Test Everything Thoroughly: Test donation forms with test credit cards, verify data appears correctly in Salesforce, check mobile responsiveness, and confirm analytics tracking works.
8. Plan Your Cutover: Choose a launch date, redirect your domain, set up URL redirects for old page links, and communicate the change to stakeholders.
9. Monitor Closely Post-Launch: Watch donation form submissions carefully for the first few weeks. Check that data syncs correctly to Salesforce and gather feedback from staff and donors.
Decision Scenarios: Matching Solutions to Needs
Small nonprofit ($250K budget) with simple needs:
Recommendation: Squarespace for website + Givebutter for online giving. Total cost: $25-50/month. Quick to implement, easy for non-technical staff to manage, professional appearance, and zero platform fees for giving.
Mid-sized org ($2M budget) running events and campaigns:
Recommendation: WordPress for website + Classy for fundraising. Budget $5,000 for WordPress development + $3,000/year for Classy. Provides sophisticated fundraising capabilities while keeping the website flexible.
Design-focused arts organization:
Recommendation: Webflow for website + Fundraise Up for giving. Budget $10,000 for Webflow development + volume-based Fundraise Up fees. Delivers a stunning visual experience matching brand standards.
Large multi-chapter organization:
Recommendation: WordPress with custom development + Classy for fundraising. Budget $25,000+ for WordPress customization + $5,000+/year for Classy enterprise. Enables chapter-specific sites and centralized Salesforce integration.
Email Marketing: The Third Piece
NetCommunity also handled email marketing. This function requires separate replacement, and you have excellent options.
Mailchimp: Most popular email platform with strong Salesforce integration. Visual editor, templates, automation, and detailed analytics. Pricing based on list size ($13-350+/month).
Constant Contact: Nonprofit-focused with good deliverability and support. Slightly simpler than Mailchimp but very effective. Pricing: $12-80+/month.
Salesforce Marketing Cloud (Pardot): Native Salesforce platform offering sophisticated automation. Expensive ($1,250+/month) but powerful for large organizations with complex needs.
Emma: Design-focused platform with beautiful templates and strong nonprofit pricing. Good balance of sophistication and usability. Pricing: $89-279+/month.
Common Concerns Addressed
Won't Multiple Platforms Be More Complex?
NetCommunity's all-in-one approach sounds simpler, but in practice, having specialized tools is often easier. Each platform focuses on doing one thing extremely well with modern interfaces designed for non-technical users. Staff typically find WordPress + Classy easier to use than NetCommunity's outdated interface.
What About Data Synchronization Issues?
Modern integrations are remarkably reliable. Platforms like Classy and Givebutter have been syncing to Salesforce for years with established, battle-tested connectors. Most organizations experience fewer sync problems than they had with NetCommunity-Raiser's Edge integration.
How Do We Handle the Transition Period?
Keep NetCommunity running while building your new site and giving forms. Launch when ready, then redirect traffic. Most organizations maintain NetCommunity for 30-60 days post-launch as a safety net.
Partner with Ohana Focus
Master Salesforce gift entry with expert guidance.
Ohana Focus specializes in helping nonprofits configure gift entry workflows that work for their team, their processes, and their unique requirements. We provide:
• Comprehensive configuration of Opportunity, Payment, and GAU structures
• Customized gift entry workflows matching your organization's needs
• Validation rules and automation to ensure data quality
• Staff training tailored to different roles and skill levels
• Ongoing support as your gift processing needs evolve
We've trained hundreds of nonprofit staff on Salesforce gift entry. We know the questions that arise, the pain points that emerge, and the configurations that make gift processing smooth and efficient.
About Ohana Focus
Ohana Focus is a certified Salesforce consulting partner specializing in nonprofit digital transformation. We understand that moving away from NetCommunity feels daunting—you're leaving a known system for multiple new platforms. But we also know that modern websites and giving tools deliver experiences that NetCommunity couldn't provide.
Our team has guided organizations through this transition countless times. We know which platform combinations work best for different nonprofit types, which integrations are most reliable, and how to implement smoothly without disrupting fundraising.
When you work with Ohana Focus on your digital transformation, you get strategic planning that matches tools to your needs, vetted recommendations for designers and developers, integration configuration and testing, training for staff managing the systems, and ongoing support as you grow into the new platforms.
Topics: NetCommunity Replacement, Online Giving, WordPress Salesforce, Classy Integration, Givebutter, Website Integration, Digital Fundraising
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