Engagement Plans in Salesforce Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP) are like ready-made checklists that guide your team through each step of an engagement process - such as cultivating a major donor, welcoming a new volunteer, or managing a grant application. They ensure the right actions happen at the right time, in the right order.
When you start an Engagement Plan, Salesforce automatically creates all the tasks from that plan, assigns them to the right people, and sets due dates - helping your team stay organized, consistent, and focused on building relationships. (Engagement Plans are available only in Salesforce orgs with NPSP installed.)
Templates vs. Plans
An Engagement Plan Template defines the list of tasks, their timing, and who they should be assigned to. It’s the setup you create once and reuse whenever that process is needed.
An Engagement Plan is what you get when you apply that template to a specific record, such as a Contact, Account, or Opportunity. When applied, Salesforce automatically creates all the tasks from the template and links them to that record.
Example: You could have a “Major Donor Stewardship” template. When you apply it to Jane’s Contact record, Salesforce generates Jane’s follow-up tasks with the due dates and assignments you set.
Key Engagement Plan Features and Customization
When you create an Engagement Plan Template in NPSP, you’ll see the following options and settings:
- Engagement Plan Template Name – The title for your template.
- Description – A short explanation of when or how to use this plan.
- Default Assignee – If a task doesn’t have a named assignee, this setting determines who gets it (Salesforce requires every task to have an owner). You can choose:
- User Creating Engagement Plan – The person starting the plan
- Owner of the Record – The owner of the record that the plan is linked to
- Skip Weekends – Ensures task due dates never fall on a Saturday or Sunday.
- Automatically Update Child Task Due Date – If enabled, dependent tasks’ due dates recalculate based on when the parent task is completed.
- Manage Engagement Plan Tasks – Where you define each task in the plan:
- Subject – Task name
- Assigned To – Specific user, role, queue, or triggering record owner
- Type & Priority – Classification and urgency
- Days After – Days from plan start or dependent task completion
- Dependent Task – Links a follow-up step to the one above
- Email/Reminder Options – Choose if Salesforce sends an email or creates a reminder
Customizing for Your Nonprofit
- Add Custom Fields - Create fields on the Engagement Plan object to track extra information like “Plan Type” or “Priority”.
- Use with Custom Objects - By default, Engagement Plans work with Contacts, Accounts, Opportunities, Campaigns, Cases, and Recurring Donations. To use them with a custom object:
- Add a lookup field from Engagement Plan to your custom object.
- Enable Allow Activities on that object in Object Manager.
- Add the Engagement Plans related list to the object’s page layout.
- Start Automatically - Use Salesforce Flow to create an Engagement Plan when certain conditions are met (for example, when a large donation is recorded).
- Combine with Other Automation - Engagement Plans create human tasks; Flows can run at the same time to send emails, update records, or post to Chatter.
Admin Setup Checklist
Before using Engagement Plans, make sure:
- The Engagement Plan Templates tab is visible to the needed profiles.
- Field-level security for Engagement Plan, Engagement Plan Task, and Engagement Plan Template is set (Create, Read, Edit, Delete as needed).
- Profiles have access to the EP_ManageEPTemplate Visualforce page (required for editing templates).
- Lookup from Engagement Plan to custom object is added (if using on a custom object).
- Allow Activities is enabled on that custom object.
- The Engagement Plans related list is added to the object’s page layout.
Limitations to Know
Even though Engagement Plans are flexible, there are a few things to be aware of:
Limited task assignment options - In the “Assigned To” field, you can only pick:
- A specific User
- A Partner User
- A Customer Portal User
- Or leave it blank so the Default Assignee applies (either the user creating the plan or the owner of the record the plan is on).
You cannot assign tasks to owners of other related records (like an Opportunity Owner, Case Owner, or Program Manager).
Example: If your plan is linked to a Contact but you want tasks to go to the owner of a related Opportunity, Engagement Plans can’t do that without extra automation (like Flow).
Tasks only - Engagement Plans only create Tasks. They don’t send emails, update fields, or post to Chatter (though they can set email reminders for assignees). Pair them with Flow if you need automatic system actions at the same time.
Dependent task due dates recalc only on completion - If “Automatically Update Child Task Due Date” is enabled, dependent tasks will shift only when the parent is completed, not when its due date is edited. This can cause later tasks to appear overdue if earlier steps are delayed but not marked as done.
Deleting a plan leaves its tasks - Removing an Engagement Plan record does not delete its related tasks. They remain in Salesforce and lose their dependency links.
Due dates are always based on the plan start date - “Days After” is always relative to the plan start date (or the completion of a dependent task). There’s no native way to set due dates based on other date fields (like Event Date) without Flow.
Template changes don’t update existing plans - Updating a template only affects plans created afterward. Any plans already in progress, keep the old task setup.
Template deployment is manual - Engagement Plan Templates are stored as data, not metadata, so you can’t deploy them with Change Sets. To move them between orgs, you’ll need to recreate them or use a data migration tool.
Engagement Plans vs. Flow-Only Task Creation
How to Choose Between Them
Engagement Plans are ideal when you want a ready-made checklist that’s easy to apply, manage, and track in one place. Because tasks from a plan are grouped under an Engagement Plan record, you can quickly see all steps in progress for that specific process.
Flows give you full flexibility - you can assign tasks to any related record’s owner, use complex logic for timing, and run multiple actions (like sending emails or updating fields) in the same automation. However, tasks from Flows don’t have a built-in “container,” so reviewing them as one process requires reports or custom solutions.
In many cases, using both together works best: Engagement Plans for structured, human-driven processes, and Flows for dynamic automation and system actions.
Conclusion
Engagement Plans are one of the most practical tools in NPSP for making sure your team follows the same, high-quality process every time. By designing clear templates and applying them to the right records, you can make sure no important donor, volunteer, or program follow-up slips through the cracks. Add some automation, and you’ll have a process that’s consistent, efficient, and easy for your team to follow.
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