“Uncashed check” means two different problems depending on which way the money was supposed to move, and Altru handles them very differently.
- A check you received but never deposited. A donor mails a gift, or a member pays a renewal by check at the desk. Someone enters it in Altru, and then the paper check gets lost, sits in a drawer, or is returned by the bank. Altru now shows revenue that never reached your bank account.
- A check you wrote that was never cashed. Usually a refund for a canceled group visit, event, or overpayment. Altru may show the refund as done, but the money is still in your account months later.
Both create “ghost” money: amounts that look settled in one system and are not settled in the other. Here is how to find them and clean them up without making the books worse.
Checks received but never deposited
How they slip through
The usual cause is a gap between the person who records the payment and the person who takes checks to the bank. Revenue gets entered in Altru (often in a batch), the batch is committed, and the physical deposit is a separate step that nobody ties back. If your deposit slip totals are never compared to the check payments Altru recorded for the same period, a missing check can go unnoticed until year-end.
Finding them
Build a revenue query filtered to payment method of check for a date range, and include the check number, amount, constituent, and the date entered. Export it and compare it line by line against your bank’s deposit detail for the same range. Anything in Altru that never shows up on a deposit is a candidate ghost check.
Run this monthly, not annually. A check that is three weeks old can usually be found or reissued by the donor. One that is eleven months old is much harder to recover.
Cleaning it up
- Contact the payer first. Ask whether the check cleared on their end. Sometimes it was deposited under the wrong batch or bank account, and the problem is in your reconciliation, not the payment.
- If it truly never arrived at the bank, ask for a replacement payment before you touch the Altru record. If they pay again by card or a new check, you can often update the existing payment rather than create a duplicate gift.
- If the money is not coming, the payment needs to be reversed or written off in Altru. How you do this depends on whether that revenue has already been posted to your general ledger. Unposted revenue can usually be edited or deleted. Posted revenue generally needs an adjustment so the GL reflects the change. If you are not sure which tools your Altru setup allows for posted payments, test it in a sandbox or ask Blackbaud support before changing a live record.
- Check what the payment triggered. A check that paid for a membership also created membership dates and benefits. A check entered as a gift may already have a tax acknowledgment on file. Decide whether to cancel the membership, keep it as a courtesy, or follow up, and correct the acknowledgment if the donor received a receipt for money you never got.
Add a note on the constituent record explaining what happened. A year from now, someone looking at that donor’s giving history will wonder why a gift disappeared.
Refund checks you issued that were never cashed
In many organizations, Altru records the refund and the accounting system (not Altru) actually cuts the check. That split matters: the outstanding check shows up in your bank reconciliation, but Altru has no way to know the refund was never collected.
When a refund check goes stale, you generally have three choices:
- Reach out and reissue. Contact the person, confirm their address, void the old check in your accounting system, and issue a new one. Altru usually does not need to change, because the refund itself is still valid.
- Offer a different refund method. Some people would rather have the amount refunded to their card or applied as a credit toward a future visit. If you go that route, record it in Altru so the refund history matches what really happened.
- Hold it as unclaimed property. Most U.S. states have unclaimed property (escheatment) rules for checks that stay uncashed past a set dormancy period, and nonprofits are not automatically exempt. The rules vary by state, so this is a question for your finance lead or auditor, not your Altru admin. What Altru can contribute is clean records: who the refund was for, when, and why.
Avoid quietly reversing the refund in Altru just because the check was never cashed. If that person later deposits the original check, your records will say they were never owed anything.
Preventing the next one
- Separate entry from deposit, then reconcile them. Whoever enters checks in Altru should not be the only person who confirms the deposit. A short monthly comparison catches most problems.
- Always record the check number. Without it, matching Altru to a bank statement turns into guesswork with amounts and dates.
- Keep check batches small and dated. One batch per deposit makes it obvious when a batch total and a deposit total do not match.
- Set a stale-check rule. Decide how long a refund check can stay outstanding before someone follows up, and put that on a calendar instead of leaving it to whoever notices.
- Move routine payments off paper where you can. Fewer checks means fewer ghosts. Card payments for renewals and group deposits settle on a predictable schedule and are easier to match.
Quick answers
Can I just delete the payment in Altru if the check never arrived?
Only if it has not been posted to the GL and your finance team agrees. Posted revenue usually needs an adjustment so the ledger stays in sync. Confirm with your finance lead first.
Does Altru track whether a refund check was cashed?
Don’t count on it. In most setups, cashed and outstanding status lives in your bank and accounting reconciliation. If you want it visible in Altru, add a note or attribute to the record when you follow up.
What about a donor check that bounced?
Treat it like a check that never arrived: contact the donor, ask for a replacement, and reverse or adjust the payment only if no replacement comes. Correct any acknowledgment that went out.
