A parent books a birthday party package, a teacher reserves a workshop, a scout leader signs up a troop. Two weeks later the call comes in: “Actually, my sister is hosting,” or “I’m leaving the school, please put it under my colleague.” On a preregistered program in Altru, that sounds like a one-field edit. Often it isn’t.
Many Altru administrators find that once a preregistered program registration is saved, the host or primary registrant can’t simply be swapped for another constituent. The fields that tie the registration to a person are tied to the sale itself: the order, the payment, and the revenue that posted. So the real question is less “where is the edit button” and more “what exactly needs to change, and what is the least disruptive way to change it?”
First, figure out which change you actually need
“Change the host name” can mean three very different things. Sort the request before you touch anything.
1. The name is right person, wrong spelling
If the registration points at the correct constituent and the name is just misspelled or outdated (a married name, a nickname, a typo from the phone), fix it on the constituent record, not the registration. The registration displays whatever the constituent record says, so correcting the record corrects every place that person appears, including future confirmations and reports.
2. The organizer stays, but someone else is running the day
Often the payer doesn’t change; they just won’t be the one showing up. A grandparent pays, a parent attends. In that case you may not need to change the host at all. Add a clear note to the registration or the order with the on-site contact’s name and phone number, and make sure whatever list your program staff work from shows that note. This keeps the financial history attached to the person who actually paid.
3. A different person or organization is truly taking over
This is the hard case: the booking, and possibly the balance due, now belongs to someone else. This is where Altru tends to resist, because the registration is part of a completed sale.
Options when the host really has to change
Before choosing one, check the registration in a sandbox or test environment if you have one, or ask Blackbaud support whether your current version and your security role allow editing the registrant on an existing preregistered program order. Permissions vary by role, and what one admin sees may not match what front-desk staff see.
- Edit in place, if your setup allows it. If you do have an option to change the registrant or associated constituent on the existing order, that’s the cleanest path. Confirm afterward that revenue and payment still read the way your finance team expects.
- Cancel and rebook under the new host. Refund or void the original registration, then create a new one under the correct constituent. This gives you clean data going forward, but it creates extra transactions, may affect capacity if the slot is in demand, and needs coordination with whoever reconciles batches. Rebook first, or hold the capacity, so the date doesn’t get sold in between.
- Leave the original host and document the handoff. If money has already changed hands and nobody wants a refund cycle, keep the registration as is, add the new host as a note, and, if you track relationships, link the two constituents. Less tidy, but it avoids touching revenue.
Which one is right depends mostly on who is paying. If the new host is taking over the remaining balance or wants their own receipt, cancel and rebook is usually worth the extra steps. If the original payer is still covering everything, documenting the handoff is usually enough.
Things to check before you rebook
- Deposits and balances. Know what has been paid and by whom before you void anything. A deposit made by the original host may need to be refunded to them, not moved silently.
- Program capacity. Popular dates can disappear between cancel and rebook. Reserve the new registration before releasing the old one when you can.
- Confirmations already sent. The new host will need fresh confirmation details, and the original host should know the booking moved.
- Reporting. If you report on program revenue by date, a cancel-and-rebook can shift numbers between periods. Give finance a heads-up.
Prevent the next one
Most host changes come from one ambiguity at booking time: who is paying versus who is attending. Ask both questions when you take the reservation. Record the payer as the registrant and capture the on-site contact separately, in a note or an attribute your team agrees on. When the attendee changes later, you update a note instead of unwinding a sale.
It also helps to write a short internal rule for staff, for example: spelling fixes go on the constituent record, day-of contact changes go in a note, and a true change of payer goes to an admin for cancel and rebook. That keeps seasonal staff from improvising with financial records.
Quick answers
Why won’t Altru let me pick a different constituent on the registration?
The registration is tied to the original order and payment. Depending on your version and permissions, the registrant may be locked after the sale. Confirm with Blackbaud support if you’re unsure what your role allows.
Will fixing the constituent’s name update the registration?
Yes, if it’s the same person. The registration reads from the constituent record, so a corrected name shows up there.
