A donor calls on Tuesday: their accountant needs a receipt for last spring’s gift, and they need it today. You open their constituent record in Altru, find the payment, and then go looking for a print button that turns that one gift into a letter. For most organizations it isn’t there.
This article explains why one-off letters are awkward in Altru, gives you three reliable ways to produce one anyway, and covers the bookkeeping step that keeps a single reprint from causing trouble in your next acknowledgment run.
Why there’s no single “print letter” option
Altru treats acknowledgments as a batch communication. Letters come out of a process that selects revenue records based on criteria (a date range, a letter type, an acknowledgment status), merges them into a template, and then marks them as acknowledged. That works well for the weekly or monthly letter run. It’s built around groups of records, though, and doesn’t easily handle one gift that a person is looking at right now.
Depending on your version and configuration, you may see letter or receipt-related options on revenue or payment records. Before you build a workaround, test what your system actually offers in a sandbox or ask Blackbaud support, because what’s available differs from site to site. The methods below work whether or not that native option exists.
Option 1: Run your normal acknowledgment process for one record
This is usually the cleanest choice, because the letter comes from the same template and process as every other letter, and the gift gets marked the same way your batch letters do.
- Build a selection that contains only the gift you need. Create an ad-hoc revenue query filtered to that constituent and that payment (by date and amount, or by the revenue ID if you have it), then save it as a selection.
- Point a copy of your acknowledgment process at that selection instead of your usual date-range criteria. Check that your process accepts a selection as its source; if you aren’t sure, test it in a sandbox first. Keep a dedicated “single letter” process for this so nobody edits the criteria on the main one by accident.
- Run it, open the merged output, and print or save to PDF.
- Confirm the gift now shows as acknowledged so it won’t get picked up again in the next batch.
The first time takes a few minutes. After that, swapping the gift in the selection takes about a minute.
Option 2: Mail merge from a one-row export
If your acknowledgment process is complicated or someone else owns it, keep a Word copy of your acknowledgment or tax receipt letter that uses the same merge fields your export produces. Run a revenue query for the single gift, export it, and merge it into the document.
This is fast and doesn’t touch your acknowledgment setup. The trade-off is that Altru doesn’t know a letter went out. You’ll need to update the acknowledgment status on the revenue record yourself, or the donor will get a second letter in the next run.
Option 3: Reprint a transaction receipt
Sometimes the donor doesn’t need a formal letter, just proof of payment. If the gift was taken at the point of sale or through a web form, the transaction receipt may already have what’s needed: date, amount, payment method, and your organization’s details. Whether staff can reprint a past receipt from the transaction, and how far back, depends on how the sale was processed and on user permissions, so check it in your own system before you promise it to a donor.
A note on tax receipts: if the person needs the gift for a tax filing, a basic sales receipt may not include the language they need (the deductible amount, any goods or services received, your tax ID). Use your acknowledgment letter template for those requests.
Don’t skip the acknowledgment status
Problems with one-off letters usually come from the record keeping, not the printing. Whichever method you use:
- Make sure the revenue record shows as acknowledged with the right date and letter. Otherwise your next batch sends a duplicate, and the donor now has two letters for one gift.
- If it’s a replacement for a lost letter, leave the original acknowledgment date in place and add a note or interaction on the constituent record saying a copy was reissued, when, and by whom.
- Save a PDF of what you sent in your shared drive or attach it to the record if your setup allows. When the donor calls again next year, you’ll have it.
Make it repeatable
If these requests come in more than occasionally, write a short internal procedure: which of the options above your team uses, where the saved selection and Word template are kept, and who can update acknowledgment status. Put it in the same place as your batch acknowledgment steps.
Also check who’s asking. Repeated reprint requests near year-end usually mean donors aren’t getting or keeping the original letter. Check your email addresses and mailing addresses on those constituent records, and think about sending acknowledgments by email as well as on paper. One clean letter that arrives is better than reprints later.
Quick answers
Can front desk staff do this, or does it need an admin?
Options 1 and 2 usually need someone with query and communication permissions. If desk staff handle these calls, have them take down the request and pass it to the person who runs acknowledgments, rather than giving broad permissions to everyone.
Will running the process for one gift affect the regular batch?
Not if you use a separate copy of the process with its own selection. Editing the criteria on your main process and forgetting to change them back is how batches go wrong.
