VolunteerHub's integration with Altru allows you to synchronize your VolunteerHub user data, such as contact information, event registration, and volunteer hours, automatically with Altru. If you do not already have the integration, please contact [email protected] for more information.
BBCRM functions in much the same way as Altru.
How it Works
Once the integration is implemented, synchronization is completely transparent to the end user, meaning no more CSV files to import or export and no buttons to push. Instead, volunteer data is synchronized automatically every hour from VolunteerHub into Altru. That data is stored under new or existing contacts:
- Biographical Information: VolunteerHub users will be sync'ed into Altru as constituents. The integration can automatically sync the user's first, middle, and last name, address, email address, email opt-in/out, home phone, mobile phone, work phone, birth date and gender.
- Group Memberships: For any user groups linked to an Organization in Altru via the Altru Organization field (pre-populated each time the sync runs) in the user group's Edit page, associated user group memberships will be synced into the constituent's Relationships tab.
- Event Registrations and Hours: VolunteerHub users' event registrations will be sync'ed into Altru as timesheets under the Volunteer tab of the constituent's record, each of which shows the event's name, Altru Job, date, and hours granted. (Please see the final 2 notes at the bottom of this article regarding the requirements in order for an event to come over in the sync.)
| VolunteerHub | Altru |
| First Name | First Name |
| Middle Name | Middle Name |
| Last Name | Last Name |
| Address | VolunteerHub type |
| VH Email | |
| Email opt-out | "Do not email" |
| Home Phone | Home Phone |
| Mobile Phone | Mobile Phone |
| Work Phone | Work Phone |
| Date of Birth | Birth date |
| Gender | Gender |
| User Group membership | Relationship to Organization |
| Event Registrations | Volunteer > Timesheets |
| > Altru Job | > Job |
| > Event Name | > Job occurrence |
| > Event Start Date | > Start date |
| > Event End Date | > End date |
| > Hours | > Hours worked |
| Last Sync Date | Attributes > VolunteerHub Last Sync |
Every hour, the integration synchronizes all VolunteerHub users that have 1) created or updated their accounts or 2) received hours for events since the last time the sync ran. When it brings over a new volunteer for the first time, you will need to de-duplicate that volunteer with any record already existing for that individual in Altru (we recommend at least once per week). This will allow you to merge the new volunteer accounts created by VolunteerHub with the corresponding existing records in Altru, if applicable, or leave them as new records if the volunteers didn't have existing Altru constituent records. From that point on, the integration will continue to sync updated user information, group memberships and hours to the same record in Altru.
Things to Remember
Here are some things to remember about your Altru integration:
- Deduplicate users in Altru regularly. When new contacts are first brought over to Altru, they may have already had a constituent record in Altru. Do not attempt to merge more than one VolunteerHub account into an existing Altru record. VolunteerHub can only maintain hours and user data for individuals.
- Never delete or change the username or password for the Altru administrator account you provide to VolunteerHub Support during the integration set-up. This will cause the automatic synchronization process to fail!
- Event names in VolunteerHub cannot exceed 30 characters in order to sync to Altru, since Altru is hard-coded to allow only 30 characters or fewer in the Job Occurrence field.
- Events created in VolunteerHub MUST include a Altru Job, which you may enter when creating the event. Job names are pulled directly from Altru; if you cannot find a job in VolunteerHub, it's because it doesn't exist in Altru.