Salesforce Electronic Signatures | The Ultimate Guide for Nonprofits
Hawk-eye editor with a passion for trailblazing Salesforce experiences
Electronic signatures are better for the environment, save nonprofits time and money, and of course, make the signing process a million times easier for donors and volunteers.
Instead of getting swamped by admin and endless paperwork, it’s now the new norm for benefactors to receive a link or email so they can sign documents securely and on the move from anywhere in the world!
Nonprofit organizations that aren’t using eSignature solutions lose the attention span of their donors pretty quickly, and chances are that those important registration forms, governance documents, or deeds of trust are never going to be signed manually… And so agreements are delayed drastically while paperwork piles up!
For all these reasons and more, nonprofit organizations keen to embrace digitization are making eSignatures a cornerstone of their processes. If you are shopping around for the right tool, where do you start? We suggest choosing a signing tool 100% integrated with Salesforce, the planet’s #1 CRM!
Electronic Signatures in Salesforce for Nonprofits
Salesforce is a treasure trove of data with the power to provide personalized insights on individual benefactors at scale. If your nonprofit organization is already using Salesforce as its CRM, then it only makes sense to choose a Salesforce-integrated signing solution. This way, your nonprofit organization can draw on a single source of truth.
And if you haven’t tried Salesforce yet, then there are good reasons to do so. This is because your nonprofit organization will be able to automate workflows, accurately track every step of the signing process in Salesforce, and close agreements faster by working with the most accurate view of all parties involved in the signing lifecycle.
Sounds great, but there is a hitch. Salesforce does not have a native signing feature. A few solutions, like DocuSign, claim to be native to Salesforce. But in reality, your best bet is to visit the AppExchange, do some research on the third-party signing tools for Salesforce, and purchase one that best fits your use case and nonprofit objectives.
Before you do so, you must ask your nonprofit colleagues the following questions:
- Do we need eSignatures or digital signatures?
- How do we ensure our signing tool is compliant?
- What are the top features of a robust eSignature solution for Salesforce?
To answer our first question for nonprofit organizations, let’s take a closer look at electronic versus digital signatures.
Explaining the Difference between Electronic Signatures and Digital Signatures to Nonprofit Admins
If you thought eSignatures and digital signatures were the same thing, then don’t worry. You are not alone. However, while the two overlap and are used in similar ways in the nonprofit sector, there are some major differences.
It’s important to bear in mind that electronic signatures simply refer to any signature that is created on a computer or electronic device. This includes typing your name neatly or awkwardly scribbling with that clumsy Adobe drawing tool.
Imagine a nonprofit consultant sent a waiver form in PDF format via email to a volunteer. When the volunteer types out their name at the bottom of the waiver form and emails it back to the nonprofit organization, that’s considered an eSignature, too.
Electronic signatures are legally binding but they are not easy to trace and they don’t allow for super accurate identification. Someone else could be signing virtually on a volunteer’s behalf and there is no easy way for nonprofit signing parties to verify this.
Often, when the stakes are not particularly high, eSignatures are good enough for nonprofit organizations and they offer the perk of being simple and cheap to implement.
Digital signatures work with much more sophisticated (cryptographic) technology to accurately pinpoint the identity of each signer, the location in which they signed the document, and the device they signed it from. Digital signatures mean that nonprofits never have to worry if someone made changes to a doc after they signed it because each signer has a unique digital signature with the exact time they signed the document.
When choosing the right signing solution for your nonprofit organization, it’s a good idea to weigh up whether or not you need to adhere to the strict requirements of digital signatures.
Digital signatures offer several additional layers of verification and security, but they can also come with added time and cost. If your nonprofit organization is making a major deal, digital signatures are a must!
We advise that a reliable signing tool should offer your nonprofit organization digital and eSignatures so they can be used flexibly, depending on the requirements of use cases.
The Importance of Being 21 CFR Part 11 Compliant in Nonprofit Sectors
Any signing solution worth its salt should also be 21 CFR Part 11 compliant. And if that just sounded like a foreign language to you, then that’s exactly why you should choose an app that does all the heavy lifting to ensure that your nonprofit organization meets all its requirements.
