Preferred Address vs. Primary Business Organization Name: How do we run a query to include org linked to a constituent record when we need it, how do we eliminate when we don't?

Kristen Miles

Hi, I work for a small arts organization and I realize we're running into some problems with the way we've been pulling constituent queries. We've discovered during a recent review of list for a mailing we are doing (based on an RE query) that the information is slightly off. We need to run a query that includes the constituent's preferred mailing address, but it also needs to include pertinent business information (based on an organizational record that the individual is linked to) if the preferred mailing address is a Business Address (address type). Conversely, if the constituent's preferred mailing address is Home (address type), we don't want to have an organization they are linked to appear in the query in the event this information doesn't get edited out during a mail merge. The person who held this position before me would pull mailing lists using the following parameters. We have discovered that she probably did a lot of self editing after pulling the query because she knew our constituency very well. I don't have that institutional knowledge and need some help re-designing the following query: Constituent ID Name Last Name First Name Title 1 Primary Addressee Preferred Address Line 1 Preferred Address Line 2 Preferred Address Line 3 Preferred City Preferred State Preferred Zip Preferred Send Mail To This Address Preferred Address Type Primary Business Organization Name Relation Contact I understand that Preferred Address/Preferred Address Type and Primary Business Organization Name do not necessary correlate because Business Organization is part of the Relationships tab. However, it seems that Raisers' Edge is an advanced enough tool that we should be able to pull a query showing what we want to see when we need it, and hide things when we don't. How can I change this query to pull in the preferred mailing address AND pull in the organizational relation info if the preferred address type is a business? How do we NOT include the organizational relation information if the preferred address type is not a business (i.e. Home, etc.) Any help would be greatly appreciated! Many thanks in advance for reading through all this. Very best, Maureen

JoAnn Strommen

Kristen Miles:
Hi, I work for a small arts organization and I realize we're running into some problems with the way we've been pulling constituent queries. We've discovered during a recent review of list for a mailing we are doing (based on an RE query) that the information is slightly off. We need to run a query that includes the constituent's preferred mailing address, but it also needs to include pertinent business information (based on an organizational record that the individual is linked to) if the preferred mailing address is a Business Address (address type). Conversely, if the constituent's preferred mailing address is Home (address type), we don't want to have an organization they are linked to appear in the query in the event this information doesn't get edited out during a mail merge. The person who held this position before me would pull mailing lists using the following parameters. We have discovered that she probably did a lot of self editing after pulling the query because she knew our constituency very well. I don't have that institutional knowledge and need some help re-designing the following query: Constituent ID Name Last Name First Name Title 1 Primary Addressee Preferred Address Line 1 Preferred Address Line 2 Preferred Address Line 3 Preferred City Preferred State Preferred Zip Preferred Send Mail To This Address Preferred Address Type Primary Business Organization Name Relation Contact I understand that Preferred Address/Preferred Address Type and Primary Business Organization Name do not necessary correlate because Business Organization is part of the Relationships tab. However, it seems that Raisers' Edge is an advanced enough tool that we should be able to pull a query showing what we want to see when we need it, and hide things when we don't. How can I change this query to pull in the preferred mailing address AND pull in the organizational relation info if the preferred address type is a business? How do we NOT include the organizational relation information if the preferred address type is not a business (i.e. Home, etc.) Any help would be greatly appreciated! Many thanks in advance for reading through all this. Very best, Maureen

Rebecca, Have read your post several time myself and see no one else has responded.  I've hesitated to respond because I don't know how your org has entered/coded your addresses, so it's hard to know what to suggest.  If I were you I would contact support (create a case by phone or online).  They can do a screen share with you to see how your addresses are entered and suggest solutions. 

Sorry don't have your answer...

Margie Hill 2

Hello - We have the same situation.  Were you ever able to find a solution?  I tried contacting support and their solution did not work.



Thanks!

Christine Cooke 2

Without going through and conducting a housekeeping project how Preferred Address for all your records (because you could change the business address to the Preferred if needed).

My suggestion would be this:  The Export fields you pull for the list should include the Preferred Address 1 and 2, City State and Zip AND also the Primary Business Name, Address 1 and 2, City State and Zip.



You could then sort and scan the export and see who has a preferred business or home address.  If the Preferred Address columns are blank because the default is that that is presumably the Home Address, then you can utilize the Prime Business Name and Address info.  It will be  a pain if you have to do this very often, so I would suggest making this a housekeeping project, so that when you pull preferred address everyone has those fields populated, and if that preferred address is a Business the name of the business will populate as long as the "always print the org name check box" is checked on their records, and you include the field in your export output fields.

Kelsey Hilton

Hi all!



Kristen, thanks so much for bringing this to the Community! This is a great space to discuss best practices to make your mailing lists more accurate or easier to pull.



As Christine mentioned, I think you could definitely benefit from pulling extra information out of your export to really help round out what's included. You can then sort by different fields and remove any information you don't need. While this is additional work that I wouldn't by any means recommend doing everytime, it will also assist you in getting to know your data and knowing which fields are important and help you to know where to mail your constituents. I'd recommend checking out some of the following fields under the Address section:

• Indicator: This will show you if an address is Preferred, or if it is the Business address from the Primary Organiztion Relationship for the Individual Constituent
• Preferred?: This will show you a Yes/No or True/False output, to indicate if the address is marked as Preferred
• Type: Some users use Type to give a better indication of the type of address - i.e., Home may not always be Preferred, sometimes it may be Business (which would indicate you need Organization information)

Additionally, I would highly recommend checking out Address Processing if you have not used it before. Address Processing allows users to have The Raiser's Edge run through a set of rules before outputting an address, based on conditions you set up. You can even choose to export Contacts for Businesses. Check out this Knowledgebase article on how Address Processing works. It's really very useful, and you can tell The Raiser's Edge easily which addresses you'd prefer to see in exports. Make RE work for you!



I hope this helps! If you keep having trouble, don't hesitate to reach out to support for your specific questions or feel free to come back to Community. Thanks for reading!



- Kelsey