A member hands over a card at admissions that says it expired last month. Staff look the person up in Altru and the membership is active through next spring. Which one is right? Almost always the membership. The card is a separate record that carries its own date, and that date doesn’t automatically move when the membership does.
Knowing that the two dates are stored separately explains most of the mismatches. Below are the usual causes, how to find the affected members, and a few habits that keep the two dates lined up.
Two records, two dates
In Altru, a membership and the cards issued for it are related but not the same thing. The membership has a term with a start and an expiration date. Each card belongs to that membership, but it gets its own expiration date when it’s created, usually taken from the membership’s expiration at that moment.
Once the card exists, you shouldn’t assume it follows later changes to the membership. In many setups, if something changes the membership’s expiration date after the card was created, the card keeps showing the old date until someone issues or updates a card. A quick test on a sample record will tell you how yours behaves.
The usual causes
The member renewed, but no new card was created
This is the most common one. The renewal pushes the membership expiration out a year, but the card from the previous term is still the active card on the record. That happens if your card-printing or card-fulfillment step only picks up new joins, or if desk staff process a renewal and skip the card step because the member said they’d keep their old card.
Someone edited the membership expiration by hand
Staff extend memberships for goodwill, comp a few months after a closure, or correct a date entered wrong. Changing the expiration on the membership record fixes the membership, but there’s no guarantee it changes any card already issued. Check how your version behaves in a test record before you assume either way.
Upgrades, downgrades, and level changes
Changing levels mid-term can create a new card for the new level, keep the old one active, or both. If the old card stays active, you can end up with two cards on the same membership with different dates. Which card your scanners and reports treat as “current” matters here.
Card expiration settings that differ from the term
Some organizations intentionally set cards to expire on a fixed date, or to a different length than the membership itself. If your program was set up that way years ago, the mismatch may be by design and nobody remembers why. Review your membership program and card settings, and if you can’t tell how card dates are being calculated, ask Blackbaud support to confirm for your configuration.
Finding the mismatches you already have
Build a membership query that returns active memberships along with whatever card fields your query source exposes, such as card expiration date and card status. Add a filter or a calculated comparison for records where the card expiration date isn’t equal to the membership expiration date.
Export it and sort by the size of the gap. You’ll usually see a few distinct groups:
- Card is roughly one term behind. Renewed members who never got a new card. These are the bulk of most lists.
- Card is off by a few weeks or months. Usually manual extensions or comp time.
- Multiple active cards on one membership. Level changes, or replacement cards issued without retiring the old one.
Each group has a different fix, so don’t try to correct them all at once.
Bringing them back into line
For renewed members missing a card, the cleanest fix is issuing a new card through your normal card process so the card record picks up the current expiration. If you send physical cards, decide whether you’ll actually mail these or just create the card record so the dates match in Altru. Mailing hundreds of surprise cards has a cost.
For manual extensions, update or reissue the card at the same time you change the membership date. Make that one step on your written procedure, not two.
For duplicate active cards, retire the older card so only one card per member shows as current. Before doing this in bulk, check how your scanning setup reads cards; if it validates against the card record, retiring the wrong one will turn a member away at the door.
Keeping it from happening again
- Treat the card as part of every renewal. Whether you print, email, or skip physical cards entirely, make sure a renewal always results in a card record with the new date.
- Tell admissions which date wins. Staff should trust the membership status in Altru over the date printed on a card, and know where to see it.
- Run the mismatch query monthly. Save it, schedule a reminder, and fix whatever shows up while the list is short.
- Print less date on the card. Some organizations drop the expiration date from printed cards entirely and rely on a lookup or scan at the door. That removes the visible mismatch, though not the data issue underneath.
Quick answers
Does a renewal update the existing card’s expiration date?
Don’t count on it. In most setups, the existing card keeps its original date and a new card is how the new date gets onto a card record. Test a renewal on a sample record to see exactly what your configuration does.
Which date should staff go by at the door?
The membership’s expiration date. The card date is only as current as the last time a card was issued.
