A thermometer on the homepage, a “we’re 72% of the way there” slide at the gala, a board report showing which trustees have closed their asks. These are all versions of the same request: take the gift totals already sitting in Altru and turn them into a picture people can read in two seconds.
Altru holds the numbers. As far as we know, it doesn’t include a built-in public widget that draws a live thermometer or leaderboard on your website. If you’re not sure whether your version or a Blackbaud add-on covers this, ask Blackbaud support before you build anything. What follows is how admins usually bridge the gap with queries and tools they already have.
Start with the number, not the graphic
Most thermometer projects stall because nobody agreed on what “raised” means. Before anyone opens a design tool, settle these questions in writing:
- What counts? Payments only, or pledges too? If you include pledges, decide whether you count the full pledge amount or only what has been paid so far.
- Which revenue? A specific campaign, appeal, designation, or fund. Pick the field you’ll filter on in Altru and make sure gift entry staff code to it consistently.
- Which dates? The campaign window, and whether a gift dated before the kickoff but posted after it counts.
- What about memberships and event revenue? Some campaigns count a membership upgrade or a gala ticket’s deductible portion. Many don’t. Either answer is fine as long as it’s the same answer every week.
Once that’s decided, build a revenue query in Altru that matches it exactly, and check the total against what your finance team reports. If the query and finance disagree, the graphic will disagree with finance too, and someone on the board will notice.
Building a thermometer
The simple version: update it by hand
For a campaign that runs a few weeks, manual updates are often the right answer. Run the query on a set schedule (every Monday morning, say), note the total, and have whoever manages the website change the number on a progress bar. Most website builders and many WordPress themes have a progress bar or counter block that takes a current value and a goal.
The weak point is the person. Put the update on someone’s calendar, and show an “as of” date next to the graphic so visitors know how current it is.
The semi-automated version: a spreadsheet chart
If you want less hand-typing, export the query results to a spreadsheet tool such as Google Sheets, sum the amount column, and build a bar or gauge chart against your goal. Google Sheets lets you publish a chart and embed it on a web page, so the chart on your site changes when the sheet changes.
Getting fresh data into the sheet is still a step someone has to take, whether that’s pasting in a new export or using a sync tool. Treat the embedded chart as “updated regularly,” not “live,” unless you’ve actually automated the data feed and tested it.
For events and slides
At a gala or a paddle raise, the number moves faster than any query refresh. Many organizations run a separate tally (a spreadsheet on a laptop, filled in as bids and pledges are called) and reconcile it to Altru after the event. That’s fine. Just label the on-screen number as the room’s pledges and expect the Altru total to settle a few days later once gifts are entered and paid.
Building a leaderboard
“Leaderboard” means different things depending on who’s looking at it.
Internal: board members, solicitors, or staff
This is the easier one. If gifts in Altru are tied to a solicitor, or the donors are tagged with an attribute or constituency (board member, committee, class year), you can build a query that groups revenue by that field and sorts by total. Export it to a spreadsheet, sort descending, and share it in the board packet or a staff meeting.
Test this before promising it. Whether you can group by solicitor or by a particular attribute depends on how your records are set up and what fields your gift entry team has been filling in. If solicitor credit has been entered unevenly, the leaderboard will reward whoever is best at data entry, not whoever raised the most.
Public: teams, classes, or peer fundraisers
Public leaderboards are usually a peer-to-peer fundraising feature, where each participant has a personal page and supporters give “to” them. Altru isn’t primarily built for that style of campaign, and we’d suggest confirming with Blackbaud what it supports before you design around it. Organizations that run peer-to-peer campaigns often use a dedicated platform for the participant pages and leaderboard, then bring the gifts into Altru afterward so donor records and revenue stay complete.
If your “teams” are simpler, such as school classes or neighborhoods competing in an appeal, you can sometimes handle it with a distinct appeal or designation per team, a query grouped by that field, and a manually updated table on the website.
Don’t skip the privacy check
Any graphic that names donors needs more care than a thermometer:
- Respect any anonymous-gift flags or donor preferences recorded in Altru. Filter those records out of the query rather than relying on someone to remember.
- Show amounts only if donors expect it. Many leaderboards rank by name without listing dollar figures.
- For internal board leaderboards, agree with the board chair beforehand on whether it’s shared openly or only with the development committee.
A short checklist before launch
- Write down the counting rules and get the development director and finance to sign off.
- Build and save the Altru query, and reconcile its total to finance once.
- Choose manual updates or a spreadsheet chart, and assign an owner and a schedule.
- Add an “as of” date to whatever the public sees.
- Filter out anonymous donors before anything with names goes public.
- When the campaign ends, take the graphic down or mark it closed so it doesn’t sit at 94% forever.
Quick answers
Can Altru push a live total to our website automatically?
Not that we’re aware of as a native feature. Most organizations update the total from a saved query on a regular schedule. If live updating matters, confirm options with Blackbaud support before building.
Should pledges count toward the thermometer?
For capital and multi-year campaigns, most organizations count pledges, because that’s how the goal was set. For short annual appeals, counting only received gifts keeps the number simpler. Pick one and say which on the graphic.
