Consulting Services for Nonprofits by Database Sherpa

Ashima is a fantastic resource who helped me learn the Salesforce ecosystem. She continues to be a guide in my development as a Salesforce admin.

The Database Sherpa was the perfect fit for us. Although we have a small full-time staff of five people, we were able to work strategically to get everyone on the team on board with new processes and make our Salesforce instance work for programs, volunteers, and fundraising. The Database Sherpa guided us through a transition from an existing (and messy) donor database and many, many excel spreadsheets that previously tracked volunteers and participants. We couldn't be happier with the results!

Ashima is well educated on Salesforce products and when she doesn't know something she finds out ASAP. She thinks about problems beyond the scope of the meetings, she calls Treks. That is to say, she's always problem solving. She's kind, thoughful, a great educator and facilitator. She gives you the tools to be an all star administrator from building, documenting, training, and maintaining! I'd definitely recommend her.

I was anxious going into this project as someone who doesn't have a ton of experience with databases or other kinds of tech. The scope of the project seemed daunting but Ashima was excellent at guiding us through each step, helping us practice, and being available for questions and reminders. The work we did together has been invaluable for making our database tailored to our needs and there wasn't a single part of the process that felt overwhelming or stressful. I looked forward to our sessions with Ashima every week and appreciate her humor, patience and flexibility throughout our time. I highly recommend working with Ashima and Database Sherpa.

The consulting approach of the Sherpas is a unique one. Their help was far less expensive than other agencies I looked at using, largely because they provide training and coaching, while the organization they are helping does all of the actual building and implementation work. This worked well for us, a nonprofit on a tight budget who wanted to be able to learn the skills needed for Salesforce in house as quickly as possible. The small size of the Sherpa team and the fact that I was the only person working on Salesforce at my organization caused our project to take much longer than originally anticipated, but the Sherpas were gracious in extending consulting time as needed. They were not always the most organized, but were very friendly, and in the end helped us to accomplish everything we wanted to complete. I think their process of training the end user rather than doing the work for the user works well, as I have been able to continue building our Salesforce instance on my own since my time working with the Sherpas completed.

Database Sherpa is fantastic

I have worked with a few different consulting partners and it almost does not feel right to compare Database Sherpa to those other partners because the difference is so large. You basically look for two different things in a consulting partner: 1) Do they know their stuff and 2) Can they relate that knowledge effectively? Not only does Database Sherpa have a really deep understanding of Salesforce that reaches depths that no person in their right mind should ever attempt to reach (here's looking at you JSON parser method for the tooling api), but they bring a great demeanor and communicate very clearly in a way that deepens understanding for the client. I had a feeling that Database Sherpa was a different type of organization when they provided a free guide for the household account migration process (before anything else was out there). After getting a chance to work with them briefly, I feel even stronger about that. These people make a difference and are just fantastic.

Such a great partner!

We love Database Sherpa! Super knowledgeable folks on the team and a wonderful, calm, mindful approach to their work. Can't recommend them highly enough!

Salesforce Development is a Journey, Not Just a Destination

I met Ashima though the MI Nonprofit User Group when I began as a novice System Admin in 2014. When I moved over to Habitat for Humanity of MI, there was much work to be done to bring their mature org (and many rouge spreadsheets) in line with modern best-practices, and Ashima was a natural choice for the job. Ashima is fantastic, not just for the technical details of getting the work done, but for her compassion and care for the well-being of those she works with. Working with her and her team is like a breath of fresh air when I'm feeling like I'm in over my head on a project. Instead of just doing the work for us, she guides and mentors me through it, making me a stronger, more confident admin once our work is done. Now anytime I need some extra help to get through a development project, I talk with Ashima first.

We couldn't have done without Database Sherpa!

We came into the process with virtually no donor management system experience and having no clear idea how much work it was to set this up. We started our first Trek with a mishmash of Excel spreadsheets created by a number of different staff members. Ashima and Gabriel assured us that they could help us turn these into a fantastic database - and they did! They were so patient, helpful and supportive to all of us throughout the process. They not only explain everything along the way as they helped us set up our account, but they made sure we understood the process as well. With their help we not only have a database that is making our work easier and more efficient each day, but we have the tools to modify and expand on the system they helped us create. Both Ashima and Gabriel were wonderful in making this monumental task fun and interesting, and they were encouraging at the times when we were feeling overwhelmed and in way over our heads. I honestly do not know how we would have accomplished what we did without them!

Great resource and great service

My organization had used Ashima previously when we implemented Salesforce years ago. Various people had come and gone who had been the lead for Salesforce. I contact Ashima so that I could learn to be the admin for Salesforce and to document how to use Salesforce for our organization. Ashima became a valuable resource for me as I navigated some changes to the way we use Salesforce as well as our upgrade for NPSP 3. She is such a wonderful source off knowledge and never makes you feel like you cannot do something. She is there to bolster you up as you learn new skills and encourage you. I walked away from our sessions always feeling better about my proficiency in Salesforce. I cannot recommend Database Sherpa enough and am passing along their information to anyone who is even thinking about using Salesforce within my community.