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Documentation Programs

Programs

Programs Tutorial

Use this guide when you want supporters to discover and register for a related group of events through one broader public experience.

What you will learn

By the end of this tutorial, you should understand how to:

  • decide whether your initiative should be a Program rather than one Event
  • create a Program with a clear public purpose
  • connect the right events underneath it
  • shape the public discovery and registration experience
  • decide when to enable multi-event registration
  • communicate with Program registrants appropriately

Scenario

A nonprofit is launching a six-week community leadership series with multiple sessions. Supporters should first understand the full initiative, then choose the sessions that fit their schedule. Staff want one public landing page, optional filters, and one coordinated registration experience.

Before you begin

Before creating the Program, confirm:

  • which events belong to the initiative
  • whether supporters should browse several options
  • whether the Program should be public, hidden, or password protected
  • whether the initiative should support one-event-at-a-time registration or multi-event registration
  • what broader public message the Program page should communicate

Programs work best when the broader initiative is real and meaningful to the supporter, not just convenient for internal organization.

Step 1 — Decide whether this should be a Program

Before building anything, confirm that this experience should really be structured as a Program.

Use a Program when:

  • there are multiple related events
  • supporters should understand a broader initiative first
  • the public page should help people browse or compare options
  • the experience should feel coordinated rather than isolated

Use a single Event instead when:

  • there is only one real occurrence
  • there is only one registration decision to make
  • staff do not need a broader discovery layer

Why this matters

Choosing the right structure early prevents confusion later in:

  • public navigation
  • reporting
  • registration logic
  • communication planning

Step 2 — Create the Program

  1. Open Programs.
  2. Choose Create.
  3. Complete the tabs:
    • Details: title, slug, descriptions, and optional team access
    • Schedule & Visibility: dates, timezone, status, and visibility
    • Filters & Registration: public filters, multi-event registration, marketing consent, and tracking defaults
    • Branding & Contact: banner, SEO indexing, and contact details
  4. Save the Program.

Why this matters

The Program page becomes the public home for the initiative.

It should help supporters understand:

  • what the Program is
  • who it is for
  • why it matters
  • how to choose related events

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Step 3 — Add events to the Program

Programs collect events that are assigned from the event side.

When editing an event, turn on Is this event part of a program? and choose one or more Programs.

Why this matters

A Program without well-attached events is just a shell.

This step is what turns the Program into a real public journey with actual occurrences available underneath it.

Good practice

Before assigning events, make sure each event is ready to appear as part of the broader initiative. A Program page is easier to trust when the included events feel complete and coherent.

Step 4 — Decide whether to enable multi-event registration

  1. Open the Program.
  2. Turn on Allow multi-event registration.
  3. Save.

Use this when:

  • supporters commonly want to choose several events at once
  • the experience should feel like one coordinated series
  • the initiative benefits from a cart-style selection flow

Be more cautious when:

  • each event needs a separate approval or decision
  • staff want the cleanest one-event-at-a-time operational path
  • the events are related, but not intended to be selected together

Why this matters

Multi-event registration is not just a toggle. It changes the public experience.

It tells supporters that they are selecting from a coordinated set of event options rather than treating each one as a completely separate path.

Step 5 — Turn on only the public filters that actually help

Open Filters & Registration and enable only the filters that will genuinely help supporters find the right events.

Possible filters can include:

  • date
  • hosts
  • event types
  • tags

Why this matters

Filters are useful when they reduce confusion.

They become less useful when they simply expose too many internal distinctions that supporters do not care about.

Example

A family education Program may benefit from date and topic filters.

A small donor series with only a few sessions may not need filters at all.

Step 6 — Review the public Program page

Use the public Program page to confirm that it does these jobs well:

  • explains the overall initiative
  • shows included events clearly
  • lets visitors filter the list where relevant
  • supports either single-event browsing or multi-event registration cleanly

If the Program is password protected, test the unlock flow too.

Why this matters

A Program page should feel like a guided entry point into the initiative, not just a container full of related records.

Good practice

Review the page on desktop and mobile. Supporters often experience series-based pages through email, social links, or direct referral, so the page needs to orient them quickly.

Step 7 — Communicate with registrants at the right level

From the Program record, use Broadcasts when the message applies to the whole Program.

Examples include:

  • welcome to the series
  • broad schedule reminders
  • initiative-wide updates
  • cohort-level follow-up

Use Event-level communication instead when the message is specific to one occurrence, such as:

  • one session’s reminder
  • location changes
  • one workshop’s logistics
  • one event’s follow-up instructions

Why this matters

The broader initiative and the individual event often need different communication patterns.

Choosing the right level helps keep supporter communication relevant instead of overly broad.

Step 8 — Review registrations from the right place

After registrations begin, decide whether your question is about the Program overall or a specific event underneath it.

Review:

  • Program Registrations for checkout-level or broader Program activity
  • Registrations when the real question is event-specific
  • Broadcasts for communication history

Why this matters

Programs add a broader organizational layer, but many operational questions still belong to the individual event.

Good staff habits usually start with asking:

“Is this a Program-level question or an Event-level question?”

Common mistakes to watch for

Warning

Using a Program when you really have one simple occurrence can add unnecessary complexity.

Warning

Using one Event to represent a whole series can make the public experience and reporting harder to manage later.

Warning

Turning on too many public filters can make a Program page feel more like a catalog than a guided supporter journey.

Tip

If supporters are likely to choose more than one session in one sitting, review whether multi-event registration should be enabled.

What to do next

After creating your first Program:

  • review the public page as if you were a first-time supporter
  • test whether filters and multi-event registration make the experience clearer
  • confirm that related events still manage their own operations correctly
  • decide which communications belong at the Program level and which belong at the Event level