A couple divorces and the membership should stay with one of them. A grandparent bought a family membership for a daughter, but the cashier attached it to the grandparent’s record. A member passes away and their partner asks to keep visiting. Each of these sounds like a simple “move it to the other person” request, and each one touches different parts of Altru: the membership itself, the constituent records, and the revenue that paid for it.
Before you change anything, it helps to know which of those three things actually needs to move. Usually it’s only the first.
Separate the membership from the money
In Altru, a membership and the payment behind it are related but not the same thing. The membership says who gets benefits and until when. The revenue says who paid. When someone asks to transfer a membership, they almost always mean the benefits, not the giving history.
That distinction matters for two reasons:
- Donor and payer credit should stay with whoever paid. If the grandparent paid, the grandparent’s giving history, acknowledgments, and any tax receipt stay on the grandparent’s record.
- Moving revenue has accounting consequences. Reversing and re-entering a payment to “transfer” it can create adjustments in posted batches that your finance team will have to explain later. Avoid it unless finance asks for it.
First, rule out the cases that aren’t really transfers
The membership landed on a duplicate record
If the “other constituent” is actually the same person entered twice, don’t transfer anything. Merge the duplicate constituent records so the membership, revenue, and history all end up on one record. Transferring between duplicates just leaves you with two records that still need merging.
The wrong person was picked at the point of sale
If staff selected the wrong constituent minutes or days ago and the batch hasn’t been posted, the cleanest fix may be to correct the transaction itself. Whether you can edit it depends on its status and your security rights, so check with whoever manages your batches before reversing anything.
The recipient already shares the household
For family-level memberships, the person asking may already be listed as a member on the membership. In that case you may only need to change who is designated primary, not create anything new.
Moving the benefits to a different person
Altru memberships carry a list of members, and administrators can generally add and remove people on that list and adjust card details. The exact options depend on your version, your membership program setup (for example, how many members and cardholders a level allows), and your security role. I’m not aware of a single, dedicated “transfer” action, so treat the approaches below as the common workarounds and confirm the details in a sandbox or with Blackbaud support before using them on live records.
Option 1: Edit the members on the existing membership
- Make sure the new person has a constituent record. Search carefully first so you don’t create a duplicate.
- Open the membership and add the new person as a member.
- If your setup lets you, make them the primary member.
- Remove the original person from the membership, or leave them on it if that’s what everyone agreed to.
- Reissue or update membership cards so the name on the card matches who will show up at the door.
- Add a note on both constituent records explaining what changed, when, and who approved it.
This keeps the original term, expiration date, and revenue intact. It’s usually the least disruptive route.
Option 2: Close the old membership and issue a new one
Some situations call for a clean break, such as a contentious household split, or when the level needs to change at the same time. Here you’d end or cancel the original membership and create a new one for the recipient with the same expiration date, using whatever no-charge, comp, or adjustment approach your organization already uses for complimentary memberships.
The trade-off: the new membership won’t carry the original membership history, and “member since” reporting may show the recipient as new. If your benefits or recognition depend on continuous membership, decide upfront whether that matters.
Situations that need extra care
- Deceased members. Mark the constituent as deceased according to your normal process before changing the membership, so renewal mailings and emails stop going to them. Then move the benefits to the surviving partner using one of the options above.
- Divorce or separation. Households may need to be split as well. Update addresses and household membership first, then the membership, so renewal notices go to the right place.
- Gift memberships. Confirm the giver still gets the acknowledgment and the recipient gets the card and renewal notices. Decide who receives the renewal ask next year; many organizations send it to the recipient with a courtesy note to the giver.
- Online accounts. If members log in anywhere to see their membership, check that the recipient’s login and email point to the record that now holds the membership.
Write a short internal policy
Transfer requests come in sporadically, so the steps get forgotten between them. A half-page policy saves time:
- Who can approve a transfer (front desk, membership manager, or only the database admin).
- Whether transfers are allowed at all for certain levels, such as individual memberships.
- Which option your team uses by default, and when to use the other.
- That revenue never moves without finance signing off.
- The note format to leave on both records.
Once a quarter, pull the transfers your team logged (a consistent note type or keyword makes them easy to find in a query) and spot-check a few. If notes are missing or cards weren’t reissued, you’ll catch it before the member does.
Quick answers
Does the new member get the original expiration date?
If you edit the existing membership, yes, since the term doesn’t change. If you issue a new one, set the expiration manually to match.
Will the original payer lose their giving credit?
Not if you leave the revenue alone. Only the benefits are moving.
Can a transfer happen through a web form?
Treat it as a staff task. Transfers involve judgment calls about households, credit, and approval that a public form isn’t built to make.
