Your development officer just came back from a donor event with a spreadsheet of 140 conversations. Your education team logged every teacher who called about field trips this semester. Someone asks, reasonably, “Can we just upload these into Altru?” The honest answer is “maybe, and it depends on what you mean by interaction.” This guide covers how to find out what your Altru database can import, what to do if interactions are not on the list, and how to get the data in without creating a mess you’ll be cleaning up next year.
Start by checking what your import tool actually supports
Altru’s import tools (in the administration area) load data from a file into the database using predefined import types. Each type maps your spreadsheet columns to a specific kind of record. The list of available types is what decides whether a true bulk interaction upload is possible for you.
- Open the import area and look at the options for setting up a new import.
- Look through the available record types for anything interaction-related.
- If you find one, note which fields it requires. Expect something along the lines of a constituent identifier, date, contact method, category or subcategory, status, and an owner, but go by what your import type actually lists.
We can’t promise that an interaction import type is present in every Altru database, and we don’t want to guess. If you don’t see one, ask Blackbaud support directly whether interactions can be imported in your version, and whether there’s a supported alternative. That one email will save you an afternoon of trying.
If an interaction import is available
Most failed imports fail on the same few things. Get these right before you run anything against production.
Match every row to a constituent first
An interaction has to attach to an existing constituent record. Use the Altru lookup ID rather than name matching wherever you can. Export a query of the constituents involved, pull their lookup IDs into your spreadsheet, and resolve anyone you can’t match before the import, not after. Rows that match on name alone are where duplicates and misattributed history come from.
Use your existing code tables exactly
Contact method, category, and subcategory values in the file need to match the values already set up in Altru, spelling included. Agree on these with whoever owns the data before you build the file. If the event spreadsheet says “chatted at gala” and your code table says “In person,” fix the spreadsheet.
Decide on status and dates
Past conversations should usually come in as completed, with the actual date they happened. Planned follow-ups are different: they belong as pending, with a future date and an owner, so they show up in someone’s work list. Mixing the two in one file is fine as long as each row is explicit.
Test small
Run five or ten rows first, ideally in a sandbox if you have one. Open those constituent records and confirm the interactions look the way you expect: right person, right date, right category, notes readable. Then run the rest. Keep the source file and any exception or error output from the import together in a shared folder so you can trace any oddity later.
If there is no interaction import
This is where you have to be clear about what the data is for, because the right workaround depends on it.
- “We contacted all these people” (mailings, email blasts, invitations). This is usually better recorded through Altru’s marketing and communications tools than as hundreds of individual interactions. A mailing or appeal tied to a selection of constituents gives you the same history with far less data entry.
- “These people have something in common” (attended a preview, expressed interest in volunteering, is a teacher contact). A constituent attribute or a selection may serve you better than an interaction. Attributes are easier to query and report on. Check whether your import options let you add attributes in bulk, and confirm with support if you’re unsure.
- “These were real one-on-one conversations with prospects.” These genuinely belong as interactions, and they’re usually a manageable number. Divide the list among the staff who had the conversations and have each person enter their own. It takes longer, but the notes are better and the owner field is accurate.
A blended approach is common: record the event attendance in bulk as an attribute or selection, then have fundraisers enter interactions only for the conversations worth tracking individually.
Prevent the next backlog
The pile of spreadsheets is often a symptom of interactions being hard to enter at the moment they happen. A few habits help:
- Keep one shared template for anyone collecting contact notes outside Altru, with columns that already match your code tables and a lookup ID column.
- Set a short deadline after events (a week is reasonable) for entering interactions, while memories are fresh.
- Build a simple query showing interactions added in the last 30 days by owner. When it’s visible, it tends to get done.
- Review your category and subcategory lists once a year. Too many options and people stop logging; too few and the data isn’t useful.
Quick answers
Can I import interactions for constituents who aren’t in Altru yet?
Add the constituents first, check them against existing records for duplicates, and then attach the interactions. Creating people and their history in a single pass makes errors much harder to unwind.
Can a bad import be undone?
Don’t count on an easy rollback. Plan as if every row is permanent, which is why the small test run matters. If something goes wrong, the import’s error output and your source file are what you’ll use to find and correct affected records.
