A Family member and a Director’s Circle member probably shouldn’t get the same renewal letter. One probably joined at the admissions desk to save on a couple of visits. The other is a donor who expects a note that mentions the curator breakfast, the reciprocal benefits, and the tax-deductible portion of their gift. Sending both the same “Your membership is expiring, renew today” message quietly tells your best supporters that they’re a row in a spreadsheet.
The good news: splitting renewal notices by level in Altru is mostly a list-building exercise. The membership data you need is already there. The work is in segmenting it cleanly and keeping the segments from overlapping.
Start with the list, not the letter
Every version of this comes back to one thing: a membership query that returns the members coming up for renewal, with the membership level included as an output field and available as a filter. Build it once, carefully, and the rest is formatting.
Things to get right in that query:
- Expiration window. Filter on expiration date for the period you’re mailing (for example, everyone expiring next month). Use a relative date range if your Altru setup supports it, so you don’t edit the dates every cycle.
- Membership level and program. Output both. If you run more than one membership program, a level name like “Patron” can exist in two places.
- Status. Exclude members who have already renewed early. This is the most common reason an upper-level member gets a “please renew” letter a week after writing a check.
- The right recipient. For household or dual memberships, decide whether the notice goes to the primary member or the household. For gift memberships, decide whether it goes to the giver or the recipient. Make that choice explicit in the query rather than leaving it to whatever record happens to come first.
- Contact preferences. Include solicit codes or communication preferences so people who opted out of mail or email are filtered before anything goes out.
Three ways to split the notices
1. Separate queries, separate templates
Copy the base query and add a level filter to each copy: one for general levels, one for upper levels (or one per level if each gets distinct wording). Each query feeds its own letter or email template. This is the simplest setup to explain to a new staff member, and it’s easy to see who is in which group. The downside is maintenance: if you change the base logic, you have to change it in every copy.
2. One query, conditional content
Keep a single query with the level as an output column, then let your mail merge or email tool swap paragraphs based on that value. A Word mail merge can do this with IF fields; most email tools have some form of conditional block. One list means one place to fix mistakes. It does make the template harder to read, so keep a plain-language note of what each condition does.
3. Upper levels get a person, not a letter
For the very top tiers, many organizations skip the form notice entirely. The query becomes a call or task list for a development officer or the membership manager, who sends a personal note or picks up the phone. A printed letter can follow as a backup if the member hasn’t renewed after a few weeks. If your top levels are counted as major donors, coordinate with whoever manages those relationships so the member doesn’t hear from three people in the same week.
Whether Altru’s built-in renewal notice tools can attach a different letter per level in one run depends on how your system is configured, and I wouldn’t assume it. Test it in a sandbox or ask Blackbaud support before you plan a cycle around it. The query-first approach works either way.
What should actually be different
Separate notices only help if the content changes. For upper-level members, consider:
- Timing. Start earlier. A 90-day first notice is reasonable for donor-level members; general members are often fine at 30 to 60 days.
- Benefits recap. List what they used or had access to this year: events, guest passes, reciprocal programs. Specifics beat a generic benefits table.
- Tax language. Upper levels often have a deductible portion. Make sure the amount matches your current fair-market-value calculation for that level.
- Signer. A letter from the executive director or board chair reads differently than one from “The Membership Team.”
- Upgrade path. General-level notices can mention the next level up. For your top level, skip the upsell and just say thank you.
Before each send
- Run every segment query and compare the combined count to your base query. If the totals don’t match, someone is in two groups or in none.
- Spot-check a few records in each segment, especially anyone who upgraded or downgraded during the current term.
- Re-run the “already renewed” exclusion right before mailing, not when you first pulled the list.
- Keep the final list for each segment so you can match renewals back to the notice that prompted them.
Automating the email side
If you send renewal emails, the manual export-and-upload step is where segments drift out of date. Email Designer sends automated, branded emails from Altru queries without exports, so a separate query per level can drive its own renewal email. The segmentation decisions above still apply; it just removes the copy-and-paste in between.
Quick answers
Should each level get its own notice?
Usually not. Two or three groups (general, mid-level, top tier) cover most organizations. More templates mean more to proofread and keep current.
What about members who upgrade mid-term?
Base the notice on the level they hold now, and confirm your query reads the current membership rather than the original join transaction.
