Highlights from the Salesforce Winter ’25 Release: What You Need to Know

As the seasons shift, so too does Salesforce, with the Winter ’25 release bringing a wealth of exciting features and updates. Whether you’re wrapping up your fall projects or preparing for the year ahead, this release is packed with innovations designed to help you succeed. Let’s explore the key updates, expertly presented in our latest webinar by Salesforce professionals Sandra Peterson and Ian Cook., and how they’re shaping the future for nonprofit and education organizations alike.

Embracing Change: Winter ’25’s Exciting Features

Like the changing of the seasons, Salesforce is continuously evolving, and Winter ’25 is packed with innovations aimed at optimizing workflows and unlocking new potential. From increased email security to updated user management features, this release has something for everyone. Let’s dive into a few of the highlights.

Key Update 1: Flow User Permissions In an upcoming change, Salesforce will require specific permissions within permission sets to allow users to run flows, replacing the old method of simply checking a box on the user record. While this update won’t be enforced until next year, it’s a significant shift you should plan for now.

Key Update 2: Enhanced Email Security As of this release, organizations will need to verify a default “no-reply” email address for sending communications through Salesforce. Without this, emails may encounter deliverability issues, so it’s essential to check your settings.

Key Update 3: Platform Login Licenses If you have users who access Salesforce apps infrequently, consider switching them to the new platform login license. Instead of paying a monthly cost, you’ll now be charged a fee based on daily logins. This could save money for organizations with occasional users.

Nonprofit Cloud Enhancements

Nonprofits benefit significantly from the Winter ’25 updates, with new features that streamline fundraising, donor management, and grantmaking processes.

Fundraising Strategy Dashboard

A new fundraising strategy dashboard helps nonprofit organizations analyze key metrics for both mass-market and high-touch fundraising strategies. This tool provides actionable insights to refine campaigns and donor engagement tactics, making it easier to optimize results.

Gift Commitments and Donor Matching

A new donor-matching tool streamlines gift entry by allowing users to match donors based on external IDs, such as donor-specific identifiers, rather than relying solely on contact details. Additionally, nonprofits can now add soft credits to gift commitments, enhancing transparency around the influence of recurring gifts and pledges.

Streamlined Grantmaking

Grantmaking processes have been simplified with a new review workflow that consolidates data and feedback into a single page. This update helps internal and external reviewers assess applications more efficiently, providing a clearer and more cohesive view of each grant submission.

Improved User Management Across the Platform

Salesforce’s updates to user management are designed to simplify the administrative side of things, making it easier for teams to manage permissions and troubleshoot access issues.

Enhanced User List Views

Salesforce has modernized the user list view, bringing it in line with the functionality of Lightning Experience. With improved sorting, filtering, and column management options, this update makes managing users faster and more intuitive.

“Access Granted By” Feature

Admins can now easily identify how and why users have been granted specific permissions with the new “Access Granted By” button. This tool shows the source of permissions, such as permission sets or groups, streamlining the troubleshooting process when issues arise.

Education Cloud: A New Era for Higher Education

In parallel with these platform-wide enhancements, Salesforce continues to innovate in the education sector, offering institutions powerful tools to improve recruitment, admissions, and student success.

Recruitment and Admissions Enhancements

Salesforce introduced the academic interest object, allowing institutions to track recruitment inquiries with precision. Integrated with Marketing Cloud, this object enables automated, targeted marketing campaigns, streamlining the recruitment process from inquiry to enrollment.

In addition, Opportunity Management has been improved. Using the academic interest object, Salesforce can now automatically create opportunities and assign them to staff, providing a clear view of each student’s recruitment pipeline and potential revenue forecasts. This gives staff better visibility at every stage of the admissions process.

Recommender Experience

Admissions teams will love the new recommender experience, which automates the collection of recommendation letters. Students simply submit contact information for their recommenders, and Salesforce handles the rest—sending requests, reminders, and tracking responses.

Student Success Features

To ensure students are supported throughout their academic journey, Salesforce introduces pulse checks, a new feature that gives advisors real-time insights into students’ well-being. The visual score graph highlights key metrics, enabling advisors to intervene when necessary and track participation in critical activities.

Additionally, Watch Lists allow staff to monitor students based on specific criteria, ensuring continuous support through automated reminders and progress tracking.

Einstein Generative AI and Intelligent Degree Planning

One of the most exciting innovations is Einstein generative AI, which now generates an advising summary for each student. This feature compiles key data—such as academic performance, case information, and pulse check results—into a single AI-generated report, providing a holistic view of the student’s progress.

For those managing degree plans, intelligent degree planning tools allow students to visualize their course selections, compare different pathways, and ensure they’re on track to meet prerequisites and graduate on time.

Looking ahead

Salesforce’s Winter ’25 release showcases the company’s commitment to innovation across sectors. For nonprofits, education institutions, and beyond, these updates offer new ways to streamline processes, enhance user engagement, and save time.

Whether you’re fine-tuning your workflows or exploring new features, the Winter ’25 release is designed to help organizations hit the ground running in the new year. Experts like Sandra Peterson and Ian Cook are here to guide you through these changes, ensuring your team is well-equipped to take full advantage of Salesforce’s latest capabilities.