A bench by the koi pond, a gallery wing, a keeper’s station at the elephant barn, a brick in the entry plaza. Naming opportunities are some of the best gifts a cultural organization can offer. They are also some of the hardest to track, because each one is a physical thing with a price, a status, a donor, a plaque, and sometimes an end date.
As far as we know, Altru has no dedicated module for an inventory of nameable spaces, the kind of thing where you’d list every bench, mark it available or reserved, and attach it to a gift. If your version has something newer, confirm it with Blackbaud support before building anything. The good news: you can build a reliable setup from the pieces Altru already has. The trick is deciding up front which part of Altru holds which piece of the information.
Separate the three things you’re tracking
Most of the mess with naming gifts comes from mixing up three different kinds of information:
- The money. Who gave, how much, when, and whether it’s a single payment or a pledge.
- The asset. The specific bench, room, or tree, its price, and whether it’s available, reserved, or named.
- The recognition. The exact wording on the plaque, who approved it, when it was installed, and when the naming term ends.
Altru is strong on the first, workable for the third, and weak on the second. Plan around that.
The money: designations and pledges
Create a designation for each category of naming opportunity, not each individual object. “Garden Benches,” “Classroom Naming,” and “Paver Program” are usually enough. One designation per bench gets unmanageable fast, and your finance team will not thank you for it.
If you run naming as part of a capital campaign, connect those designations to the campaign so campaign reports pick up the gifts. Use appeals to separate how the gift came in (a mailed paver brochure versus a major-gift conversation).
Larger naming gifts are almost always pledged over several years. Record them as pledges with installments so you can see what’s still outstanding. That matters more than it sounds: many organizations won’t install signage until a set portion of the pledge is paid, and you’ll want a query that tells you exactly where each one stands.
The recognition: attributes and notes on the gift
Altru lets you add custom attributes to records. Set up a small group of attributes on the revenue record (or the constituent record, if that’s easier for your team to find) to hold the naming details:
- Naming item: a code list value such as “Bench 14 – Pond Path”
- Recognition wording: free text, exactly as it should appear
- Wording approved: date
- Installed: date
- Naming term ends: date, if your gift policy limits naming to a set number of years
Test in a sandbox or a low-stakes record first to confirm where attributes can live in your configuration and how they show up in queries. Revenue attributes and constituent attributes behave differently in reporting, and it’s easier to pick one before you have fifty gifts entered.
If the naming honors someone else (“In memory of…”), record that with Altru’s tribute functionality where your setup supports it, so the honoree and any people to notify are linked properly rather than buried in a text field.
The asset inventory: keep a master list outside the gift
Here’s where Altru runs thin. A gift record answers “what did this donor name?” It does not easily answer “which benches are still available, and at what price?” That question comes from development officers, the facilities team, and sometimes the board.
Two practical options:
- Use the code list as your inventory. If the “Naming item” attribute uses a code list, every available asset is already listed there. A query of gifts with that attribute shows which items are taken, and anything not on the query is open. This works well for a few dozen items.
- Keep a shared spreadsheet as the asset list with one row per item: location, price, status, and the Altru constituent ID once it’s named. Altru stays the source for money; the spreadsheet is the source for the physical inventory. This scales better when you have hundreds of pavers or items that change price.
Whichever you choose, write down which one is authoritative. Two lists that both claim to be the truth will drift apart within a season.
Queries worth saving
- Named items by status: gifts with a naming item, showing wording approved and installed dates. Blanks are your to-do list.
- Pledge balance on naming gifts: outstanding amounts on pledges in your naming designations, so nobody installs a plaque early by accident.
- Terms ending soon: naming term end dates in the next 12 to 18 months. This is a renewal and stewardship conversation, not an admin task, and it needs lead time.
Set policy before entering data
The system setup is the easy part. Before you enter the first gift, agree internally on a few decisions: the price for each category, whether naming is permanent or for a fixed term, what happens if a pledge goes unpaid, who approves the wording, and whether a gift can be renamed if the space is renovated. Put the term and conditions into your gift agreement, and attach or reference that agreement on the gift in Altru so the next development director can find it.
Quick answers
Should each bench be its own designation?
Usually no. Use designations for categories and an attribute for the specific item. Your general ledger stays clean and reports stay readable.
Can donors pick an available item online?
Not with a live availability picker inside Altru, as far as we’re aware. Most organizations take an inquiry or a gift online and assign the specific item afterward, which also gives staff a chance to review the recognition wording.
