Replace Geolocation Autocomplete with Postal Validation for Online Forms and Manual Address Entry in RENXT
Description:
Across Raiser’s Edge NXT — including the online forms donors and registrants fill out — address entry currently relies on a geolocation/places autocomplete service (e.g., Bing Maps Autosuggest). This tool is designed for map searching, not for validating mailing addresses. As a result, it frequently:
Fails to recognize valid residential or organizational addresses
Suggests unrelated businesses or far‑away locations
Struggles with international formats
Does not standardize addresses to USPS or global postal standards
Creates friction for donors, registrants, and staff
Introduces inconsistent or undeliverable address data into the database
For a fundraising CRM, accurate and standardized addresses are essential for stewardship, tax receipts, segmentation, and donor communication. A mapping autocomplete is not sufficient for these needs.
Request:
Please replace the current geolocation-based autocomplete with a true postal validation API, such as:
USPS CASS-certified validation (for U.S. addresses)
A global postal dataset for international addresses
This should apply consistently across all address entry points, including:
RENXT Standard Donation Forms
RENXT Optimized Donation Forms
Event Registration Forms
Manual address entry inside Raiser’s Edge NXT
Membership Forms
Any future forms or workflows that collect addresses
Benefits:
Cleaner, standardized address data at the point of entry
Fewer returned mail pieces and wasted postage
Better donor and registrant experience
Higher conversion rates on donation and event forms
Reduced reliance on batch cleanup tools
More accurate reporting, segmentation, and stewardship
Implementing a true postal validation API would significantly improve data quality, donor trust, and the overall giving and registration experience across the platform.
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Carlene Johnson
- Dec 23 2025
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I came to add this to the idea bank and am so glad to see this idea already here and so clearly described by Carlene. Consistency throughout the address entry points is critical. When using event registration forms and RENXT standard donation forms, donors are using the suggested addresses. We then must manually correct to match the USPS standard format that is used for manual address entry inside RENXT (which is our preferred format). Additionally, we find that donors are frequently NOT including their apartment or suite number on the registration and standard online giving forms because they simply select the offered address from the verification. This makes future postal delivery to those donors very difficult.
This would be such an upgrade from current functionality and important for future functionality as we move to Unified View.
This is absolutely necessary. Standardizing and validating USPS addresses helps avoid mailing to a residence that requires a unit/apartment number and helps to identify and eliminate mailings to the same address.
Postal addresses are so very important when mailing solicitations, thank you letters, etc. We have to validate all our addresses with the USPS system so it only makes sense that the addresses being pulled in are CASS certified.
Also, for us, leaving out apartment building numbers only makes our returned mail count that much higher. Please make this happen.
This is essential as we start trying to use NXT. Right now any new address that is entered either through manual entry or an online form we have to log into DBV so it can be run through address finder and standardized.