Title 21 CFR Part 11 is actually an FDA (Food and Drug Administration) regulation. It ensures that electronic records are as reliable as their paper-based counterparts. There are a whole host of 21 CFR Part 11 requirements, most of which ensure the integrity of the signer. This regulation strictly stipulates that only a single individual may use a particular signature and that only the rightful owner of a signature can use it.
To learn more, check out our article on Title 21 CFR Part 11. If your nonprofit product or service is FDA-regulated, then it’s essential that you choose a signing tool that is compliant with 21 CFR Part 11.
Features of Robust Salesforce Signing Tools for Nonprofit Admins
We hope you are still flying with us because now it’s time to get into all the details of robust Salesforce signing tools. Of course, these are just our recommendations, but if your nonprofit organization chooses a tool with these features, it will have ultimate flexibility.
1. Start the Nonprofit Signing Process from anywhere in Salesforce
Ideally, nonprofit organizations should be able to trigger a signing process from any standard or custom object or embed it in any Salesforce asset, such as Nonprofit Cloud, app pages, and List views. It is also convenient for nonprofit organizations to trigger the signing process from within a Salesforce flow for complete automation.
2. Dynamic Nonprofit Templates and Documents
Nonprofit professionals should have the ability to work with any dynamic document or template in any format. This means nonprofit admins will be able to upload a document from a device, configure it dynamically using Salesforce data, or use a file saved in their CRM platform to start signing fast. This means no limits and no roadblocks for your nonprofit organization with Salesforce electronic signatures.
3. Nonprofit Admins can Add a Dynamic Number of Signers and Determine their Identity in Real Time
It’s often difficult to know how many signers a nonprofit organization will need in order to wrap up a deal. For example, you might not initially know that a grant agreement needs to be signed off by both the Executive Director and the Board Chair of the company you are dealing with or your donation form might legally require extra witnesses.
With a robust Salesforce eSignature solution, the number of signers can be dynamically determined throughout the signing process. Similarly, your nonprofit organization wants to choose a tool that enables admins to figure out the identity of each signer in real time based on Salesforce data.
This is not only good for security but also enables nonprofit admins to configure a flow where each individual signs in a pre-defined order.
4. Security and Tracking in Salesforce for Nonprofit Organizations
Security and tracking are also major considerations when choosing the right signing tool for Salesforce. Choose an option that either comes with 2FA (2-factor authentication) or SSO (single sign-on) so that you can rest easy knowing your important nonprofit documents are only being read by the intended audience.
Facial recognition is an even bigger bonus and we also recommend being compliant with HIPAA, which reassures your volunteers and donors that your nonprofit documents meet the highest standards of data protection.
Nonprofit organizations should also aim for a solution that enables them to track every stage and detail of the signing process directly in Salesforce so they can get complete transparency and visibility on their most crucial documents.
5. Conditional Logic for Personalization in the Nonprofit Sector
One of the incredible things about Salesforce is that no two benefactors are ever treated the same, and your nonprofit organization should go for a signing tool that offers the same level of personalization.
Your nonprofit organization’s ideal signing tool should be able to show or hide fields depending on the decisions and profile of the signer. This means each signer only sees fields relevant to them, and if certain nonprofit documents have role-based permissions, your signing tool can help keep them in place.
Other features to look out for in the right eSignature tool for Salesforce include the ability to update records after signing is complete and also save your nonprofit doc in your CRM platform or an external storage system of your choice.
eSignature Salesforce Limitations for Nonprofit Organizations
Now that we have discussed the perks of nonprofit organizations choosing eSignatures for Salesforce as well as some of the most important features the right solution should have, you might be wondering about relevant limitations.
Of course, Salesforce’s biggest constraint is that it does not have an out-of-the-box signing solution. Other restrictions depend on the third-party eSignature tool your nonprofit organization chooses to use.
So, let’s check out some of the most popular signing solutions for Salesforce below to get an understanding of the different limitations and upsides per tool.
Salesforce eSign Tools for Nonprofits
Check out a complete breakdown of some of the most well-known Salesforce eSignature tools on the market.
