Members’ night is the event where you most want a clean headcount, and it’s often the one where staff end up with a clipboard and a printed member list. Scanning the barcode on a membership card should take care of it. Whether it actually does depends less on the scanner and more on how the event is set up in Altru before anyone arrives.
Below is how to think it through: what the barcode on the card actually points to, the two common ways to make a scan count as attendance, and how to get the numbers back out afterward.
Start with what’s on the card
A membership card barcode is usually just an identifier. Depending on how your card template was set up, that might be the constituent’s lookup ID, a membership or card number, or something else your team chose years ago. It does not carry the member’s status, level, or expiration date. Those live in Altru, so whatever reads the barcode has to look the member up against your Altru data to know who’s standing there.
Before planning anything else, print a test card and scan it into a plain text field (a USB scanner types like a keyboard). Note exactly what comes out. Then confirm you can find that member in Altru by searching for that value. If the search fails, fix that first, because every option below depends on it.
Decide what “checked in” should mean
Altru doesn’t have one universal “attended” flag that applies to every kind of event, and the right setup depends on how the event is sold or registered. Most member events fall into one of these patterns.
Pattern 1: The event is a ticketed program
If the event is set up as a program with scheduled times, members can get a ticket for it, even a free member-priced one. The ticket is the attendance record: you can query who held tickets, and if your process records redemption at the door, who actually showed up.
- Works well for: timed member previews, lectures, behind-the-scenes tours, anything with capacity limits.
- Trade-off: members need a ticket in advance (or staff issue one at the door), so you’re scanning a ticket, not just the card. Walk-up members slow the line if staff have to sell a $0 ticket at a register.
Pattern 2: The event uses registrants
For galas, donor events, and members-only receptions, many organizations use Altru’s event and registrant tools. Attendance then means marking registrants as attended. Whether your version of Altru lets you mark attendance by scanning a card, rather than finding each registrant by name, is something to test in your own environment or ask Blackbaud support about. We’d rather you confirm it than take a guess from us.
- Works well for: events with an RSVP list, guests of members, and seating or invitation tracking.
- Trade-off: check-in at the door is often a name search, which is the step people are trying to get rid of.
Pattern 3: Open admission, members just show their card
Sometimes there’s no ticket or RSVP at all. Members walk in, show a card, and you only want to know how many came and who they were. In that case, a scan has to be recorded somewhere you can report on later. If nothing is recorded, you’ve verified the card, but you haven’t tracked attendance. Decide where that record should live (a ticket, a registrant entry, or an export you reconcile later) before the event, not after.
Setting up the door
- Pick the pattern for this specific event and set it up in Altru a few days early.
- Run a dress rehearsal. Scan three or four real cards: an active member, an expired one, a household with two cardholders, and a member whose card was reprinted. Check what staff see for each.
- Write the exceptions down. What does staff do for a lapsed member, a forgotten card, or a guest of a member? A one-page sheet at each station prevents improvised policy.
- Plan for connectivity. Event spaces often have weak Wi-Fi. Test the network in the actual room, and keep a fallback (a member list export) in case the connection drops.
- Staff the line for walk-ups. The scan is fast. The exceptions are slow. Put an experienced person beside the scanner to handle them.
Getting attendance back out
The point of scanning is the follow-up: who came, how many were first-time attendees, which membership levels showed up. Build the query before the event so you know it returns what you need. For ticketed programs, query tickets for that program and date. For registrant-based events, query registrants and their attendance status. Then compare against your member list to see who didn’t come, which is useful for renewal outreach.
If the numbers look off, check households first. Two adults on one membership might each have a card, and depending on your setup, both scans may land on the same constituent or on different ones. Decide how you want to count them.
Where a scanner app fits
Much of this is event setup in Altru and doesn’t require anything extra. If the gap is the hardware and the door itself, Social Good’s Ticket Scanner scans Altru tickets and membership barcodes on mobile devices, so staff can check people in anywhere in the building without a fixed register. It’s worth pairing with the pattern you chose above, since the scan is only as useful as the record behind it.
Quick answers
Can I just use a handheld USB scanner at a regular Altru workstation?
Yes, for lookups. A USB scanner types the barcode value into whatever field has focus, so it can speed up finding a member. It doesn’t by itself create an attendance record.
Do members need new cards to make scanning work?
Usually not, as long as the existing barcode encodes a value Altru can search on. Test a few older cards before assuming they all match.
