Altru's overall implementation of Tributes is extremely disappointing and the functionality surrounding them needs an overhaul in a few different areas:
1. We need a web form optimized for Tributes (there is an Idea open for this, please vote for it if you vote for this one too). There are specialized fields associated with them that are simply not available in the other web forms. All we can do is add a Comment box to messily capture relevant Tribute data, and this field is not available for output in confirmation emails received by donors. Ideally, we would have fields available for identifying Tributees, for specifying the Tribute type (In Honor Of/In Memory Of, etc.), for holding any special message the donor would like to include, address fields for the recipient(s), etc.
We converted from Raiser's Edge/Online Express and this was all available there--why not here? Most of these things are basic/common-sense needs from our perspective.
2. Batch needs to be updated to better facilitate entry of Tribute gifts. A Notes field would be nice for holding the Tribute data.
Right now there is a great deal of manual work and shifting back and forth between different parts of the system just to cover everything that needs to be addressed and recorded when someone makes a Tribute gift. There are other, older systems from Blackbaud that do all of this so much better, it should not be hard to port most of that over to Altru.
Daniel Noga
