Altru does not ship with a loyalty points engine. As far as we know there is no built-in ledger where members earn a point per dollar or per visit, watch a balance grow, and redeem it at the register. If you have heard otherwise, check with Blackbaud support or test in a sandbox before you design anything around it, because the answer changes how you build the program.
The good news is that most of what a “member rewards” program really needs is already sitting in Altru: membership history, revenue, and (if you scan cards at admission) visit records. The trick is to calculate rewards from that data instead of trying to store a running points balance on each record.
Decide what you are actually rewarding
Before touching configuration, pick one behavior. Programs that reward everything end up rewarding nothing, and they are much harder to run in Altru. The three that map cleanly to data you already have:
- Loyalty over time. Members who have renewed continuously for three, five, or ten years. This comes straight from membership history and “member since” dates.
- Visits. Members who come often. This only works if staff reliably scan or look up the membership at admission so the visit is recorded against the member.
- Spending. Members who buy tickets for guests, shop, attend programs, or give on top of dues. This comes from revenue tied to the constituent.
Tenure-based rewards are the easiest to run and the hardest to get wrong. Visit- and spend-based rewards are more engaging but depend on clean data at the point of sale.
Why a stored points balance is a bad fit
It is tempting to add a constituent attribute called “Points” and have someone update it. In practice that number drifts almost immediately. Every refund, exchange, duplicate record, household merge, or missed update makes it wrong, and nobody can explain how a member got to 340 points. You also end up with a manual job that someone has to do every week forever.
There is a finance angle too. A published points balance that members can redeem for goods or admission can look like an obligation you owe them. Talk to your finance team before you promise anything that resembles a currency.
A calculated approach that holds up
- Write the rule in one sentence. For example: “Members who visit eight or more times in their membership year get two free guest passes at renewal.” If you cannot write it in a sentence, staff cannot explain it at the desk.
- Build a query that finds qualifying members. Use membership, revenue, or visit data with a date range. The query is the program; it recalculates every time it runs, so refunds and corrections are handled automatically.
- Clean up duplicates first. A member split across two constituent records will have their visits or spending split too, and will miss a reward they earned. Run a duplicate review before your first payout.
- Mark the reward, not the points. When someone qualifies, record the outcome: an attribute such as “2026 Frequent Visitor,” a note, or an added membership benefit. That is a fact that does not drift.
- Redeem with tools Altru already has. Discounts, promo codes, guest passes, and membership benefits are the natural ways to deliver a reward. Confirm in your own setup how each one behaves for members before announcing it.
- Run it on a schedule. Monthly or quarterly is plenty. Put the query and the steps in a short procedure doc so it survives staff turnover.
Tiered status instead of points
Many organizations find that a simple status ladder works better than points. “Member,” “5-Year Member,” and “10-Year Member” are easy for guests to understand, easy for staff to see on a record, and easy to recognize in your annual report or donor wall. You can attach real perks to each tier, such as an early-access preview, a members-only event, or a discount upgrade, without inventing a new currency.
If you want a visit-based tier, use the previous membership year rather than a live count. “You visited 12 times last year, so this year you are a Frequent Visitor” is calculated once, recorded once, and does not change at the register.
Tell members what they earned
A reward nobody knows about does not change behavior. Use the same query that finds qualifying members as the audience for a short, specific message: what they did, what they get, and how to use it. Mention the reward again in renewal mailings, where it does the most good. Keep the wording identical to what front-desk staff say, so a member who calls in hears the same rule they read.
Things to settle before launch
- Households. Does a family membership earn as one unit or per person? Decide, then make sure your query groups the way you decided.
- Lapses. Does a three-month gap reset tenure? Use the same grace period your renewal policy uses.
- Expiration. Rewards should expire, usually with the membership year, so you are not honoring passes from four years ago.
- Exceptions. Name one person who can approve one-off adjustments, and log them in a note on the constituent record.
Quick answers
Can Altru show a points balance on a member’s card or receipt?
We are not aware of a native way to do that. If it matters to your program, confirm with Blackbaud support before you commit to it publicly.
What is the simplest program to start with?
Tenure recognition. It uses membership history you already trust, needs no new data entry, and rewards the members who keep you funded.
How do we know if it is working?
Compare renewal rates for members who earned a reward against similar members who did not, over at least one full membership cycle.
