Zoo members come back a lot. A family with an annual pass might visit a dozen times a year, often with a stroller, a cooler, and two kids who want to see the penguins right now. Asking that parent to find a plastic card at the gate, every visit, is where digital membership cards earn their keep. A card that lives in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet is on the phone they’re already holding.
This page is for zoo membership and admissions staff who run Altru and are weighing wallet cards. It covers what actually changes, what to check before you commit, and the parts that tend to cause trouble after launch.
What a wallet membership card is (and isn’t)
A wallet card is a digital pass saved in the phone’s built-in wallet app. It shows the member’s name, membership level, expiration date, and a barcode your staff scan at entry. Members don’t need to download an app or log in to anything to pull it up.
It is not a replacement for your membership data. In an Altru shop, the membership record in Altru is still where levels, terms, household members, and expirations live. The card is a way of showing that information to the member and to your gate staff. That distinction matters when you evaluate options: a card that isn’t tied to Altru data is just a nicer-looking PDF that will go stale.
Why zoos in particular benefit
- Visit frequency. Zoo members often come back many times a year, so a small hassle at the gate repeats on every visit.
- Households, not individuals. Zoo memberships are usually family or household levels with two named adults, sometimes a caregiver or guest slot. Each adult needs proof of membership, and often only one of them got the mailed card.
- Printing and mailing costs. Every new member, renewal, upgrade, and “I lost my card” request means a reprint and postage. Digital cards don’t eliminate physical cards for everyone, but they shrink the volume.
- Reciprocal visits. Members who use reciprocal benefits at other institutions are usually asked to show a current card with a visible level and expiration date. A card that’s always on their phone and shows the right expiration makes that easier for everyone.
Questions to settle before you choose anything
Will the barcode work with how you check members in today?
Find out exactly what your entry process expects. If staff scan membership barcodes into Altru or a scanning app, the wallet card’s barcode needs to carry the same identifier your process looks up. If staff simply look at the card and wave members through, any clear card works, but you lose attendance tracking. Test with real member records before launch, not just a sample pass.
Who gets a card in a household?
Decide whether each named adult on the membership gets their own card, or whether one card represents the whole household. Your answer depends on how your Altru membership records are set up and how strictly you check names at the gate. Write the rule down so guest services can answer the “can my husband get one too?” email the same way every time.
What happens at renewal or upgrade?
This is the question to push hardest on with any vendor. When a member renews, the expiration on the card should match the new term in Altru. Ask exactly how and when a card reflects a renewal, an upgrade to a higher level, or a household change, and whether the member has to do anything (such as re-add the card) to see it. If the answer is vague, plan for a short window where the card and the record disagree, and tell gate staff how to handle it.
How do members receive the card?
Wallet cards are commonly delivered by email with an “Add to Apple Wallet” or “Add to Google Wallet” button. That means your email addresses in Altru need to be in decent shape. Members with no email on file, or a shared household address, won’t get a card unless you have a fallback.
Plan the rollout around your existing members
- Start with new joins and renewals. Issue wallet cards alongside your normal confirmation so new members get one from day one.
- Then send to current members in waves. A single blast to your whole member base can flood guest services with questions. Smaller groups let you catch problems early.
- Brief the gate team first. Seasonal and volunteer staff should know what a valid card looks like, how to scan it, and what to do if a member’s card shows an expiration that doesn’t match what they say they just paid for.
- Keep a non-phone option. Some members won’t use a phone wallet, and some phones won’t support it. Decide whether you’ll keep printing plastic cards on request or look members up by name at the gate.
- Watch your phone and inbox for two weeks. The questions you get (“my card says expired,” “I can’t find the email”) tell you which data or messaging needs fixing.
Things that don’t change
Wallet cards don’t fix membership data. If expirations, levels, or household members are wrong in Altru, the card will show the wrong thing, just more conveniently. A quick query of active memberships missing an email address, or with duplicate constituents in the same household, is a good cleanup step before launch. If you’re unsure how Altru handles a specific scenario, like a membership with a future start date, test it in a sandbox or ask Blackbaud support before you promise members anything.
Quick answers
Do members need to download an app?
No. Wallet cards open in the Apple Wallet or Google Wallet app that’s already on most phones.
Should we stop printing plastic cards?
Probably not right away. Reducing printing is safer than ending it: keep a printed option for members who ask, and default to digital for everyone else once you see how many members actually add the card.
Where Social Good fits
Our Digital Membership Cards provide Apple Wallet and Google Wallet membership cards for Altru members, with Altru remaining the place membership data lives. If you’re comparing options, the questions above about barcodes, households, and renewals are the ones to ask us too.
