Say your planetarium show runs every afternoon, and you want 20% off just the Tuesday 4:00 showing to fill seats. Or a lecture series where one night has a guest speaker who agreed to a reduced rate. The discount belongs to one event on the calendar, not to every occurrence of the program. In Altru, that distinction is harder to express than it sounds.
This guide covers why, what you can do instead, and how to pick the workaround that keeps your sales and reporting clean.
The short version
Altru’s discounts are generally set up against the things you sell (programs, price types, items) and the sales channels where they apply. They aren’t designed to target one dated occurrence of a program while leaving every other occurrence at full price. If you’ve looked for a setting that says “apply this discount only to the event on this date and time,” you probably didn’t find it because it isn’t there in the way you’d hope.
Discount and pricing options do change between Altru releases, and your configuration may differ from ours. Before you build a workaround, spend ten minutes in your sandbox (or ask Blackbaud support) to confirm whether your current version lets you limit a discount to a specific event. If it does, use that. If it doesn’t, read on.
Workarounds that hold up
1. Adjust the price on that one event
If what you really want is “this showing costs less,” the cleanest answer may not be a discount at all. Check whether your setup lets you set different prices on an individual program event than the program’s default. Where that’s available, the event simply sells at the lower price everywhere it’s sold: the front desk, advance sales, and online.
Trade-off: nobody sees a “discount” line. Your revenue reports show a lower price, not a markdown, so if you need to report on how much the promotion cost you, make a note of the regular price somewhere you’ll find it later.
2. Create a separate program for the discounted occurrence
Copy the program, give it a clear name (“Planetarium Show: Tuesday Special”), schedule only the discounted event under it, and attach your discount or lower prices to that program. Because Altru discounts work at the program level, you’re making the program narrow enough that “program level” and “event level” become the same thing.
Trade-off: capacity and reporting split in two. If both programs draw on the same room or seats, make sure you aren’t double-selling the space. Attendance reports will also show two programs, so anyone pulling totals needs to know to combine them.
3. Add a special price type with limited availability
A new price type (for example, “Tuesday Promo Adult”) can carry the lower rate. The question is whether you can restrict that price type to the one event. If you can’t, staff and web buyers may be able to choose it for any showing, which defeats the purpose. Test this carefully before going live.
4. Apply the discount manually at the point of sale
For a small, one-off promotion handled only at the desk, a manual discount on the transaction works. Train staff on exactly when to use it and which discount to choose, and check the daily sales report for misuse.
Trade-off: it depends entirely on people remembering, and it doesn’t help online buyers at all.
5. Use a promo code online and accept the leak
If the discount is mostly for a marketing campaign, a promotional code on your web sales may be acceptable even if, technically, it would work on other showings. Limit who gets the code, set a short date range, and watch usage. This is the least precise option and only makes sense when a little leakage doesn’t matter.
How to choose
- Need it everywhere, with no staff judgment involved? Event-level pricing if your setup supports it, otherwise a separate program.
- Need to report the promotion as a discount? A separate program with a real discount attached keeps a discount line in your revenue.
- Need it for one evening and nothing else? A manual desk discount is fine, as long as someone checks the report the next day.
- Running a recurring promotion (every Tuesday, every first Friday)? A separate program is easier to keep straight than remembering to adjust prices event by event.
Before you go live
- Run a test sale in each channel you sell through: the desk, advance sales, and the web. Confirm the discounted price appears only on the event you intended.
- Check that a full-price showing of the same program still sells at full price.
- Look at the test transactions in your revenue or daily sales reports so you know what finance will see.
- Write a one-line note for front desk staff explaining what the promotion is and how it should look on a receipt.
- Set a reminder to remove or end-date the discount, price type, or program when the promotion is over. Old promo setups tend to linger and confuse new staff.
Quick answers
Can I discount one event without affecting the rest of the program?
Not reliably with a standard program-level discount. Event-specific pricing or a separate program for that event are the dependable routes. Confirm what your version supports in a sandbox first.
Will a separate program mess up my attendance numbers?
Only if people don’t know about it. Name it so it sorts next to the original, and tell whoever builds your attendance queries to include both.
