A nanny pass (some places call it a caregiver pass or an additional adult option) lets a member family send the kids with a nanny, au pair, or grandparent who isn’t on the household record. Members ask for it constantly at zoos, children’s museums, and gardens, and the people who ask are usually your most frequent visitors.
Altru doesn’t have a dedicated “nanny pass” setting. You build it from regular membership features, and the right build depends on one decision you need to make first: is the pass tied to a named person, or does it admit whoever is holding the card?
Decide the policy before you touch Altru
Answer these with your membership and visitor services leads in the same room. Each answer changes the setup.
- Named or transferable? A named caregiver is easier to verify at the gate but breaks every time the family changes nannies. A transferable “Caregiver” card is easier for families but easier to share with friends.
- Can the caregiver visit without a named member present? That’s the whole point for most families, but it means the caregiver needs their own card, not just an extra admission on the parent’s card.
- Does the caregiver add an admission, or replace one? If a family membership admits two adults, decide whether the nanny is a third adult or simply allowed to stand in for a parent.
- Is it a separate price, or built into a higher level? This is the biggest fork in the setup.
- Does the caregiver get member benefits? Store discounts, guest passes, and event invitations usually stay with the household. Write that down so desk staff aren’t deciding case by case.
Option 1: A membership level that includes a caregiver
The cleanest approach for most organizations is a separate level, for example “Family” and “Family Plus Caregiver,” within your existing membership program. The caregiver version costs more and allows one more card or one more adult on the membership.
Why this works well in Altru:
- It’s ordinary membership configuration, so renewals, upgrades, and web forms treat it like any other level.
- Revenue for the caregiver benefit is easy to report on, because it’s its own level.
- Upgrading a family mid-term is a standard upgrade rather than a custom fix.
The trade-off is level sprawl. If you already have several family tiers, adding a caregiver version of each can double your list. Many organizations offer the caregiver option on only one or two tiers to keep it manageable.
Option 2: An add-on to an existing membership
Some organizations prefer to sell the caregiver benefit as an add-on that any family can attach to their current level. Whether you can do this cleanly depends on what your Altru environment supports for membership add-ons and how they behave at renewal. I’d test it in a sandbox, or ask Blackbaud support, before promising it to members. The questions to confirm:
- Does the add-on renew automatically with the membership, or does it have to be sold again each year?
- Does it produce its own card, or only change the main membership?
- Can it be sold through your online membership forms, or only at the desk?
If the answers don’t fit your policy, a separate level (Option 1) is the safer route.
Option 3: Add the caregiver as a member on the record
You can add the nanny as an additional member on the membership, which gives them a named card. It’s simple for one family, but think about the data. You’re creating a constituent record for someone who isn’t a donor or member in their own right, and when the family changes caregivers you’ll be removing and adding people mid-term. Over time this leaves stray constituent records and confused mailing lists. If you go this way, exclude caregiver records from appeals and renewal mailings, and agree on how staff handle a swap.
The card and the gate
Whichever option you choose, the card is where policy turns into practice:
- Decide what prints on the card. For a transferable pass, many organizations print “Caregiver” in place of a name. Test whether your card setup can print a card without a person’s name before announcing that format.
- Make it obvious at scan time. When gate staff scan or look up the card, they should immediately see that it’s a caregiver card and how many children it covers.
- Set an ID rule. If the pass is named, staff check ID. If it’s transferable, say so in the desk guide so staff don’t turn away a legitimate nanny.
- Price replacements. Caregiver turnover means reissued cards. Decide whether swapping the name or reprinting costs anything and how many swaps a year you’ll allow.
Reporting on it
You’ll want to know whether the program is worth keeping. Before launch, make sure you can answer three questions with a query: how many memberships include the caregiver benefit, how much revenue it brought in, and how often caregiver cards are actually used at the gate. If the caregiver is a separate level, the first two are simple. Usage is harder if caregiver visits get scanned the same way as any other member admission, so test that you can tell them apart before you rely on the numbers.
Launch checklist
- Policy written down: named or transferable, admissions, benefits, replacement fee.
- Level or add-on built and tested end to end in a sandbox: new sale, renewal, upgrade, and online purchase.
- Card format confirmed and a sample printed.
- Front desk and gate staff briefed with a one-page guide.
- Membership web page and FAQ updated with the same wording staff use.
- A query saved to track sales and usage after the first few months.
A nanny pass is a small benefit, but families notice it. Build it on the same membership structure you already maintain, keep the rules simple enough for a seasonal staffer to apply, and it’ll run without much attention after launch.
