The membership dues revenue report tells you how much money came in. The next question in almost every board packet or finance meeting is “from how many people?” The report doesn’t answer that well. You can see dollars by level or by period, but a clean count of memberships or members next to those dollars usually takes extra work.
The short version: Altru’s standard reports are generally fixed layouts, and as far as we know you can’t add a column or a count to them yourself. If you need the count to sit next to the revenue, build it from a query. Below is how we’d approach it, plus the definitional decisions that matter more than the mechanics.
First, decide what you’re counting
“Member count” means different things to different people, and the number you get will change depending on which one you pick. Settle this before you build anything, or you’ll end up with three numbers that don’t match and a long email thread about why.
- Dues transactions. The number of payments that make up the revenue total. This is the count that ties most directly to the report, because every dollar on it came from one of these.
- Memberships. The number of distinct memberships those payments belong to. A household with a Family membership is one membership, even if four people carry cards.
- Members. The number of individual people on those memberships, including add-on cardholders and children if you record them. This is the “people served” number development offices like, and it’s always the biggest.
For a count that sits beside dues revenue, transactions or memberships is usually the right choice. Members per membership belongs in a separate metric.
Things that make the count and the dollars disagree
Even with a clear definition, expect some mismatches between your count and the report total. Common causes:
- Complimentary and $0 memberships. They’re real memberships but contribute no revenue. Decide whether they belong in the count, and label the number so nobody has to guess.
- Refunds and adjustments. A refunded membership may still appear as a transaction in your query but reduce the revenue total. Check how your query handles reversed or adjusted revenue.
- Gift memberships. The payer and the member are different constituents. If you count distinct constituents instead of memberships, gifts can be counted twice or not at all.
- Installments or split payments. One membership paid in more than one transaction will inflate a transaction count.
- Date basis. The report may group revenue by posting or transaction date, while a membership query might default to the membership’s start date. Use the same date logic in both.
Building the count with a query
The most reliable route is a revenue or membership query that uses the same filters as the report: same date range, same membership program, same levels. A rough outline:
- Run the report and note the exact parameters you use: date range, program, any level or channel filters. Write them down; you’ll need to match them.
- Build a query that pulls one row per dues transaction, with the membership level, the amount, the transaction date, and an identifier for the membership itself.
- Total the amount column and compare it to the report. If the totals don’t match, your filters are off. Fix that before you trust any count.
- Count rows for a transaction count, or count distinct membership identifiers for a membership count. Exporting to Excel and using a pivot table by level is the easiest way to get both side by side.
- Save the query with a clear name and a description of what it counts, so next month’s run uses the same logic.
Step 3 matters most. A count is only useful if it describes the same set of revenue the report does, and matching the dollar total is the quickest way to prove that.
What about smart fields or dashboards?
Smart fields can store values like a count of memberships on a constituent record, which helps with segmentation but doesn’t really address a period-level summary. Some organizations also find membership counts on Altru’s dashboards or KPI-style views. If you go that route, check that the dashboard’s definition and date basis match your revenue report before putting the two numbers side by side. If you’re unsure what a particular count includes, test it against a small date range you can verify by hand, or ask Blackbaud support how it’s calculated.
Can the report itself be changed?
We’re not aware of a way for Altru users to edit the layout of the standard membership dues revenue report to add a column. If having it in one place matters to your organization, ask Blackbaud support whether a different standard report or option covers it before building workarounds. In practice, the query plus pivot approach gets most teams what they need within an hour, and it’s easier to adapt when finance asks for a new breakdown.
Keeping the numbers current without monthly exports
If the count gets requested every month, the export-and-pivot routine gets old fast. Data Bridge syncs Altru query results to Google Sheets, so the saved query from step 5 can feed a sheet where the count and dues total update together. That way your finance team doesn’t wait on someone to run an export.
Quick answers
Why doesn’t my membership count match last year’s annual report?
Usually the definition changed: memberships vs. members, whether comps were included, or which date the count was based on. Document the definition alongside the number.
Should I count lapsed members who paid during the period?
If they paid dues in the period, they’re part of the revenue, so they belong in a count that sits beside that revenue. Active membership on a given date is a different metric.
