Case Study: Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose achieves streamlined operations, increased donations, and faster financial closes with Blackbaud Altru

Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose - Customer Case Study

Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose is a growing, mission-driven children’s museum that has served over seven million visitors and continues expanding its exhibit space. Rapid growth exposed a technology challenge: admissions, donations, membership, and sales were tracked in separate systems (Vista and Raiser’s Edge), creating data silos, reporting gaps, and missed marketing opportunities.

The museum migrated to Altru in a two-phase rollout with Blackbaud, consolidating decades of donor, member, and sales data into a single, cleaned database and enabling real-time updates. As a result, staff can segment and report more effectively, renewal rates and online donations have increased, front‑of‑house service improved with VIP alerts, and monthly financial close is two to three weeks faster.

Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose

Cheryl Blumenthal

Director of Information Systems & Compliance