AddressFinder Procedural Questions/Concerns

John Whitney
John Whitney
Second Anniversary Name Dropper Facilitator 1 June 2023 Monthly Challenge
in Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT®: General Discussions

Hello All,

We are attempting to update addresses using AddressFinder and some questions came up that I was hoping some of you might have an answer to. I have reached out to the organization's Blackbaud rep. with these questions but I'm hoping for some guidance from the community as to best practices, pros and cons around this process. The following are questions I sent the rep.

1) Once the agreement is signed, we noticed it’s an automatic update of addresses. What does "Automatically update" mean in this context? Is it on a cadence determined by us or by Blackbaud and what is automatically updated after the first update? Is it what we want updated based on available criteria options or does Blackbaud update the addresses using some default method?

2) Once updated, will it keep the former address for historical purposes?

3) If an address is marked as "Has no valid address" and web view updates it, does it uncheck that box?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Comments

  • Joe Moretti
    Joe Moretti Community All-Star
    Kudos 5 Third Anniversary Raiser's Edge NXT Fall 2025 Product Update Briefing Badge First Reply

    @John Whitney See my answers in bold. The answers pertain to the RE NXT Address Finder.

    1.) Once the agreement is signed, we noticed it’s an automatic update of addresses. What does "Automatically update" mean in this context? Is it on a cadence determined by us or by Blackbaud and what is automatically updated after the first update? Is it what we want updated based on available criteria options or does Blackbaud update the addresses using some default method?

    You can choose the date you want the update to take place once it is set, which it runs every quarter.

    2) Once updated, will it keep the former address for historical purposes?

    Yes, it will move the old address to former and mark the date it was moved to former.

    3) If an address is marked as "Has no valid address" and web view updates it, does it uncheck that box?

    It does not remove the “has no valid address”, so I always do a query of any addresses that were updated and globally remove the “Has no valid Address”.

    Address finder was already in play when I started with the organization and just knew it ran on a certain date.

  • Karen Diener
    Karen Diener
    Tenth Anniversary Kudos 5 First Reply Name Dropper

    @John Whitney it sounds like what you are describing is the process to run AddressFinder in webview. You should also be able to run it in Database view, which I prefer.

    The main reason is that I work with many organizations whose address data has not been maintained as well as it should be. They often have an address marked as “previous” or “former”, but the “send mail” checkbox is still marked. Since they most often just select “Preferred Mail” when generating mailings, it doesn't really matter.

    But AddressFinder in webview considers any address with the “send mail” box marked to be a valid address, and the address type is not considered. That makes sense because the values in the address type field are determined by each organization. If the Address Finder service identifies that the Preferred Address is no longer valid, but any other address still has the “send mail” checkbox marked, the constituent record is NOT marked as having no valid address.

    I am pretty sure there are users with other issues related to Address Finder in webview, so I'm hoping they chime in with theirs. What I mentioned here is my chief complaint. It can be fixed, of course, but will require some exporting / importing of address data to update “send mail” checkbox, which may or may not be something you feel comfortable handling.

  • Karen Diener
    Karen Diener
    Tenth Anniversary Kudos 5 First Reply Name Dropper

    Hi everyone,

    I wanted to share an update on my previous post from a few days ago. What I explained used to be the case with AddressFinder when run in webview (I have the slide from a webinar in 2021), but I do not think that is still the case.

    When I have time to verify how it is working - OR if I find a clear statement from Blackbaud about it - I'll post an update!

    Karen

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