The short answer: for card payments that Altru itself processes (the register, web forms, and payments keyed into revenue), Blackbaud Merchant Services is the processor Altru is built around, and you can’t point that integration at Stripe, Square, your bank’s processor, or anyone else. (Confirm this for your own contract with Blackbaud, since processing options and terms can change.) You can still take cards through another processor, but those payments live outside Altru’s integrated flow, and you take on the work of getting them into Altru cleanly.
Whether that tradeoff is worth it depends on why you’re asking. Usually it’s one of three things: the rates look high, deposits and fees are hard to reconcile, or you want a payment option (a specific terminal, a wallet, a newer online checkout) that your current setup doesn’t give you. Each has a different answer.
What “integrated” actually buys you
When a card runs through Altru’s own processing, the authorization, the payment record, and the revenue all land together. The transaction is tied to the constituent, the sale or membership is created, and the deposit you see from BBMS corresponds to payments Altru already knows about. Refunds go back through the same path.
Break that link and none of it happens automatically. A card run on a separate terminal is just money in a bank account until someone records it in Altru. That’s the real cost of switching processors, and it’s easy to underestimate when you’re comparing rate sheets.
Ways organizations use a second processor anyway
A standalone terminal for specific situations
Some sites keep a separate terminal for off-site events, a seasonal kiosk, or a gift shop that doesn’t run through Altru. Staff run the card there, then the sale is entered in Altru with a non-processed payment method so the revenue and constituent history are correct. This works when volume is low and the person entering it is consistent. It falls apart when it becomes a stack of slips someone catches up on at month end.
A separate online checkout that records back into Altru
Third-party checkouts and payment pages exist that take payment through their own processor and then create the matching record in Altru. If you go this way, ask any vendor exactly how the record is written (real-time or batched, which payment method it uses, how refunds are handled) and test it against a sandbox before you go live. The tool should leave Altru as complete as a native sale would; if it only exports a spreadsheet for you to import, you’re signing up for manual reconciliation.
Manual entry of outside payments
For things like a grant paid by card through a funder’s portal, or a corporate sponsor paying an invoice through your accounting system, the cleanest approach is usually to record the payment in Altru with a dedicated payment method so it’s easy to find in queries and reports later.
Before you decide, check these
- Your Blackbaud agreement. Read the merchant services terms and talk to your Blackbaud account contact. Ask directly whether your contract allows outside processors, whether there are minimums or early-termination terms, and whether your BBMS pricing can be reviewed. If rates are the main issue, a pricing conversation may solve it without changing anything technical.
- Your real effective rate. Pull a few months of statements from BBMS and calculate total fees divided by total volume. Do the same with a quote from the alternative, using your actual card mix (in-person vs. online, rewards cards, average ticket size). Headline rates rarely match what you end up paying.
- Who does reconciliation today, and how long it takes. If finance already spends days matching deposits, adding a second processor adds a second set of deposits, fees, and chargebacks to match. Price that time in.
- PCI scope. Every processor and terminal you add is something your organization has to account for in its PCI compliance. Ask your finance or IT lead before buying hardware.
- Refunds and chargebacks. Decide in advance who handles a refund for a ticket sold on the outside processor, and how that refund gets reflected in Altru. This is where split setups most often go wrong.
If the real goal is easier reconciliation
Sometimes the processor isn’t the problem; the reporting is. A few things help regardless of who processes your cards:
- Set up separate payment methods in Altru for each outside channel so you can query them on their own.
- Match BBMS deposits to Altru on a fixed schedule (daily or weekly) rather than at month end, when gaps are harder to trace.
- Build a saved query for refunds and voids by date so finance can compare them against processor reports.
- Keep a short written procedure for how fees are recorded, so the answer doesn’t depend on who’s working that day.
Quick answers
Can Altru web forms use a different processor?
Not that we’re aware of. Altru’s web forms run on Blackbaud’s payment processing. If you need a different processor online, it would be through a separate checkout that records the sale back into Altru. Confirm the current options with Blackbaud support, since this can change.
Will a second processor save money?
Possibly on fees, but compare the savings against the extra reconciliation work, any contract terms, and the risk of records that never make it into Altru. For low-volume, specific uses it can make sense; as a wholesale replacement, the integration you lose is usually worth more than the rate difference.
