EmailFinder

Melissa Graves:

If you look into EmailFinder I think you will find that the donor has to approve that Blackbaud give you the email (or is it an opt-out - I forget?). I did not wind up using the service because I was not happy with the structured email that BB provides that is not very maleable and was not in keeping with our brand. It was also wierd how long (short) a period the link stayed open and what happened if a donor tried the link after that date.

Remember that there are other companies that can also do email append services that you should also look into. One I can think of that has been recommended to me (but I have not used) is Brian Lacey and Assoc.

 I've used it twice.  It's pricey, but I think I got fair results.  I don't remember if it's opt in or out, but we got very few opt outs (fewer than 10 total).  Our first run we excluded anyone that we already had an email address for and got about 1200 emails from less than 30k constituents.  Second run a couple of years later and returned 3400 email from less than 40k constituents.