Has anyone, particularly in the healthcare industry, purchased this service? Did you find it worthwhile?

I am also interested in BB Anal. I am at the Foundation at a hospital, and am planning on attending the webinar on 10/7. Anyone out there using it now?

My organization purchased a modified version of BB Analytics, and, while we've been using it, we have reservations about it. My CEO is from a research background, so she asked many hard questions about the statistical modelling and was not completely satisfied with the answers. Also, while Blackbaud stresses this, but it bears repeating and serious thought: they are simply compiling publically available data. What are you hoping this product will do for you? Are there other avenues to acheive this same result? I think BBA can reflect back to you a low baseline of wealth on your wealthy constituents, weighted towards those with real estate holdings, since those are the most common records returned. But it will miss people, and have errors and inaccuracies. You must have the staff resources to fill out the research. It might be worth asking a professional prospect researcher to analyze the offerings and assess if this product is the best match for your needs. It might also be worth it to wait for the product to become more robust and stable, and then revisit its utility. I can talk more about it offline with you if you like: [Email Removed], or I can go into further detail here if there is interest. I just don't want to drown everyone in details. Plus I would love to hear even early reviews from other organizations using this product. Faith Danforth Development Database Manager The Library Foundation Portland, Oregon

I am with Children's Hospital in Oakland CA. We are considering BBA, along with other screening services. We will be doing a test screen with three or four vendors and will base our decision on how those screenings go. The screening is just for asset data (WealthPoint), not on the modeling component (ProspectPoint). Because we are in healthcare, not in higher ed for instance, we have much less info in most of our records. How does that affect our returns? Which company returns info to update bad addresses? Which has the best for stock insiders, real estate, or private company information? Do I want just exact matching, which another vendor offers? The test will show me what I miss (and may also show me what comes back that is incorrect) that I would not see with exact matching. What is their web product like (WealthPoint online), so I can update the records as I do more indepth research? Do I want custom modeling, which BBA offers, or will “industry standards” that other vendors offer be good enough? For additiona information on screening services, you may want to join a (free) prospect research listserve for awhile to look into what others are doing. It is similar to this forum, but not vendor sponsored. Let me know if you want info on that listserve. Also, on the BB website, http://www.blackbaud.com/solutions/bb_analytics.asp  they mention two hospitals who have used BBA, so you might want to contact them directly Beth Johnson, Children’s Hospital and Research Center Foundation, [Email Removed]

Just a FYI - Depending upon the source and the type of information being purchased, the data is usually derived from the street address. Do your preferred addresses include a lot of PO Box numbers or business addresses? If so, it will lower your return rate because there is not a physical address or a home address to match to the wealth information. Whoever the vendor, make sure you ask a lot of questions about the match rate and whether it is using the physical address or the individual's name to compile the information and what tolerance levels they use in matching. If a constituent uses a PO Box to receive their mail, I keep their street address as a separate address record with address types of "home mailing" or "home street address" so that I can pull the street address, not the PO Box, for demographic studies. There is a lot of future potential for nonprofits to utilize demographics in their fundraising efforts (particularly with GIS - Geographic Information Systems) however, the success of the studies always depends on good, clean addresses. Good luck! Joan Shofner Conway Regional Health Foundation Conway, Arkansas