Lockbox Coupons (Batch Entry)

If you don’t want to go to each individual constituent record, you can enter Lockbox coupons in a batch. This will save you some time in the moment, but you can’t check contact information and update household and name formats as you go – and you will still need to go to each record later to do these things and upload gift document images.

1. Alphabetize the Lockbox coupons
2. Go to Batch Entry under the Administration tab
3. Click Add to create a new batch
4. Select Membership Dues Batch for the Batch Template
5. Click the Enable Auto-Save box to save your work as you go, in case the batch quits unexpectedly
6. Projected # and Projected Amount are required to commit the batch, but you can go back after you’ve entered the batch and add this information then
7. Click Field Options to personalize your batch template
   1. From the Available Field options, bring over Appeal, Effort, and Inbound Channel
   2. Now you can personalize how your template looks: For fields that have a constant value that will apply to every membership, select the value and click Hidden
      1. You can do this for Inbound Channel (all will be Lockbox), the date, type, primary member, send renewal to, program, and payment method. For payment method, select Other, then Lockbox for Other Payment
   3. Now, you want to organize all the fields you’ll use: Select Appeal and Effort and bring them to the top by clicking the blue Up arrow
   4. These are the fields you’ll use every time (and the recommended order for easy entry)
      1. Finder Number
      2. Bill To
      3. Paying For
      4. Level
      5. Term
      6. Membership Amount
      7. Expires On
      8. Appeal
      9. Effort
   5. Click OK to create your batch
8. Open Altru in another browser tab. Memberships with two constituents often have bad name formats on the spouse profile, and members also make notes on their coupons to change contact information. It’s easier to clean this information as you go, rather than going back later.
9. For each membership with two constituents, once you enter the information for their Lockbox coupon, click the Dues tab at the top left and click the Members and Cards button. Under Members receiving Cards, you need to add both of their names to the Name on Card field (use this format: Jane Doe & John Smith). Then, select the second card and click Remove Card. Only one card is allowed, and you will get an error message if you don’t delete the second card. (Note: this does not affect the membership cards being printed. They will still have two cards – it’s just a small Altru workaround.)
10. Once you’ve entered all your coupons, click Save and Exit
11. Enter the Projected Number of Lockbox coupons you entered and the Projected Amount (the total of the renewal payments)
    1. To find this information, re-open the batch by clicking Edit Batch. At the bottom of the screen, it gives the Current Number and Projected Amount
    2. Hit Save & Exit Again
    3. Click Edit Properties and enter these two amounts in their respective fields
    4. Hit Save
12. Hit the Commit button
    1. Leave all boxes unchecked and click Start – if everything was done correctly, it will say Committed, with a check mark
13. Done!

When you check the Membership Dues Statistics Reports, you’ll be able to see what you’ve added. It will show the current balance we have for Membership dues for the month.