Altru Ideas

We value your unique insight into our products and services and often receive ideas and feedback from our community in a variety of ways. To streamline this process, we’ve created an idea bank where you can post product suggestions, vote for those most important to you, and add comments to existing ideas.

Additional Gender Options

We are trying to make our forms and membership registration process more gender neutral/gender queer friendly.  I would really like there to be an additional gender option in Altru outside of Male/Female/Unknown.  

I saw the development of an "Other" gender option in a previous Altru question but I could not find any ideas or updates. Our organization would like to be welcoming to our whole community through our database process. 
  • Guest
  • Jan 4 2016
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  • Meghan Dye commented
    6 Jan, 2025 07:36pm

    At the very least the ability to update all names to be the default of unknown or modify the list of options would be great. This antiquated field causes more trouble than it is helpful!

  • Melody Hollinger commented
    27 May, 2024 04:09pm

    Yep - it's 2024. Literally, the very least you could do is make it NOT automatic.


    "The ability to add other genders outside of these outdated options would be great, but I would also like to see an option to turn off the auto assignment overall - this is causing issues for our front of house staff and doesn't reflect our organizations values and efforts to create an inclusive environment."


    People have been asking for 8 years. What gives? Why the continued intolerance & inflexibility?


    "It is embarrassing that I am not able to properly label the gender of my guests. It is offensive that the program automatically defaults to assigning genders based on assumptions. It is personally hurtful that the system labels me as "other". It is now 2021 and it's disappointing to learn that despite five years of requests, I can identify my guests as Ambassador, Consul General, or Monsignor but not Mx., which inarguably applies to more people than the previous categories."

  • Nirajamani Grubb commented
    26 Feb, 2024 12:26pm

    Please could we have the option of non-binary? Thanks!

  • Bethany D commented
    30 Jan, 2024 07:02pm

    Commenting as well and supporting what has previously been stated; this really needs to be addressed:

    "The ability to add other genders outside of these outdated options would be great, but I would also like to see an option to turn off the auto assignment overall - this is causing issues for our front of house staff and doesn't reflect our organizations values and efforts to create an inclusive environment."

  • Guest commented
    4 Jan, 2024 07:41pm

    I am unable to update my previous post, which was incomplete. From our Programming Department:

    The entrance of gender automatically is unnecessary to our information. The assumption of gender based on a name is far outdated and can easily be entered manually by parties that want that particular information. Please turn off the automatic “feature” and add more options for varying gender identities.

  • Guest commented
    4 Jan, 2024 07:36pm

    It's now 2024, and this is a non-profit oriented product. Assuming gender based on name, and having only binary options is simply unacceptable.

  • Development Manager commented
    13 Oct, 2022 09:52pm

    I would love to see Altru NOT automatically assign genders when you type in a name. The ability to choose your own gender options would be great, similar to all the other code tables throughout the software. Why is this not a code table already?

  • Ruth Droescher commented
    2 Aug, 2022 07:18pm

    The ability to add other genders outside of these outdated options would be great, but I would also like to see an option to turn off the auto assignment overall - this is causing issues for our front of house staff and doesn't reflect our organizations values and efforts to create an inclusive environment.

  • Guest commented
    10 May, 2022 02:25pm

    It is 2022 now....about time to either add options or allow customers to edit the options

  • Andrea Kellner commented
    29 Oct, 2021 07:52pm

    This is still embarrassing. Please allow us to enter more genders.

  • Matt Strekel commented
    17 Aug, 2021 05:48pm

    can we please take this seriously and have someone take a look at options beyond "other?"

    Can we include non-binary and other options please. How is it taking since 2019 when this was first suggested to get progress on this issue?

  • Guest commented
    2 Jul, 2021 06:26pm

    It is embarrassing that I am not able to properly label the gender of my guests. It is offensive that the program automatically defaults to assigning genders based on assumptions. It is personally hurtful that the system labels me as "other". It is now 2021 and it's disappointing to learn that despite five years of requests, I can identify my guests as Ambassador, Consul General, or Monsignor but not Mx., which inarguably applies to more people than the previous categories.

  • Michael Larson commented
    1 Mar, 2021 08:50pm

    We are getting requests from our community to make this change, and it is embarrassing to say that we can't change it because the software won't let us. Is there a minimum threshold that you require to reach in order to take an issue seriously? 129 votes (as of 3/1) seems like a lot.

  • Glenna Holstein commented
    1 Mar, 2021 08:41pm

    I believe this issue is still unresolved. Being a welcoming organization starts with the very basic dignity of recognizing a person's gender as they identify it! I also agree with the comments below about a way to keep track of pronouns, and about changing the way Altru "guesses" a consituent's gender.

  • Sarah Osborne commented
    21 Aug, 2020 10:22pm

    Would like to keep engagement on this conversation going. This is not a problem solved by the new Attribute Extension update released today. Please consider the option for orgs to edit/add to the code table for the "Gender" category!

  • Eugene Torres commented
    7 Jul, 2020 07:43pm

    This thread seems more like a dumping ground for completely necessary changes that Altru/Blackbaud does not take seriously. The dates of the posts tell the story. It is severely disappointing.

  • Olivia Ragan commented
    7 Jul, 2020 06:38pm

    It is crucial for our organization to be to be aware of and respectful of all of our constituents. A place to list pronouns would also be extremely helpful.

  • Patrick Surillo commented
    7 Jul, 2020 06:15pm

    I agree with Emily Lyon. Not only do we need a "non-binary" option, but we also need a place to keep track of people's pronouns!

  • Emily Lyon commented
    7 Jul, 2020 06:08pm

    Not only do we need a "non-binary" option, but we also need a place to keep track of people's pronouns!

  • Katherine Indermaur commented
    11 May, 2020 08:00pm

    "Other" is the bare minimum. We'd love to have a "Non-binary" option. Not having this option is preventing us from asking our constituents for their gender in the first place because we can't risk offending and alienating our supporters.

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