Thoughts on the NCOA updates?

Rachael Kusak

We run NCOA updates on our constituents four times per year. Recently, we worked with an outside consultant for a data analysis project, and they also processed our file through NCOA. It appears they identified significantly more address updates than we typically see.

Has anyone else experienced discrepancies like this? Does anyone have insight into the accuracy of Blackbaud’s NCOA processing?

Joe Moretti

We use the NCOA in Blackbaud four times a year as well, but never used anyone else. I think it just depends on what they are using to get that information. I think there really is no full proof program when it comes to this. I mean how many times has someone's mail for someone who used to live at your apartment or house has come to you. I know I have had a good bit of people who have not lived at my address for years.

Karen Diener

I know that Blackbaud uses NCOA but there is another product out in the world called PCOA or "Personal" change of address. Anecdotally, my understanding is that people are much more relaxed about filing their change of address with the post office since so many things are done online now - online bill pay specifically. I heard that PCOA is able to find those changes as well.

Also keep in mind that Blackbaud "own" the change of address information - they contract with a company that does, so any organization contracting with that company will have the same level of accuracy.

As Joe says, nothing will be perfect. You could use five different vendors and still miss people.

Dariel Dixon

I think changing up vendors is a good practice every so often. Even though (in the US) there's basically only one NCOA database, different vendors handle the data differently. You should definitely check and verify some addresses every time you get a screening.

It's also worth mentioning that time is a factor. Some vendors go back 4 years, where some only pull the most recent 18 months. I would inquire about how the vendor pulls the data and see if you're getting a 4 year pull or an 18 month pull.

Irene Hui

We use Blackbaud's AddressFinder's NCOA quarterly. Additionally, our mail houses run NCOA on our mailing lists that we submit for our individual print jobs such as direct mail, invitations, newsletters, etc. If a mailing has dropped around the same time as one of BB's NCOA runs - I find that that there is overlap where AddressFinder has already changed the address that the mail house's NCOA change file has returned which confirms accuracy and saves time in changing it in RE. Using both in tandem is helpful and has kept our donor records current.

Sara Niemiec

I agree with what everyone has said above. My org uses the NCOA/Address Finder feature, and I greatly appreciate that the updated addresses automatically update on the records, rather than simply getting a massive file back that I'd have to manually import. We're a university with over 200K grads. Shopping around for a similar service may be a good idea; please make sure that you take into consideration how you're going to get the updated data back in there and how much time that will take. Your time is incredibly valuable.

Joe Moretti

Sara is so on the mark with her comment!