Volunteer lists tend to live everywhere except Altru: a sign-up spreadsheet from the docent coordinator, an export from a scheduling app, a stack of paper applications from last summer’s teen program. Getting those people into Altru is mostly a constituent import with a few volunteer-specific decisions layered on top. The decisions matter more than the mechanics, so start there.
Decide what “volunteer” means in your database
Before you open a file, agree on how a volunteer will be identifiable in Altru once they’re in. You have a few options, and most organizations use more than one:
- A constituency. Marking someone as a volunteer constituency is the simplest flag, and it’s easy to filter on in queries and lists.
- Attributes. Useful for details that don’t fit anywhere else: volunteer program (docent, garden crew, events), start year, background check status, preferred contact method.
- Altru’s volunteer features. Depending on your configuration, Altru can track volunteer-specific information such as jobs, schedules, and hours. If you plan to use those, find out which pieces your import process can populate and which have to be entered after the record exists. If you aren’t sure, ask Blackbaud support or test it in a sandbox before committing to a plan.
Write the decision down. A year from now, someone will need to pull “all active docents,” and they should only have to look in one place.
Clean the source file first
Volunteer spreadsheets are usually messier than donor or member data because they were built by program staff for scheduling, not for a database. Expect to fix:
- Names in one column. Split them into first and last name. Watch for entries like “Pat & Sam Rivera” that are really two people.
- Inconsistent addresses and phone formats. Pick one format and apply it before import, not after.
- Free-text notes. “Mornings only, no heavy lifting, allergic to bees” is useful, but it doesn’t map to a single field. Decide whether it becomes a note on the record, an attribute, or stays in the coordinator’s own tools.
- Minors. Teen volunteers may need a parent or guardian linked. Find out how you want that relationship recorded before importing, because untangling it later is tedious.
- Former volunteers. Separate active from inactive people. If inactive volunteers come in, mark them clearly so they don’t land on next month’s shift call list.
Check for people who are already in Altru
This is the step that saves you the most cleanup. Many volunteers are also members, donors, or past ticket buyers, so a good share of your list probably already has a constituent record. Importing them blindly creates duplicates, and duplicates split someone’s history across two records.
Run a query of existing constituents and compare against your file by email, then by name plus address or phone. Then sort your file into two groups:
- Existing constituents. You’ll update these records by adding the volunteer constituency, attributes, or other details, rather than creating new ones.
- New people. These get created as new constituent records with the volunteer flags included.
Altru’s import process does include duplicate checking, but don’t lean on it as your only safeguard. A quick manual match on a spreadsheet catches the obvious ones, like a volunteer who signed up with a work email while their membership uses a personal one.
Run a small test import
Altru handles constituent imports through its import and batch tools, where you map columns in your file to Altru fields, review the batch, and then commit it. Exact steps and available fields vary with your setup and permissions, so check Blackbaud’s current documentation for your version rather than relying on a remembered workflow.
Whatever the steps, test with ten or twenty rows first. Choose rows that include the awkward cases: a couple, a minor, someone with a long note, someone you know already exists. After you commit the test batch, open each record and confirm:
- Names, addresses, phones, and emails landed in the right fields.
- The volunteer constituency or attributes show up the way you expected.
- No duplicate was created for the person who was already in Altru.
- Any relationships (parent and teen, spouses) appear correctly on both records.
If anything is off, fix the mapping or the file and test again. Batches that haven’t been committed are easy to correct. Committed records have to be fixed one at a time.
Import the rest and verify
Once the test is clean, run the full file. Then build a query of everyone with your volunteer constituency or attribute and compare the count to your source file. If the numbers don’t match, the difference is usually people who were merged into existing records (good) or rows that errored out and were skipped (worth checking). Save that query. It becomes your volunteer list going forward, and you can turn it into a smart field or a regular export for your volunteer coordinator.
Keep it from drifting
A one-time import is the easy part. The harder part is keeping Altru current when new volunteers keep signing up somewhere else. Agree on a rhythm, such as a monthly import of new sign-ups using the same cleaned template and the same duplicate check. Reuse the same column layout every time so the mapping doesn’t need to be rebuilt.
Also decide which system owns which details. Altru is a good home for contact information, constituency, and history alongside membership and giving. Shift scheduling and day-of check-in may still work better in the coordinator’s own tool. That’s fine, as long as everyone knows which system to trust for which question.
Quick answers
Can I import volunteer hours from a past year?
Possibly, depending on how your Altru volunteer features are set up and what the import process supports for that data. Test it in a sandbox or confirm with Blackbaud support before promising historical hours to anyone who plans to report on them.
Should volunteers be imported as members?
No, unless they actually hold a membership. Volunteer status and membership are separate. If your organization gives volunteers a complimentary membership, record that as a real membership so benefits and expiration dates work normally.
