A lifetime membership sounds simple: someone pays once and never renews. In Altru, the hard part isn’t selling it. It’s everything that assumes members expire. That includes renewal notices, lapse reports, card printing, retention numbers and the scan at the door. Getting it right takes a few decisions before anyone builds a level.
Start with the term question
Every membership level in Altru has a term, and the rest of the membership workflow is built around the expiration date that term produces. So the first thing to settle is how a “never expires” membership will be represented.
We don’t want to guess whether your Altru instance offers a true open-ended or “lifetime” term option on a membership level. That depends on the term choices available in your membership program setup, and it’s worth confirming directly. Open the term settings when you add a level, test it in a sandbox if you have one, or ask Blackbaud support. Whatever you find decides which of the two setups below you use.
Option A: a native lifetime term
If your program setup offers an open-ended term, use it. Then check what it does downstream before you sell it. Find out what expiration date (if any) appears on the membership record and the printed card. See whether the member still turns up in renewal and lapse queries, and how the barcode behaves when it’s scanned at admission.
Option B: a very long fixed term
Many organizations simply set the term far into the future, such as 50 or 99 years. It works with every renewal-based process Altru already has, because the membership has a real expiration date like any other. The downsides:
- The far-off date will show up on cards and in member-facing communications unless you suppress it.
- Any query or report that calculates “years remaining” or groups members by expiration year will look odd.
- Someone in 2075 will inherit a strange batch of expirations. Document why the dates exist.
Build it as its own level
Create lifetime as a separate level (or a separate program, if your benefits differ a lot) rather than adjusting dates on regular memberships by hand. A distinct level gives you:
- A clean way to filter lifetime members in or out of every query.
- Its own price and its own revenue designation.
- A clear benefit set, so desk staff don’t have to remember exceptions.
Decide what the level covers. Is it one person, a couple or a household? Lifetime memberships often outlive the household that bought them. People divorce, children grow up and move out, and a cardholder dies. Write down in advance who keeps the membership in each case, and record that policy in a note on the level so the next administrator knows.
Keep lifetime members out of renewal workflows
This is where most problems show up. Go through every process that touches expiring members and add an exclusion for the lifetime level:
- Renewal and reminder queries used for mailings, emails and call lists.
- Lapsed-member queries and win-back campaigns.
- Retention and renewal-rate reports. Lifetime members will inflate or distort these if they’re counted as “renewed” or “retained” every year. Report them as their own line.
- Online renewal web forms. Make sure a lifetime member can’t accidentally “renew” or downgrade through a public form. Test it with a sample record.
- Upgrade offers, since there’s nothing to upgrade to.
A smart field or constituent attribute that flags lifetime members can make these exclusions easier to maintain than filtering on the level name in dozens of queries.
Talk to finance before you set a price
A lifetime payment is large and one-time, and organizations account for it differently. Some recognize it right away. Others treat part of it as a gift, and some set it aside in a designated fund. That’s a decision for your finance team and auditor, not something Altru settles for you. Once they decide, set the revenue designation and GL mapping to match before the first sale, so the first batch posts correctly.
Also decide whether you’ll accept installments. If you do, find out how your instance handles a membership paid over time, whether through a pledge or another payment arrangement. Run the full scenario in a sandbox, including a missed payment, before you offer it.
Check the gift-versus-benefit split too. If lifetime members get admission, guest passes or event perks, your acknowledgment letter may need to state the fair market value of those benefits. Ask your finance or legal advisor what applies to you.
Plan for the long run
- Cards: decide what the card says instead of an expiration date, and whether replacement cards are free.
- Deceased members: when a lifetime member dies, mark the constituent deceased as usual. Settle in advance whether a surviving spouse keeps the membership.
- Stewardship: lifetime members never get a renewal touchpoint, so they can drift away from you. A yearly thank-you or “member since” note keeps them connected and costs little.
- Benefit changes: you’ll revise your benefits over the decades. Write the terms of sale so you’re clear about what’s promised permanently and what can change.
Quick answers
Can I convert an existing member to lifetime?
Generally yes, by upgrading or adding the lifetime level as a new membership transaction rather than editing dates on the old one. That keeps the payment history accurate. Test the exact steps in a sandbox first.
Should lifetime members count in our total membership number?
Usually yes, but show them as a separate line. That way growth and retention trends among annual members aren’t hidden.
