Salesforce.com Foundation Announces Salesforce1 for Higher Ed

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 25, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The Salesforce.com Foundation today announced Salesforce1 for Higher Ed, a new set of solutions to empower higher education institutions to create connected campuses and connect to their constituents in entirely new ways. The Salesforce.com Foundation also announced Advancement Connect, an app developed in partnership with roundCorner, that enables universities to optimize alumni relationships and fundraise from any device. Universities including University of Southern California, Arizona State University, College for America at Southern New Hampshire University and Cornell University have already created connected campuses with Salesforce1 for Higher Ed.

Comments on the News

• "The Salesforce.com Foundation is focused on putting the best technology in the hands of universities so they can focus on student success," said Rob Acker, COO, Salesforce.com Foundation. "Salesforce1 for Higher Ed brings the best social, mobile and cloud technology and levels the playing field for the higher education sector."
• "USC has a bold academic vision and needs a platform that can support our ambitions as well as keep up with the scale and pace of our advancement activities," said Al Checcio, senior vice president for university advancement, University of Southern California. "We are thrilled to work with the Salesforce.com Foundation to build and implement a system that will help us meaningfully engage all of USC's constituencies well into the future."
• "It was important for Arizona State University to choose a platform on which we can gain insights across the entire student lifecycle, as these interactions can have a significant influence on both student success and lifelong engagement with the university," said Gordon Wishon, chief information officer, Arizona State University. "With Salesforce1 for Higher Ed, we have a true constituent 360-degree view and we reduce the need to transfer data from one system to another–significantly reducing time and errors."
• "In an always-connected, always-on world, universities must meet the rising expectations of students and other stakeholders for institutional services that are personalized, interactive and immediate," said Nicole Engelbert, director of research & analysis, Ovum Industry Technologies. "Investing in the latest cloud and social technologies is vital to achieving this goal. With Salesforce1 for Higher Ed, universities can fundamentally change the campus experience by better connecting with students at every stage of the student lifecycle."
• "Salesforce's scalability and flexibility make it the perfect platform for building higher education apps," said Dan Lammot, president, roundCorner. "That's why we are working with the Salesforce.com Foundation and industry-leading advancement customers–including USC–to create the next generation of higher education fundraising and alumni engagement solutions on Salesforce."

Salesforce1 for Higher Ed–Creating Connected Campuses
With Salesforce1 for Higher Ed and the Advancement Connect App, universities can become connected campuses–connecting with their students, faculty and alumni through social, mobile and cloud technologies. These solutions will enable universities to better recruit and engage students and alumni through personalized, 1:1 communications. Salesforce1 for Higher Ed includes:

• Salesforce for Recruiting: With Salesforce for Recruiting, universities can engage prospective students across channels to increase applicants and boost recruiter performance. In addition, now universities can gain insight into all recruiting efforts from one central location.
• Salesforce for Student Success: Now, universities can create a one-stop shop where students can view important campus resources, access relevant paperwork and seek answers from administrators anytime, on any device. Salesforce for Student Success also empowers universities to proactively engage with at-risk students, dramatically increasing retention rates.
• Salesforce for Advancement: With Salesforce for Advancement, universities can optimize alumni lifetime value and nurture donor relationships. For universities with more sophisticated requirements, the Advancement Connect app, developed in partnership with roundCorner, includes additional features for fundraising, events management, volunteer management and more, all in one place. Now, advancement and alumni relations departments can better connect with their alumni and raise more funds by more efficiently managing the gift donation cycle.
• Salesforce for Community Engagement: Salesforce for Community Engagement empowers universities to increase collaboration across the campus. Students and faculty can now collaborate on projects, assignments and campus issues using custom, branded communities that allow users to easily share files, post updates, take polls and more.
• Salesforce for Marketing: Universities will now be able to plan, personalize and optimize journeys for prospective students, current students and alumni across channels and devices. 

University Success with Salesforce1 For Higher Ed
Leading universities are already having success with Salesforce1 for Higher Ed including:

• University of Southern California: Advancement Connect is being implemented as a critical part of the infrastructure for USC's $6 billion, multi-year campaign to advance the university's academic priorities and expand the university's positive impact on the community and world. The campaign has generated more than $3.6 billion from nearly 250,000 donors in its first four years.
• Arizona State University: Arizona State University is implementing its vision of a connected campus, unifying multifaceted programs and relationships on a single platform–Salesforce1 for Higher Ed–to truly connect with its constituents and its community. ASU's vision uses Salesforce for community outreach from K-12 programs to recruitment, service to current students and long-term affinity of alumni, visitors and events.
• College for America at Southern New Hampshire University: College for America built its nonprofit, accreditor-approved college on the Salesforce Platform, which includes a custom competency-based learning management system, a student information system and an early warning system for at-risk students.
• Cornell University: Cornell University's College of Agriculture & Life Sciences is using Salesforce1 for Higher Ed to redefine the student experience on campus. The university is building an intuitive online experience to onboard and engage new students, scale student services and ensure student success.

Pricing & Availability

• Salesforce1 for Higher Ed solutions are generally available now. Nonprofit universities are eligible for donated and discounted Salesforce licenses through the Salesforce.com Foundation. The Advancement Connect app will start at $150 per user per month for qualified nonprofit universities and is expected to be generally available in December of 2014.

Additional Information

• For more information on the Salesforce.com Foundation, please visit: http://www.salesforcefoundation.org
• Follow @SFDCFoundation on Twitter: http://twitter.com/sfdcfoundation
• Like the Salesforce.com Foundation on Facebook: http://facebook.com/Salesforce.comFoundation

About the Salesforce.com Foundation
The Salesforce.com Foundation is based on a simple idea: leverage salesforce.com's people, technology and resources to help improve communities around the world. We call this integrated corporate philanthropic approach the 1-1-1 model. Since the Foundation's inception in 1999, employees have committed more than 680,000 hours of their time to volunteer and pro bono projects, more than 23,000 organizations in 115 countries are using donated and discounted Salesforce licenses and more than $68 million in grants have been awarded. For more information on the Salesforce.com Foundation, please visit www.salesforcefoundation.org.

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