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A Prominent Nonprofit Organization Unifies Data for Better Personalized Experiences

A global nonprofit faced a critical challenge with siloed data and manual processes that prevented personalized outreach. By partnering with Coastal to unify their data architecture using Snowflake, Salesforce Data 360, and zero-copy sharing, the organization eliminated friction, gained real-time visibility, and accelerated the delivery of their core mission.

Challenge

A prominent nonprofit organization dedicated to delivering personalized engagement to its global constituents found that its complex technical landscape was holding it back. It was difficult for the organization to move quickly or gain the unified data view required to execute its mission effectively.

To power truly personalized outreach, the organization recognized the need to consolidate its data and technology infrastructure. However, their existing environment told a different story. Critical obstacles included:

  • Siloed Data: Donor, volunteer, and campaign data were siloed across disparate systems (including non-primary CRM data in a SQL Server).
  • Vendor Bottlenecks: Heavy reliance on external agencies for marketing and reporting led to execution delays and slowed campaign agility.
  • Manual Processes: Time-consuming manual data loads and exchanges diverted valuable staff resources away from mission-critical work.
  • Limited Visibility: Lack of data visibility and ownership hindered agility and prevented personalized supporter engagement.

To better serve its mission, the nonprofit needed a smarter foundation it could truly own and operate.

Solution

The organization partnered with Coastal to simplify systems, unify data, and achieve end-to-end visibility. We engineered a modern data architecture leveraging Snowflake and Salesforce to:

  • Establish the Source of Truth: Coastal established Snowflake as the single source of truth for all donor data activated by Salesforce, while securely archiving historical data to the platform.
  • Empower Secure Collaboration: Coastal leveraged the Snowflake Marketplace to launch a private, secure data share for the nonprofit’s marketing agency. This allowed the agency to run campaigns using real-time, accurate data and share campaign results seamlessly, eliminating complex manual transfers.
  • Activate Data Instantly: Coastal integrated Salesforce Data 360 (formerly Data Cloud) using zero-copy architecture to activate unified data directly within Salesforce CRM.
  • Gain Internal Control: The new architecture immediately provided internal teams with real-time visibility and control, drastically reducing dependency on external vendors for critical reporting.

Clouds & Products

  • Snowflake
  • Data Cloud
  • Nonprofit Cloud

Results

This partnership enabled the nonprofit to successfully operate on a modern, scalable digital foundation, yielding immediate and long-term benefits:

  • Eliminated Tech Debt: The streamlined architecture removed technical debt, drastically reduced data duplication, and optimized the data flow for better marketing personalization and engagement metrics.
  • 360-Degree Constituent View: Donor and campaign data are now unified into one trusted, accessible view—providing a complete picture of every supporter.
  • Accelerated Efficiency: By automating previous manual data loads and exchanges, the organization realized substantial time savings—allowing teams to dedicate more resources directly to their core mission.
  • Future-Proof Scalability: The new platform is positioned for long-term growth and readily accommodates future strategic initiatives.
  • Sustained Innovation (Waves): The partnership is supported by Coastal's Waves Managed Services, ensuring ongoing platform health, continuous adoption, and innovation.

This modernization proves that when a nonprofit organization takes ownership of its data architecture, it can reduce friction, maximize operational efficiency, and build deeper, more personalized connections with the supporters who power its mission.