A family books a Saturday workshop on pollinators. The kids will want the seed kit. A camp registration practically begs for a matching T-shirt. A behind-the-scenes tour pairs naturally with the exhibition catalog. Pairing merchandise with scheduled program tickets is one of the easier ways to lift per-visitor revenue, but in Altru the two live in different corners of the system, and how you connect them matters more than which items you pick.
This guide covers the realistic options, what each one does to your reporting and inventory, and how to choose.
Why this is less obvious than it sounds
In Altru, scheduled programs are sold as tickets against specific events with capacity, through daily sales, advance sales, group sales, and your online web forms. Merchandise is handled as items with their own pricing, tax treatment, and (if you use it) inventory tracking, and it’s typically rung up at a point-of-sale register.
Whether you can put a merchandise item on the same order as a program ticket depends on where the sale happens. At a staffed register, combining them is usually straightforward. In advance sales and especially on your public web forms, it’s far less clear, and the behavior can vary with your configuration. Before you design a bundle around any assumption, test the exact flow in your sandbox (or ask Blackbaud support) for each sales channel you plan to use.
Four ways to pair merchandise with programs
1. Sell it at the register when they arrive
The simplest approach: don’t bundle at all. Program attendees check in, and staff offer the item at the point of sale.
- Good for: optional, low-cost items where you don’t need a guaranteed count.
- Watch for: it depends entirely on staff remembering to ask, and you lose the chance to sell before the visit, when people are planning and more willing to spend.
2. Build the item into a program price type
Create a separate price on the program, such as “Workshop + Seed Kit,” at a higher amount than the ticket alone. Guests pick that price when they book, and staff hand over the item at check-in.
- Good for: online sales, because it uses ticket pricing that already works on web forms.
- Watch for: the entire amount posts as program revenue unless you split it out in your revenue and GL setup. Merchandise sales tax, if it applies, will not calculate on its own; talk to your finance team before launching. Inventory won’t decrement automatically, so someone needs to adjust stock counts.
3. Make the item part of the program itself
For camps, classes, and kits where every participant gets the item, just include it in the base price and treat it as a program cost, not a sale. Many organizations already do this for supplies.
- Good for: mandatory items (camp shirts, class materials).
- Watch for: sizes. If the item comes in sizes or colors, you need a way to collect that choice, such as a registration question or a follow-up email, and a pull list before the program date.
4. Offer it as an add-on during online checkout
Present the item as an optional extra while the guest is buying their ticket. This is the classic retail upsell, and it tends to work best when the item is clearly related to the program they just picked.
- Good for: optional items you want to sell ahead of time, without forcing every buyer into a bundled price.
- Watch for: confirm how the add-on posts in Altru, how it shows on the order, and how staff will know to hand it over.
Plan fulfillment before you sell anything
Whatever option you choose, the most common failure is at pickup, not at checkout. Settle these before launch:
- Who hands over the item, and where? The program instructor, the front desk, or the shop? Pick one place.
- How do they know who paid? Build a query of program orders that include the bundled price or add-on, filtered by program date, and print or share it as a pickup list.
- How will the guest know? Put the item in the confirmation email and on the ticket wording so guests ask for it.
- What happens on refund or exchange? Decide whether a guest who cancels the program keeps, returns, or gets refunded for the item.
- How will you reconcile stock? Compare the pickup list against inventory after each session, at least for the first few runs.
Choosing between them
If the item is required, include it in the program price. If it’s optional and you mostly sell walk-up, use the register. If it’s optional and most program sales happen online, a bundled price type or a checkout add-on will outperform asking at the door, because the decision happens while the guest is already in buying mode. Start with one program, run it for a few sessions, and check your revenue reports and pickup lists before rolling the approach out to everything on the calendar.
Where Social Good fits
If you sell programs online and want optional add-ons offered during the purchase, our Upsells feature lets you present memberships and add-ons in the cart of a Social Good checkout, with the order data written back to Altru. The fulfillment planning above still applies.
Quick answers
Can a bundle price split revenue between programs and merchandise?
Only if your revenue and GL configuration is set up to do it. Otherwise the full price posts as program revenue. Confirm the posting with your finance team in a sandbox first.
Will a bundled price reduce merchandise inventory automatically?
Don’t assume it will. Plan on adjusting stock manually or reconciling against a pickup list, unless testing proves otherwise in your setup.
