A volunteer is on the phone with a member who reads out a number from an old renewal letter. Staff open the constituent record to check it against what they have, and the ID they need is not on the screen in front of them. So they go back to search, or open a query, or ask someone in development. It is a small delay, but it happens many times a week.
The short version: you usually can’t rearrange the constituent page in Altru yourself to put the ID wherever you’d like, including on a biographical tab. What you can do is make the ID easy to reach from every place staff actually look things up. This guide covers what to check, the workarounds that hold up, and how to ask Blackbaud about a layout change.
First, be clear about which ID you mean
Altru keeps more than one identifier for a constituent, and people often mean different things when they say “constituent ID.”
- The lookup ID. This is the human-readable number staff type, print on letters, and read over the phone. It is the one most people want visible.
- The internal record ID. Altru also has a long system identifier behind the scenes. It is useful for imports, integrations, and troubleshooting, but nobody should be reading it to a member.
- IDs from other systems. If you migrated from another database or sync with an outside tool, you may also store an old or external ID as an alternate lookup ID or in an attribute.
Settle which one the front desk actually needs before you go further. Many “the ID isn’t showing” complaints turn out to be about a legacy number from a previous system, which is a different fix from the lookup ID.
Why the ID isn’t on the tab you expect
If you came from Raiser’s Edge, you may be used to a “Bio 1” tab with the constituent ID sitting right at the top. Altru’s constituent record is laid out differently, and its pages are set by Blackbaud rather than designed by each organization. As far as we know, Altru customers do not get a page editor for moving fields between tabs on the constituent record.
We would rather not guess on this one. If you want a definite answer for your version, open a case with Blackbaud support and ask two things: whether the lookup ID can be displayed on the constituent’s personal or biographical information section, and whether any configuration or security setting is hiding it for some users. It is worth asking the second question too, because a role with limited rights can see less of a record than an administrator does.
Workarounds that hold up
1. Search results
Constituent search in Altru can return the lookup ID alongside the name and address. Train staff to read the ID from the search result before they open the record. It sounds trivial, but it covers most phone and front desk lookups without anyone opening a second screen.
2. A saved query for the desk
Build a simple ad-hoc constituent query with name, lookup ID, primary email, primary phone, and membership level and expiration. Save it in a shared folder and give desk roles rights to run it. When a member gives a name or email, staff filter the query and have the ID and status in one row. Test it with a desk-level login before rolling it out, not just with your admin account.
3. Put the ID where members will see it
Fewer lookups is the real goal. Add the lookup ID to the things members hold onto:
- Membership cards and card letters
- Renewal notices and acknowledgment letters
- Email templates, where your email tool can merge it in
When a member reads their number off a card, staff can search on it directly instead of hunting for it on the record.
4. Use attributes carefully for legacy IDs
If the number staff need is an old ID from a previous system, confirm where it landed during conversion. Alternate lookup IDs are generally searchable; an attribute may not be. If staff search by it often, make sure it is stored somewhere search can reach, and add it as a column in the desk query above.
5. Reports and exports
Any report or export that goes to another team (finance, marketing, an outside mail house) should include the lookup ID as a column. It is the cleanest way to match records back to Altru later, far better than matching on names or email addresses.
A quick checklist
- Confirm which ID staff actually need: lookup ID, legacy ID, or something else.
- Log in as a front desk user and check what that role sees on search results and on the record.
- Ask Blackbaud support whether the ID can appear in the biographical section for your version.
- Build and share a desk lookup query with the ID as the first column.
- Add the lookup ID to cards, renewal letters, and outgoing exports.
Quick answers
Can I add the lookup ID to the constituent page myself?
Probably not. Page layout in Altru is controlled by Blackbaud. Confirm with support for your version rather than relying on a workaround you saw for another Blackbaud product.
Why can my coworker see the ID and I can’t?
Check security roles. Different system roles can expose different parts of a record. Compare what each login sees on the same constituent.
Is the lookup ID safe to print on a membership card?
Most organizations treat it as an account number, not a secret. Still, it should never be the only thing staff use to verify identity on a call that changes contact or payment details.
