Hey Reader,

This week, we are going down the rabbit hole of a recent Salesforce report.

Salesforce just released their 7th annual Nonprofit Trends Report. They surveyed 1,229 nonprofits across six countries. The findings cover fundraising, AI adoption, staffing, digital channels, and program outcomes.

What kept coming up was infrastructure. Orgs investing in better fundraising strategies and AI tools while the data underneath those investments isn't ready to support them. Staff leaving and taking years of institutional knowledge with them because none of it was ever documented.

That's what this issue is about.

Three gaps the report surfaced — and what to do about each one.

Gap 1 — Fundraising strategy without the right data to run it

36% of nonprofits say fundraising is their #1 challenge — back at the top for the first time in 4 years.

85% changed their fundraising strategy in the past year, and 28% are increasing their focus on digital channels.

The fix most orgs reach for is a better strategy. New channels, more outreach, stronger messaging. The underlying problem is that every modern fundraising approach — major donor cultivation, digital campaigns, email sequences — runs on data. Segmented lists, donor journey tracking, retention rates, attribution reporting.

If the CRM doesn't support those things, the strategy doesn't work regardless of how good it is. The channel upgrade doesn't help either if the data underneath it is unreliable.

What to address first: can your team pull a segmented donor list with donor tiers, last gift date, channel preference, retention rate, and a major donor pipeline in under 10 minutes? If not, that’s the gap.

Gap 2 — AI and impact reporting on top of disconnected data

55% of nonprofits are actively using or piloting AI — up from 12% just one year ago. 39% are using it specifically for impact reporting. The top use cases — impact reporting, service delivery, program design — all require structured, connected, trustworthy data to work.

AI can help you generate an impact report faster. It cannot generate an accurate one if the data isn't connected. And AI running on bad data doesn't produce bad output at random — it produces confident-sounding bad output. Which is worse.

The most compelling donor stewardship is specific: this is what happened to this participant because of your gift. Most nonprofits can't tell that story yet. The technology to connect the systems exists. The process design to make it work is what's missing.

What to address first: are your program outcome data and donor data in the same system? If not, your AI investment will hit a wall at the reporting layer.

Gap 3 — Staff turnover without documented workflows

64% of nonprofits are dealing with staff recruiting, retaining, or burnout — the most widespread operational challenge in the sector.

When staff leave, the conversation is about the role. The more expensive problem is the institutional knowledge that leaves with them: donor context, data entry processes, report-building workarounds, and CRM configurations only they understood.

Organizations with documented workflows and CRM Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) recover from turnover in weeks. Organizations without them spend months rebuilding.

What to address first: are your five highest-risk CRM workflows documented in a format a new staff member could follow on day one?

It's not a coincidence one of these gaps hit close to home.

These three gaps show up in almost every organization I work with. The details change. The pattern doesn't.

What makes the difference is willingness to address them before they cost you a major donor, a key hire, or a reporting deadline you can't recover from.

A few ways to take a next step depending on where you are:

Not sure which gap applies most? Start with the free CRM Health Checklist. It takes 5 minutes and points you to your highest-risk area. Grab it here.

Want a fuller picture of your data infrastructure? The CRM Readiness Scorecard walks through five dimensions and tells you exactly where you stand. Take the assessment here.

Ready to talk it through? Reply to this email and tell me which gap feels most urgent. Or book a free 30-minute call and we'll figure out together what support actually makes sense for your situation.

Either way — I'm glad you're here.

Blessings,
​Joe A. Mata III