“Void” means different things to different people on staff. To a cashier, it means “make that sale go away.” To your finance office, it means “cancel the card charge before it settles.” To an auditor, it means “show me exactly what was reversed, when, and by whom.” Altru can handle each of these, but not with one button, and which path is right depends on what kind of transaction it is and how far along it has gone.
This guide covers two jobs: finding the transaction reliably, and then choosing the right way to undo it without leaving a mess in revenue, batches, or the constituent record.
Step one: find the right transaction
Most mistakes during a void happen because someone reversed the wrong record. Before you change anything, pin down the exact transaction. Useful things to have in hand:
- The constituent. If the buyer was a known constituent, their constituent record shows their revenue and orders, which is usually the fastest route.
- The date and channel. Was it a daily sales (front desk) order, an advance sales order, a group sale, a web form purchase, or a gift or membership entered by staff? Each one lives in a slightly different part of Altru.
- The amount and payment method. Card last four digits, check number, or cash. These help you tell apart two orders of the same amount on the same day.
- The order or receipt number, if the guest has a receipt or confirmation email.
For anonymous walk-up sales there is no constituent to search, so you will lean on the date, the register or user who rang it up, and the amount. If you regularly struggle to find these, build a saved revenue or sales order query filtered by date, amount, and payment method. It turns a ten-minute hunt into a few seconds, and you can share it with the people who handle these calls.
Step two: decide what “void” should mean here
Once you have the record open, ask three questions before touching it.
Has the card payment settled?
For credit card payments, there is a real difference between voiding a charge and refunding it. A void cancels an authorization before it settles, so the customer typically never sees a charge post. A refund returns money after settlement and shows up as a separate credit. Whether you can void at the processor level, and for how long, depends on your payment processor and settlement timing. Check with whoever manages your merchant account, and if you use Blackbaud’s payment processing, confirm the exact window with Blackbaud support rather than assuming it.
Has the revenue been posted or deposited?
This matters most to finance. Before revenue is deposited or posted to your general ledger, correcting or removing it inside Altru is usually straightforward. After posting, you generally should not delete or edit the original. Instead, record a reversing entry, such as a refund or an adjustment, so the ledger shows both the original and the correction. If you are not sure what your posting status options allow, test in a sandbox or ask your finance lead before you act.
What was attached to the sale?
A ticket sale may be tied to a timed program with capacity. A membership sale creates or extends a membership. A donation may have generated an acknowledgment or a tribute. Reversing the money does not always reverse everything downstream, so check whether capacity was released, the membership dates were rolled back, and any pending acknowledgment letter was pulled.
Matching the method to the situation
- Wrong item rung up, guest still at the desk, nothing finalized: correct or cancel the order before completing it. This is the cleanest outcome and the one to train seasonal staff on.
- Order completed today, card not yet settled: refund the order in Altru so the revenue and inventory reverse, and ask your finance contact whether the processor charge can be voided instead of refunded. Make sure both sides end up matching.
- Order from a previous day or already settled: process a refund or return through the order. Do not try to delete the original record.
- Revenue entered manually in the wrong amount or on the wrong constituent, not yet posted: edit or delete the revenue record, depending on your permissions and your organization’s policy, and note why.
- Same situation, but already posted: treat it as an adjustment. Your finance team likely has a preferred method, so use theirs.
Altru’s exact options for each of these depend on your version, your security roles, and your configuration. If a menu option you expect is missing, it is often a permissions setting rather than a missing feature. Your Altru administrator can confirm which system roles include refund and revenue edit rights.
Keep a trail people can follow
Whatever path you take, leave a note on the order or constituent record explaining what was reversed and why. Three months from now, someone reconciling a batch will want to know why a sale and its refund appear on the same afternoon. A short note saves a lot of guesswork.
It also helps to limit who can reverse transactions. Many organizations let front desk staff request a void but have a supervisor or the business office actually process it. That keeps refund volume visible and makes it easier to spot patterns, such as a single register that keeps needing corrections or a confusing button on the point-of-sale screen.
A simple weekly check
Build a query of refunds and adjustments for the past week, grouped by user and sales channel. Review it with your finance lead. You are looking for two things: reversals that were never matched by a processor refund or void, and repeat causes you can fix with training or a configuration change. When the list gets shorter, your staff are making fewer mistakes, and the ones that do happen are getting cleaned up properly.
Quick answers
Can I just delete a sale in Altru?
Sometimes, before it is posted and if your role allows it. Once revenue has been posted or deposited, use a refund or adjustment so the financial history stays intact.
Does refunding in Altru also refund the customer’s card?
Not necessarily. It depends on how your payment processing is set up. Confirm with your finance team or Blackbaud support, and check that the processor shows a matching refund or void.
Will a refund release the ticket back into inventory?
It should for most ticket returns, but verify capacity on the program or event afterward, especially for timed entry with tight limits.
