The short answer: you can’t redesign it. Altru is hosted software, and as far as we know it doesn’t give administrators a layout editor for the screen staff use to add a membership. You can’t drag fields around, hide the ones you never use, rename labels, or add your own required fields to that form.
What you can change is almost everything that feeds the screen: which programs and levels show up, what they’re called, what data gets captured around the membership, and who is allowed to do what. Handled well, that gets you most of what people mean when they say “customize the screen,” which is usually “make it faster and harder to get wrong.”
If you’re not sure whether a specific tweak is possible in your version, ask Blackbaud support or try it in a sandbox before promising anything to your membership team.
What people usually want to fix
When a membership manager asks to customize this screen, the underlying complaint tends to be one of these:
- Too many program and level choices, including old ones nobody sells anymore.
- Staff skipping information you need, like a source, an appeal, or a second cardholder.
- New or seasonal staff picking the wrong transaction type or the wrong level.
- Extra information you track (a gift recipient’s preference, a corporate partner) having nowhere obvious to go.
Each one has a different workaround, so it’s worth naming the real problem before you start.
Trim the choices at the source
The fastest way to make the add screen feel simpler is to reduce what it offers. Review your membership programs and levels and retire anything you no longer sell. Old levels kept “just in case” are the most common reason staff pick the wrong one.
Then look at naming. Level names are what staff scan in a list, so make them distinct and self-explanatory. “Family Plus (2 adults + kids, 2 guest passes)” is harder to mistake than “Family Plus.” If your lists sort alphabetically, a consistent prefix can group related levels together. Test how names actually display before renaming everything, since long names may get cut off.
Check program defaults
Term length, pricing, benefits, and renewal behavior live in the membership program setup, not on the add screen. When staff are overriding the same value by hand over and over, that’s usually a sign the program configuration should change instead of the screen.
Capture extra information somewhere structured
Since you can’t add fields to the form itself, put the extra data on the records it belongs to. Attributes on the constituent record are the usual home for things like “corporate partner” or “prefers printed card.” Notes work for one-off context, but they’re hard to report on, so use them sparingly.
The catch is that staff have to remember a second step after saving the membership. Make that step explicit in your procedure, and keep the list of attributes short. Three that people actually fill in beat twelve that nobody does.
Use security to narrow what staff can do
Altru’s security roles control which features and tasks a user can reach. You may not be able to hide a field, but you can often keep front-line staff away from tasks they shouldn’t be doing, such as editing dates or applying discounts, and leave those to a supervisor. Review the roles your desk and phone staff have and remove anything they don’t need. Do this in a test account first so you don’t lock someone out mid-shift.
Write a one-page procedure for the screen
When the software won’t enforce a rule, a short written procedure has to. Keep it to one page, in the order staff see the fields:
- Search for the constituent first, so you don’t create a duplicate.
- Choose new, renew, rejoin, or upgrade, with one line on when to use each.
- Pick the level, and list the three or four most common ones by name.
- Add the second cardholder or household members, if the level includes them.
- Enter source or appeal, if your organization tracks it.
- After saving, add any required attributes.
Tape it next to the register and include it in training for seasonal hires. It’s low-tech, but it’s the most reliable fix for inconsistent data entry.
Catch what slips through with a query
Build a membership query for recent transactions that are missing the things you care about: no source, no second cardholder on a dual level, a missing attribute, a level you meant to retire. Run it weekly and fix records while the transaction is still fresh in someone’s memory. Over time, the results also tell you which step in your procedure people skip most, so you know where to focus training.
Shift volume off the back-office screen
Every membership a member buys or renews online is one less that staff key in by hand. If your web forms are clunky enough that people call or walk up to renew instead, improving the online path reduces how much the add screen matters. Online forms bring their own setup work, but they keep entries consistent because members are choosing from the same limited options every time.
If you still need a real change
Some organizations truly need the screen to behave differently, for example a required field for a specific program. That’s a product change only Blackbaud can make. Describe the business problem to your Blackbaud contact, not just the screen you’d like, and ask whether there’s a configuration option you’ve missed. Until then, a cleaned-up program setup, a short procedure, and a weekly check query will cover most of the gap.
Quick answers
Can I add a custom required field to the Add a Membership screen?
Not that we’re aware of. Use constituent attributes after saving, and use a query to find records where they’re missing.
Can I hide membership levels from staff without deleting them?
Retiring or inactivating old levels is the usual approach, and history on existing records stays intact. Confirm how your version handles it in a sandbox before changing a live program.
