A couple moves across town. One of them calls to update the membership mailing address, the desk updates that person’s constituent record, and the spouse’s record still shows the old street. Six weeks later the renewal letter goes to the wrong house, or two letters go out to two different addresses for the same family.
Keeping addresses in step across a household is one of those small Altru chores that causes outsized trouble when it slips. Below is how to approach it, where the built-in behavior can fall short, and how to catch mismatches before they turn into returned mail.
Start with how the household is set up
In Altru, a household is its own record that groups individual constituents together. Each individual still carries their own address information. That design is useful, because household members don’t always live in the same place: an adult child at college, a partner with a separate work address, a grandparent who shares the membership but not the house.
The consequence is that an address change on one person does not automatically become everyone’s address. Whether it carries over depends on how the change is entered and what the address form offers at the time you save it.
Copying an address to other household members
When you add or edit an address on an individual who belongs to a household, Altru may give you an option to apply that address to other members of the household as well. Look for it on the address form before you save. If it’s there, that’s the quickest route: one entry, and the related records pick up the same address.
Two cautions from experience:
- Check who it applies to. If the option updates every household member, it will also overwrite the address of someone who legitimately lives elsewhere. Before saving, open the household and confirm everyone listed actually shares the new address.
- Don’t assume the option exists in every place you edit addresses. Address changes can come in through the constituent record, a membership transaction, an online form, or an import. Behavior may differ between those paths. If you aren’t sure, test it in a sandbox or training environment, or ask Blackbaud support how your version handles it.
When you need to update only some members
This is the harder case. Say a family of four moves, but the oldest child already lives on their own. You want the new address on three records, not four.
If the copy option is all-or-nothing in your setup, the reliable approach is manual but safe:
- Update the address on the person who called.
- Open each other household member who is moving and add the same address to their record, marked as primary.
- Leave the member who isn’t moving untouched, and add a short note on the household explaining why addresses differ, so the next staff member doesn’t “fix” it.
Alternatively, use the copy option and then correct the one record that shouldn’t have changed. Pick whichever involves fewer edits for that family, but be consistent so staff know what to expect.
Find households whose addresses don’t match
Even with good habits, mismatches build up. A periodic query will surface them before a mailing does.
- Build a constituent query that includes household members, their household, and their primary address fields.
- Sort or group by household so members sit next to each other.
- Export the results and look for households where the street or ZIP differs between members. A spreadsheet with a simple comparison column makes this quick.
Not every mismatch is an error. Treat the list as a review queue, not a bulk-fix list. Where a change is clearly needed across many records, your team may be able to apply corrections through a constituent update batch or import rather than editing one at a time; confirm the process on a small test set first.
Habits that keep households clean
- Ask one extra question at the desk. “Is this new address for everyone on the membership?” takes three seconds and prevents most of the problem.
- Write a short rule for staff. Spell out when to copy an address to the household and when to update records individually. Seasonal staff will default to whatever is fastest unless told otherwise.
- Watch for duplicates. A second constituent record for the same spouse, often created through an online purchase, can make it look like an address copy failed when it actually went to the other record.
- Review returned mail. Each returned piece is a chance to check the whole household, not just the addressee.
Quick answers
Does changing a household member’s address update the household automatically?
Not necessarily. Individual addresses and household addresses can be maintained separately. Check the household record after making a change, and test in a sandbox if you need to know exactly how your version behaves.
Can I choose which household members receive a copied address?
If the copy option in your version applies to the whole household, the practical workaround is to update the right members individually or copy to all and correct the exception. Blackbaud support can confirm whether a more selective option is available to you.
