Strollers, wheelchairs, wagons, audio guides, lockers, binoculars for the bird blind. Almost every visitor-serving organization lends or rents something, and sooner or later someone asks how to track it in Altru. The honest answer is that Altru is very good at recording the sale of a rental and much less suited to tracking the item itself: who has it, when it is due back, and whether it came back damaged.
That gap is manageable once you split the problem into its two halves and handle each in the place it fits best.
Separate the money from the object
A rental has two records hiding in it:
- The transaction: the fee, any deposit, the payment method, and the revenue account it posts to.
- The custody record: which specific unit went out, to whom, when, and when it returned.
Altru handles the first well. As far as we know, it does not include a dedicated check-out/check-in inventory tool for loaned equipment. If you are unsure whether your version or license includes something we have not seen, ask Blackbaud support or test in a sandbox before building workarounds.
Recording rental revenue in Altru
Set up each rental type as something staff can ring up in daily sales, the same way you would add a fee or a non-ticketed item. A few practical choices make reporting easier later:
- One item per rental type, not per unit. “Stroller rental” and “Wheelchair rental” are useful in reports; “Stroller #7” is not.
- Its own revenue designation or GL mapping, so finance can see rental income without digging through general admission.
- Free loans still get a $0 item. If wheelchairs are free, ringing up a zero-dollar line still gives you a count of how often they go out and on which days.
- Deposits handled deliberately. Refundable deposits are where cash drawers go wrong. Decide whether you take one at all, how it is recorded, and how the refund is processed, then test the full cycle (collect, refund, reconcile) before staff try it live.
If you sell rentals online or in advance with tickets, check that the item is set up for advance sales and your web forms. Then think about supply: a sales item does not automatically know how many strollers you physically own. If you have eight, decide how you will stop a ninth from being sold, whether that is a capacity setting your configuration supports (test it in a sandbox first) or simply keeping rentals as a walk-up, day-of sale.
Tracking the items themselves
Pick the lightest method that answers the questions you actually get asked. For most organizations, that is “where is it?” and “who had it last?”
Option 1: A simple check-out log
A shared spreadsheet or paper log at the desk with columns for unit number, guest name, phone, time out, time in, and staff initials. It sounds basic, and it is, but it works and staff learn it in a minute. Number or tag every unit so the log refers to a specific object.
Option 2: Tie the rental to the constituent record
When the renter is already a constituent (often true for members), you can note the loan on their record. Depending on how your database is configured, that might be a note, an interaction, or a constituent attribute. This is useful for high-value items or longer loans, such as equipment lent to educators or program partners, because the history stays with the person. It is too slow for a busy stroller line.
Option 3: A dedicated lending or asset tool
If you are tracking dozens of units with barcodes, maintenance schedules, or multi-day loans, a purpose-built asset or library-style checkout tool will do a better job than bending Altru to fit. Keep Altru for the money and use the other tool for custody. Just agree on which one is authoritative for what, so nobody reconciles them by hand every week.
Facility and space rentals are a different case
Renting out a pavilion, classroom, or event hall is closer to group sales and event management than to equipment lending. Altru’s event and group sales areas can track bookings, and depending on your setup may let you assign facilities or resources to them, which helps prevent double-booking. If your team currently handles space rentals with a separate calendar, it is worth checking what your Altru configuration already supports before adding another system.
Reporting that closes the loop
Once rentals are rung up consistently, a revenue or sales query filtered to your rental items can show:
- Rentals per day and per item type, which tells you whether you own too few strollers or too many wheelchairs.
- Rental revenue by month for budgeting.
- Rentals attached to member transactions, if you want to know whether members use them more than general visitors.
Compare the daily count against your check-out log now and then. If the log shows 30 strollers out and Altru shows 22 sales, either items are going out unrung or the log is being filled in loosely. Either way, you have found the leak.
A short setup checklist
- List every item you lend or rent, and number each physical unit.
- Create one sellable item per rental type, including $0 items for free loans.
- Map each to the right revenue account.
- Decide on deposits and test the refund path.
- Choose a custody method (log, constituent record, or separate tool).
- Build one query for rental counts and revenue, and review it monthly.
None of this requires anything beyond Altru and a little discipline at the desk. The key decision is not letting the sales record pretend to be an inventory system. Let each half do its own job, and rentals stop being the thing nobody can account for at closing.
