Mike’s Monday Message: AFP’s Database Transition: It’s here!!!! What You Need to Know

On March 7 (next week!!!), AFP will launch a new membership database. This project is something that has been in the works for a long time, behind the scenes, so I’m very excited to finally be able to share our progress with you. 

AFP relies on our member database to help us provide you with the best membership experience possible. This new database will allow us to better serve you as an AFP member and a fundraiser, but in the short-term, it will mean a few changes that you’ll need to be aware of. 

These changes may cause some inconvenience and frustration in this next week-plus, and we fully understand that. I’ve been a part of several database implementations and they have all had challenges before and right after the “go-live” date.  But we ask for your patience and trust that this is a big, positive step for AFP and our ability to better serve you!

Without further ado, here is what you need to know: 

• Beginning today, Monday, February 27, through Tuesday, March 7, the AFP Connect discussion forums will be unavailable due to the database transition. 
• Beginning today, Monday, February 27, through Tuesday, March 7, some AFP chapter website functionality will be unavailable. 
  • The AFP chapter websites affected have URLs that begin with "community.afpglobal.org"
  • Functionality on affected sites that will be unavailable during this time include: member login (and thus any locked down members-only content), updates to the website, any event registration and chapter-specific discussion boards.
• Beginning this Saturday, March 3, through Tuesday, March 7, all AFP membership login, join and renewal functionality will be unavailable. 
  • Member login functionality will be unavailable and thus, all locked members-only content will be temporarily unavailable.
  • You also may experience delays through AFP’s customer service channels during that timeframe. 
• Next Monday or Tuesday, March 6 or 7, you will receive an email with subject line “Welcome to Salesforce: Verify Your Account” that you must click through to verify your account.
  • Until you verify your account, you will not be able to access your AFP member account.
  • The email will come from <noreply@salesforce.com> on March 6 or 7, 2023.
  • You have 7 days to take action on this email upon receipt, after which you will need to manually request a new email to verify your account.
  • Here is an example of what the email will look like:

• When you click through the “Verify Your Account” email, you will be prompted to reset your password. From this point forward you will use your email address and new password to log in to your AFP member account.
• If you have any issues locating your “Welcome to Salesforce: Verify Your Account” email or with logging in, please contact us at 800-666-3863 or afp@afpglobal.org.

We appreciate your patience while we go through this transition! There will be bumps over the coming weeks but we know the AFP Community will be better served as a result of this change.

We are looking forward to being able to provide a more seamless and powerful user experience for you, and our staff, who will be able to use the improved functionality of this new system to better assist you! 

If you have any questions, please feel free to connect with me via email at Mike.Geiger@afpglobal.org or on Twitter at @AFPMikeGeiger. I’d love to hear from you.