Adobe Acrobat Sign
Adobe is a big player in the world of signing solutions, and has been around since 1982. Adobe Sign has a direct Salesforce integration and its eSignature solutions have over 3000 reviews on the AppExchange.
So, what are the pros and cons of this solution for nonprofit organizations?
Pros
Cons:
Docusign
DocuSign for Salesforce likes to market itself as a native signing tool. It is also often believed that DocuSign is a feature or functionality of Salesforce rather than a separate third-party app that integrates with the #1 CRM.
So, what should your nonprofit organization know about DocuSign?
Pros
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Conga Sign
Bought out by Apttus in 2020, Conga now markets itself as a suite of tools that helps streamline the revenue lifecycle. Perhaps most well-known for its Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) solutions, Conga has its own eSigning solution that integrates directly with Salesforce. Could this e-signature tool for Salesforce be your nonprofit organization’s best solution?
Pros
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Dropbox Sign
Dropbox Sign, formerly known as Hello Sign, integrates with Salesforce. It could help your nonprofit organization track the entire signing process in the #1 CRM and close agreements faster. So, what are this tool’s main features, capabilities, and limitations?
Pros
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Formstack Sign
Primarily known as a form builder for Salesforce, Formstack also has its own eSigning solution. While nonprofit admins won’t be able to find the signing solution on the AppExchange, they can learn more about it via the Formstack website.
Pros
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Sertifi E-Sign
Sertifi is a specialist in eSigning solutions. While there is a Sertifi app on the Salesforce AppExchange, it has only been reviewed by some 200 users, making it a smaller player than other alternatives on this list.
Targeted toward making payments more efficient, Sertifi comes with its own strengths and weaknesses for nonprofit organizations. Check them out below:
Pros
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PandaDoc Esignatures
What began as a startup in Belarus in 2011 is now a big name in Silicon Valley. PandaDoc has some 30,000 customers, and it has a popular eSigning solution.
So, how does it work with Salesforce, and is it worth using in your nonprofit organization?
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Titan Sign
Last but not least on this list is Titan Sign for Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud. Titan Sign is part of Titan’s no-code suite of enterprise applications for Salesforce. Each of the Titan modules is entirely declarative and designed to help your nonprofit admins build custom applications using no code. Titan Sign works seamlessly with Titan’s other products like Salesforce Doc Gen and Salesforce CLM and comes with some powerful features of its own.
So let’s check them out:
Pros:
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Nonprofit Use Cases for Salesforce Electronic Signatures
If you are still reading, then you might be wondering exactly how eSignatures are used in specific nonprofit cases. Below, we take a look at some nonprofit use cases that demonstrate the power of eSignatures for Salesforce:
Nonprofit Contracts
Many nonprofit organizations use Salesforce to generate contracts and send them out to donors or volunteers for signing. Electronic signing for contracts is a common task that requires a Salesforce e-signature, as it increases the security levels of the document and allows nonprofits to fully automate a donor pipeline.
A Salesforce eSignature removes the tasks of printing out contracts, delivering the document to each signee in the agreement, collecting physical signatures from donors or volunteers, and scanning the document back into digital format for archiving. This makes for a faster and more convenient process all around for nonprofit consultants.
Grant Proposals for Nonprofits
Nonprofit organizations that need to send Salesforce funding or grant proposals to donors also need the help of eSignatures. These documents usually contain information regarding the details of a project, the problem statement, goals, and objectives of the nonprofit organization. It’s important to get these specifications signed off for approval before committing to any work.
Using Salesforce eSignatures for grant and funding proposals can remove the manual tasks that make traditional document signing processes so painstaking, such as printing, signing, scanning, and mailing nonprofit documents. They also speed up the donor pipeline and reduce typos.
Nonprofit Confidentiality Agreements
The nonprofit sector is one of many industries that have to create and manage Salesforce confidentiality agreements and other legal documents. Organizations in the nonprofit sector often require digital signatures to fully secure their confidentiality agreements.
