How-to
How to Enter Altru Household Members With Different Last Names
Maria Lopez and David Chen buy a family membership. Their two kids are Chens. At the desk, someone types “Maria Chen” because that seemed close enough, or creates one record called “Maria & David Lopez-Chen.” Six months later the renewal letter goes to a person who doesn’t exist, Maria’s own donation sits on a different
How to Mail Only One Household Member in Altru
Two renewal letters land in the same mailbox, one addressed to each spouse. Nobody complains about the postage, but they do notice, and some of them call to ask whether their membership was charged twice. Sending one piece per household is a small change that saves money and makes your organization look like it knows
How to Handle Divorced Constituents in Altru Without Mailing the Ex
A former couple shared a family membership for years. They split up. Then one of them gets a renewal notice addressed to “Mr. and Mrs.”, or a thank-you letter for a gift the other person made, or a card reminder for a membership they no longer hold. Each of those letters hurts a little, and
How to Set the Head of Household in Altru (and What It Changes)
“Head of household” is a phrase that comes up constantly in museum and zoo development offices, usually when a mailing goes out addressed to the wrong person or a membership card lands in the name of a teenager instead of the parent who paid. In Altru, the concept exists, but it doesn’t always go by
Why Altru Constituent Records Load Slowly (and What You Can Fix)
You search for a member, click their name, and the screen just sits there. Ten seconds. Fifteen. Meanwhile someone is standing at the counter waiting to renew. Slow constituent records are one of the most common complaints Altru admins hear from staff, and also one of the hardest to pin down, because the cause is
How to See the Date a Constituent Was Added in Altru
You open a constituent record, the name looks unfamiliar, and you want to know one simple thing: when did this person land in our database? Altru does track it. The catch is that the date isn’t something staff usually see while scrolling a constituent page. You get to it most reliably through a query. The
How to Show the Constituent ID on an Altru Constituent Record
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,
Searching by Nickname vs. First Name in Altru: What Actually Works
A caller says, “It’s Bill Henderson, I’m a member.” Your staff member types “Bill” and “Henderson” into constituent search and gets nothing. The record exists, but it’s under William, with Bill in the nickname field. The caller waits while someone tries “Will,” then “William,” then gives up and searches by last name only and scrolls.
Showing Org Name and Contact Person on Altru Acknowledgement Letters
A local credit union sponsors your summer camp. The gift is recorded on the organization record, which is correct. Then the thank-you letter goes out addressed to “Riverside Credit Union,” opens with “Dear Riverside Credit Union,” and lands in a general mailbox where nobody knows who wrote the check. The person who actually championed the
Should You Use Honorifics in Altru? Titles, Salutations, and Policy
Short answer: keep the title field, stop requiring it, and stop letting it drive your default greetings. That’s where a lot of museums, gardens, and zoos end up after a few years of mismatched letters and awkward phone calls. The longer answer depends on who you write to, how your records get created, and how
