One of the core components of the Advocacy module is matching up database addresses to congressional representation.
This is a 3-step process:
1 – Upgrade the addresses to be zip+4
2 – Match the addresses to a United States Congressional District
3 – Match the district to the current Senators and Representative
Upgrade the addresses to be zip+4
We are currently using the address checking functionality provided by SmartyStreets (formerly Qualified Address) at https://smartystreets.com/. The process for this is:
– Initial full-database check to upgrade zip codes (We do NOT upgrade/update any other part of the address)
– Nightly check of addresses with changes in the past 24-hours, which can be viewed under Contacts – Reports
– Annual full-database check for degradation (e.g., a zip code split or addition of a new code)
How do you know if the night script is running properly?
The nightly report is linked under Contacts -> Reports -> Address Standardization Report (zip+4 and geocoding) and will show all addresses that were validated that night.
What can cause an address to fail the upgrade?
Usually this means that the address is wrong or incomplete in some way. To test this, you can go to the main USPS lookup site, or to the SmartyStreets single-lookup page,
https://smartystreets.com/products/single-address
A fail can give messages like:
– Primary number missing
– Same ZIP for multiple
– Insufficient data
If you get a fail, the best way to fix the address is to go to that company’s website or contact the individual to correct the address.
Match the addresses to a United States Congressional District
Using the upgraded zip codes, we match the addresses to congressional districts. This district is available to see in MatrixMaxx on the Organization and Individual View pages.
The Rules:
Organization District matching is based on the address specified by the client during implementation. Two options are:
- Base on Primary Address of the organization
- Base on Shipping Address of the organization, and if there is no shipping address specified, we fall back to Primary Address. [Note! If there is a shipping address, but it is invalid in some way and we can’t connect it to a district, we DO NOT fall back to primary; we display our ‘can’t be connected‘ message.]
Individual District Mapping is based on the individual’s home address.
- If there is a home address, but it is invalid/can’t be connected to a district we display our ‘can’t be connected‘ message
- If no home address BUT the individual is attached to an organization then we can fall back to the organization’s designated address/logic (see above) OR we can fall back to the individual’s directory/primary/shipping address. This logic varies by client implementation.
Match the district to the current Senators and Representative
We import data on U.S. Senators, Representatives, key staff, and Committees. We pull this information on a weekly basis from GovTrack (http://www.govtrack.us/about.xpd and http://sunlightfoundation.com/)
This information is available to see in various places in MatrixMaxx:
- Contacts Tab -> Organization Demographics page and Organization Relationship Page to see Senator and Rep info for the organization
- Contacts Tab – Committees Sub-tab – new ‘Manage House/Senate Committees’ link
- Advocacy tab – Congressional District Export
And some associations have custom reports coded that are available in the ‘Reports’ section for each organization.