returned mail

sarah buki

If you get mail back from the post office and the sticker says 'Refused' - what does your organization do with the constituent? Do you mark them as inactive? mark as invalid address? try sending mail again? 

Munaa Shariff

If the constituent has donated before we mark them in-active. Usually I'll add a note that says they refused the mail. If they don't have a gift record then we just delete them.

Cheryl Haimann

As a rule, we change the solicit code to Do Not Mail. (As my colleague said, "Who needs the aggravation?")



However, we might also check online to see if the constituent had died. We have a lot of older constituents, and sometimes the first we know of deaths is something from the post office.

Nicole S

Same as Cheryl

John Heizer

First I'd confirm that all the contact information for them was correct.  If they've been a long-time donor I'd do some research to make sure this wasn't some one-time strangeness.



If the refusal seems legit I'd flag them as "No Mail" (one of our Solicit Codes), Inactive, and if it was an Appeal mailing I'd code "Refused" as the Response on the Constituent Appeal record.  I'd also add a Note explaining the situation.  Lastly, just for safety, I'd set all of their Address records to have the Send mail to this address unchecked.



Even if they don't have gifts I'd never delete the Constituent's record because that would also remove all the other solicitation history, etc. which would skew Appeal Analysis and other reports.  Keeping the record also prevents you from mistakenly adding them in the future (or at least should answer the question when someone ask why isn't so-and-so being solicited).

Katherine Popowich

I would personally mark it as No Valid Address and create a note on the file as to why that was entered. When doing data entry it is a rule that if that checkbox is checked that the data entry staff member will update the address if need be and either way uncheck that check box as the address has been either confirmed or updated then we will update the note 

JoAnn Strommen

To me, "refused" mail is not the same thing as "no valid address".  "Refused" to me could show it is a valid address but for whatever reason the recipient is refusing to accept the mail you sent. 



Just my thoughts...

Robert Redman

I love all the answers to the original question. We are actually dealing with the same situation. I am fairly new at this organization and new to The Raiser's Edge. I have been given the responsibility to write the rule on returned mail, marking inactive, etc. We just did a PeopleFinder update and we have already gotten mail back from that update that was just submitted just a few weeks prior. How would anyone suggest to mark those constituents versus those we get back that haven't been updated for some time? Thanks!