A family membership that says “2 adults + children” tells you almost nothing about the kids. You can’t send a birthday card, invite eight-year-olds to the right camp, or check whether a “child” on the card is now 19 and should be on an adult level. Getting those names and birthdates into Altru at the moment someone joins online is the cleanest fix, and also the place where most organizations get stuck.
This guide covers where that data should live in Altru, what to check about your online membership form, and the workarounds that hold up when the form can’t collect what you need.
Decide where the data belongs before you collect it
It’s tempting to start with the form. Start with the record instead, because the form is only useful if the answers land somewhere staff can query.
- Children as members on the membership. If a family level allows a set number of members, each child can be added as a member, which means each child becomes a constituent. This is the most useful option: the child has a name, can carry a birth date on their constituent record, and shows up in membership queries.
- Children as household or relationship records only. Linked to the parent, but not tied to the membership itself. Fine for a family snapshot, weaker if you need to know who is covered by which membership.
- Notes or a free-text attribute. Easy to capture, nearly impossible to report on. “Emma (6), Leo (9)” in a note won’t tell you next year who turned ten.
For most museums, zoos, and gardens, the first option is worth the extra constituent records. Pair it with a clear rule for duplicates, because the same child entered by two different grandparents is a common source of clutter.
Check what your online membership form actually captures
Altru’s membership web forms are built around the purchaser and the membership level, and what they can collect for additional members varies with how your form and membership program are set up. Rather than assume a particular field is available, test your own form:
- Buy a family membership on your own form in a sandbox or with a test card you can refund. Note every field shown for additional members.
- Look at the resulting records. Did each child become a constituent? Did any date you entered actually land in the birth date field, or nowhere at all?
- Ask Blackbaud support directly whether additional-member birth dates can be required or displayed on your membership form, and whether custom questions on the form map to a constituent field or only to the transaction.
If names come through but birthdates don’t, or the children never become constituents at all, the options below fill the gap without waiting on a form change.
Workarounds that hold up
Ask right after purchase
Include a short “tell us about your family” note in the welcome email, linking to a simple form that asks for each child’s first name and birth month and year. Staff (or an import) then update the constituent records. Send it soon after joining, while the membership is fresh, and say what the family gets in return, such as birthday perks or age-appropriate program invites.
Capture it at the door or the desk
The first on-site visit after joining is a natural moment to confirm the children on the membership. Give admissions staff a short script and a way to flag records that need a birth date, such as a query of family memberships where any child member has no birth date.
Use the renewal as a checkpoint
Each renewal is a chance to ask, “Has anything changed in your household?” That also catches the aging-out problem before it becomes an awkward conversation at the gate.
Build a query to watch the gap
Whatever route you choose, create a membership query of active family-level memberships with child members missing a birth date. Run it monthly. If the number isn’t shrinking, the collection step isn’t working.
Collect less than you think you need
You’re gathering data about minors from their parents, so keep it tight:
- Ask for month and year if that covers your use cases. Most birthday programs and age-based invites don’t need the exact day.
- Make the fields optional unless a benefit truly depends on them, and say on the form why you’re asking.
- Limit who in Altru can export these records, and leave children out of general marketing lists unless parents opt in.
- Check your privacy policy and any applicable rules with whoever handles compliance for your organization.
Quick answers
Should every child be a separate constituent?
If you want to report on ages, send birthday offers, or know who is covered by a membership, yes. If you only need a headcount, a count on the membership level is enough.
What about kids who age out of a family level?
Once birth dates are on the records, a query of child members over your age limit gives you a list to address at renewal instead of at the front gate.
If you’re replacing the membership form anyway
Some organizations reach this problem while already reconsidering their online membership purchase flow. Social Good’s Checkouts is a branded, mobile-friendly checkout that replaces Altru web forms for memberships and writes data back to Altru. If capturing children’s details is part of why you’re looking, bring the exact fields you need and where they should land in Altru to the conversation, so you can confirm the fit before you switch.
