“Do we need the guest to sign?” sounds like a simple question, but the answer depends on how the card was taken and what the signature is supposed to prove. Signing for a chip card at the admissions desk is one thing. Getting written permission to charge a member’s card every year, or to bill a school group’s deposit, is another. Each one has a different answer in Altru, and some of those answers live outside Altru.
This guide sorts out which signatures still matter, what to check in your own Altru setup, and how to keep a defensible paper trail without creating a PCI problem.
Start here: card-present signatures mostly aren’t required anymore
In 2018 the major U.S. card networks (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover) made signatures optional for card-present transactions. Chip, tap, and mobile wallet payments carry their own authentication, and that does far more to protect you in a dispute than a scribble on a receipt.
So for ordinary admissions, store, and membership sales at the desk, most organizations have dropped signature capture entirely. If your staff are still printing a merchant copy for every ticket sale and filing it in a box, ask your finance team and your processor whether you actually need to. Often the honest answer is no, and the box just becomes something you have to secure and shred.
Whether your particular card readers can capture an on-screen signature through Altru depends on the hardware and the payment setup your organization uses. We can’t confirm that for every configuration. If you want it, ask Blackbaud support which devices are supported with your merchant account, and test it in a non-production setting before rolling it out.
Where a signature still earns its keep
The cases where a signed authorization really protects you are the ones where the card isn’t in front of you, or where you’ll charge it more than once:
- Recurring or automatic membership renewals. You want clear proof the member agreed to future charges, the amount, and how to cancel.
- Recurring gifts and pledge installments. The same logic applies to a donor who wants monthly charges.
- Group sales and facility rental deposits. A signed agreement covering the deposit, balance due date, and cancellation terms settles most disputes before they start.
- Phone and mail orders. There’s no chip involved, so the authorization record is your main evidence if a cardholder later says they didn’t approve the charge.
How to collect them
Use a card authorization form for anything recurring or card-not-present
Write a short form that states the cardholder’s name, what will be charged, how much, how often, when it starts, and how to stop it. Have the cardholder sign and date it. A plain one-page PDF works, and so does an e-signature service for agreements you send by email.
The important rule: the form should not be where the card number lives long term. Enter the card into Altru through your normal payment process, then destroy or redact the card number on the paper copy. Keep the signed authorization, minus the full card number and security code. Never store a CVV after the transaction, on paper or anywhere else.
Tie the signed form to the Altru record
The authorization only helps if someone can find it during a dispute. A few approaches that work:
- If your Altru setup supports attachments on constituent records, attach the redacted, signed form to the cardholder’s record. Confirm this is available in your environment before you build a process around it.
- If not, store forms in a secure shared drive or document system organized by constituent lookup ID, and add a note or attribute on the Altru constituent record saying where the authorization lives and the date it was signed.
- For group sales, reference the signed agreement on the group sales order itself so the person handling the balance payment can see it.
Put the terms in writing at the point of sale, too
For online purchases there’s no signature, but there is consent. Make sure your web forms and confirmation emails clearly state auto-renewal terms, refund rules, and how to cancel. Screenshots of the terms as they appeared on a given date are useful if a chargeback lands months later.
Answering a chargeback
When a dispute arrives, you’ll usually need the transaction details from Altru (date, amount, revenue record), the signed authorization or the terms the cardholder agreed to, and any proof the service was delivered, such as scan or attendance records. Build a simple checklist so whoever handles disputes isn’t hunting across three systems against a response deadline.
A short policy you can adopt
- No signatures for chip, tap, or wallet payments at the desk unless your processor tells you otherwise.
- A signed authorization for every recurring charge, pledge installment, deposit, and phone order.
- Card numbers are entered into Altru, then removed from the paper or PDF the same day.
- Every signed authorization is findable from the Altru constituent record within a minute.
- Review the form wording once a year with finance, and whenever your renewal or refund terms change.
Quick answers
Can Altru capture a signature on the card reader?
It depends on your hardware and payment configuration. Ask Blackbaud support what’s supported with your merchant setup rather than assuming either way.
Can we keep the full card number on the signed form for future charges?
Don’t. Keeping card data on paper or in shared files widens your PCI scope. Let the payment processor hold the card, and keep only the signed consent.
Is a checkbox on a web form enough for auto-renewal?
For many organizations it’s the standard approach, but rules on automatic renewal vary by state. Have whoever handles legal review sign off on the wording.
