Don’t expect a one-click “print labels” button the way a desktop address book has one. The dependable route is a two-step process: Altru builds the list, and a word processor lays it out on the sheet. Once the list is set up properly, rerunning it for the next mailing is quick. Most of the work, and most of the mistakes, happen in the list.
Step 1: Build a query that produces a clean mailing list
Start an ad-hoc constituent query (or copy one you already trust). The fields you include matter more than the filters, because whatever ends up in the output is what ends up on the label.
Fields to output
- Addressee name. Use the formatted addressee or name format your organization maintains (for example “Mr. and Mrs. Lee” or “The Lee Family”) rather than separate first and last name columns. If you skip this, you end up building names by hand in the merge.
- Primary or preferred address: address lines, city, state, ZIP, and country. Pull them from the same address record so you don’t mix the street from one address with the city from another.
- Constituent lookup ID. It won’t print, but it lets you trace a bad label back to the record.
Filters to add
- Exclude deceased constituents.
- Exclude anyone with a do-not-mail solicit code or a mail preference that says no.
- Exclude records with no address, or a blank ZIP. These will otherwise print as half-empty labels.
- Limit to the audience you actually want: current members, members expiring in a date range, donors above a giving level, and so on.
Decide how to handle households
This is where label runs go wrong most often. If you query individuals, two spouses at the same address get two labels. If your organization uses households in Altru, query at the household level, or output the household and its address instead of each member. If your household data is inconsistent, run a preview first and sort by address so duplicates stand out before you print.
Save the query with a clear name, such as “Mailing labels: active members,” so the next person can rerun it instead of rebuilding it.
Step 2: Export the results
Run the query and export the results to CSV or Excel. Before you close the file, look at it:
- Are there blank rows or rows missing a city or ZIP?
- Did ZIP codes lose their leading zeros? (Excel does this to New England ZIPs. Format the column as text, or import the CSV rather than double-clicking it.)
- Do any addresses have a second line, such as an apartment or suite, that you need to keep?
- Are there international addresses? They need the country line and may need a separate batch.
Fix data problems in Altru, not just in the spreadsheet. If you only correct the export, the same bad address comes back next quarter.
Step 3: Merge onto label sheets
Microsoft Word’s mail merge is the most common route:
- In Word, start a mail merge for labels and choose the label product you’re using (for example, a standard 30-per-sheet address label).
- Select your exported spreadsheet as the recipient list.
- Insert the merge fields in the first label: addressee on line one, address lines next, then city, state, and ZIP on the last line. Include address line 2 and country only if your list uses them.
- Update all labels so the layout copies to every position on the sheet.
- Preview the results and scroll through several pages before printing.
If your team works in Google Workspace, there are label-merge add-ons for Google Docs and Sheets that follow the same idea: spreadsheet in, formatted label sheet out.
Print a test sheet first
Print one page on plain paper, hold it against a label sheet up to the light, and check alignment. Printers shift slightly, and it’s cheaper to find that out on copy paper.
Does Altru have a built-in label option?
Altru includes mailing and communication tools in its marketing area, and some organizations use exports or reports from those processes for appeal mailings. Whether a given report or export in your version produces a print-ready label layout isn’t something we’d want to promise. If you’re hoping to skip the merge step, ask Blackbaud support whether a label output is available for your setup, or test it in a sandbox before relying on it for a real mailing. For most teams, the query-plus-merge method is the dependable path and works with any label stock.
Making it repeatable
- Keep one saved query per recurring mailing (renewal notices, event invitations, annual appeal) and note in the query description what it includes and excludes.
- Keep a saved Word merge document connected to a file name you overwrite each time. Export to the same file name and location, open the merge document, and the new list flows in.
- Clean addresses periodically. If you mail to members regularly, returned mail is a signal to update records. Many organizations also run an address-update service (such as NCOA processing) before large mailings; check what your organization has access to.
- Write the steps down. Label runs often happen a few times a year, which is just infrequent enough that nobody remembers the household setting or the ZIP-code fix. A half-page checklist saved next to the merge document solves that.
Quick answers
Can I print a single label for one constituent?
Yes. Copy the address from the constituent record into a single-label layout in Word, or run your saved query filtered to that one record and merge it.
Why do some labels show the wrong name format?
The merge prints exactly what the query outputs. If a record has no addressee format set, you’ll get a blank or a fallback value. Fix the name format on the record and rerun.
Can I use the same list for envelopes?
Yes. The exported spreadsheet works for envelope merges too; choose envelopes instead of labels when you start the merge.
