Phone numbers look like a small thing until you try to use them. A volunteer coordinator exports a call list and finds “(555) 201-4400”, “555.201.4400”, “5552014400” and “555-201-4400 ext 12” all in the same column. A group sales lead calls a school’s main line and can’t reach the teacher because the extension never made it into the record. None of this breaks Altru, but it makes the data harder to trust.
This guide covers two related problems: where to put a phone extension in Altru, and how to keep phone formatting consistent when numbers come in from staff, imports, and online orders.
Where extensions go
Altru stores phone numbers on the constituent record, each with a phone type (home, work, mobile, and whatever other types your organization has configured). What it doesn’t offer, as far as most administrators have found, is a separate, dedicated extension field next to the number. Before you build a process around that, confirm it in your own environment: open a test constituent in your sandbox, add a work phone, and see what fields are available. Blackbaud support can also tell you whether anything has changed in your version.
Assuming there’s no extension field, you have three realistic options:
- Type the extension into the number field. For example, “555-201-4400 x12”. This is the most common approach, and it keeps the extension visible wherever the number appears. The catch is that anything that dials or validates the number (a texting tool, a phone system integration, some mailing platforms) may reject it or strip the extension. Test with whatever tools you sync numbers to.
- Put the extension in a comment or note. The number stays clean, but the extension is easy to miss, and it won’t appear in most query output unless you add that field deliberately.
- Create a custom phone type. Some organizations add a type like “Work – direct” for a teacher’s or contact’s direct line, rather than relying on main-line-plus-extension. This works well for group sales and school contacts, where a direct number is usually more useful than an extension anyway.
Whichever you pick, pick one. The real damage comes from three staff members using three different methods, because then no query or export can reliably find the extensions.
A simple convention that works
If you go with option 1, write the convention down exactly, including spacing and capitalization. Something like: number, one space, lowercase “x”, extension, no other characters (“555-201-4400 x12”). A fixed pattern is easy to search for in a query and easy to split back out in a spreadsheet if you ever need the extension in its own column.
Getting consistent formatting
Formatting problems usually have three sources: manual entry by staff, data imports, and numbers typed by the public on web forms or online checkouts. Each needs a different fix.
Staff entry
Altru may apply formatting rules for phone numbers based on country, depending on how your system is configured. Check your configuration for phone format settings, and test what happens when you type a ten-digit number with no punctuation into a constituent record. If Altru formats it for you, the simplest rule for staff is “type digits only and let Altru format it.” If it doesn’t, give staff one written format and put it in your data entry guide.
Imports
Clean phone numbers in the spreadsheet before you import, not after. Strip punctuation, apply your standard pattern with a formula, and move extensions into whatever place your convention calls for. Fixing a few hundred numbers in a spreadsheet takes minutes; fixing them one record at a time in Altru takes days.
Online orders and web forms
This is where most inconsistency comes from, and where you have the least control. Visitors type phone numbers however they like, and how much your Altru web forms validate or reformat that input is limited. Test your own forms to see what they accept: try a number with dots, one with an extension, one with a country code, and one with letters, then look at what lands on the constituent record.
Things that help:
- Clear field labels or help text. If your form lets you add instructions, show the format you want, and say whether extensions are welcome.
- Decide whether you need the phone at all. If you never call ticket buyers, making the field optional (or dropping it) removes a source of messy data. Keep it required only where staff actually use it, such as group sales or memberships.
- Review web orders on a schedule. Cleaning numbers as part of your regular web order review is far easier than a once-a-year scrub.
Finding the messy ones already in Altru
A constituent query is the fastest way to see how big the problem is. Pull constituent name, phone type, and phone number, then export to a spreadsheet and sort the number column. Irregular formats tend to cluster together, which makes them easy to spot. A few patterns worth filtering for:
- Numbers containing “ext”, “x”, “#” or a comma (extensions in non-standard forms)
- Numbers shorter or longer than you expect for your country
- Numbers with letters, which are often notes typed into the wrong field
- The same number on many unrelated constituents, which usually means a placeholder or a front desk line was entered instead of the customer’s own
Fix the worst cases first, especially records belonging to members, donors, and group sales contacts you actually call. If you find hundreds of records, look into whether a bulk update or a reimport is an option rather than editing each one by hand, and snapshot or export the original values before you change anything.
Quick answers
Will an extension in the number field break anything?
Inside Altru, it generally just displays as typed. The risk is in other tools that receive the number, so test any integration that dials, texts, or validates phone numbers.
Can I force a phone format on Altru web forms?
Your control over web form validation is limited. Test what your forms accept, add help text where you can, and plan on periodic cleanup.