In the case of sensitive confidentiality agreements, a tool with facial recognition is also advantageous because it helps nonprofit consultants verify the identity of each signer.
Member Onboarding in the Nonprofit Sector
We all know that feeling of joining a nonprofit organization and being overwhelmed by the paperwork involved. eSignatures for Salesforce ensure the member onboarding process is efficient, secure, and convenient for all parties involved.
An everyday use case for how eSignatures are used to streamline member onboarding in the nonprofit sector can be seen below.
After a member provides personal information to sign up for a volunteer or donor program, the nonprofit organization can automatically generate a document for the member to sign and submit back into the system.
Signing can be completed electronically and securely.
Nonprofit Contract Extensions
When your nonprofit membership program comes to an end, you might want to extend it to continue subscriptions. eSignatures provide a convenient way to deliver documents and collect signatures for nonprofit contract extensions. Not only do they help make the process more efficient, but eSignatures are valuable tools for adding security to your nonprofit contract extensions.
Approvals and Authorizations for Nonprofit Organizations
eSignatures have become a trusted tool for streamlining Salesforce approval processes for the nonprofit sector. For example, an executive director, a board chair, and the treasurer would need to sign a service contract with a financial value that is greater than the threshold.
The process of approving and authorizing this increase in finances can involve a lot of paperwork and scheduling meetings to collect physical signatures. With an eSignature solution for Salesforce, many nonprofit organizations have simplified their approval and authorization processes via bulk signing and automation.
Nonprofit Partnership Agreements
Nonprofit organizations implement eSignatures for partnership agreements as they speed up processes and reduce manual administrative tasks for teams and partners.
How it usually works is that a Salesforce partnership agreement is created and sent to recipients for signing. The partner can review the agreement online and discuss any issues with associates through built-in collaboration tools.
If the partner is happy with the document, they can electronically sign it and submit it back to the nonprofit organization. Usually, the nonprofit representative will also electronically sign the document for approval.
The digital nonprofit partnership agreement is then stored in a CRM repository, like Salesforce, and emailed to all stakeholders involved in the signing process.
HR and Employee Documents in the Nonprofit Sector
There are many benefits that HR teams employed at nonprofit organizations can enjoy by adding eSignatures to their document management processes. For example, HR users can manage their member onboarding tasks better with eSignatures and Salesforce, as it allows these professionals to collect many nonprofit documents and signatures in bulk from new hires or volunteers.
Beneficiary Application Documents for Nonprofit Organizations
Nonprofit organizations can use eSignatures for almost any document they can think of. For example, nonprofit organizations can use eSignature solutions to speed up applications and approvals of their beneficiary membership programs. Without eSignature solutions for Salesforce in nonprofit, consultants would have to follow many time-consuming steps to complete beneficiary applications.
Some of these steps include managing physical documents and repetitive data entry tasks for Salesforce.
Nonprofit Compliance and Regulatory Documents
Not only do eSignatures provide nonprofit organizations a practical way to streamline document tasks related to compliance and regulations, but they also offer security and help to comply with laws that require signatures for acknowledgment.
Nonprofit organizations enhance their regulatory system with Salesforce by adding eSignature solutions to their processes so they can collect and manage compliance and regulatory documents from volunteers or donors quickly.
Wrapping Up eSignatures in Salesforce for Nonprofits
And that’s a wrap on eSignatures in Salesforce for nonprofit organizations. We hope you have enjoyed learning about how these tools can streamline nonprofit processes and help propel your organization into the digital era.
Given Salesforce’s lack of native signing tools, there is an exciting gap in the market for third-party apps to step in. While there are many solid options, Titan Sign stands out for its real-time Salesforce integration and no-code implementation.
Want more for your nonprofit’s Salesforce apps? Titan can also create custom documents, online forms, web apps, and eSignatures! If you need Salesforce survey tools, we have them covered, too.
Find Titan on Salesforce AppExchange! We would love to hear from your nonprofit organization and find out what you are looking for in an eSignature tool.
Get in touch and let us know now!
Disclaimer: The comparisons listed in this article are based on information provided by the companies online and online reviews from users. If you found a mistake, please contact us.
