Say your education team runs a four-week summer workshop series and wants to offer “all four sessions for one price.” Or development wants a lecture plus dinner sold together. In Altru, those sessions are often built as preregistered events, and the natural next thought is to bundle them as a combination the way you would bundle general admission with a planetarium show. That’s where many admins hit a wall.
This article explains why the two features don’t line up the way you’d expect, how to confirm what your own database allows, and the workarounds organizations actually use to sell multi-event packages.
Two different ways Altru sells an “event”
Altru has two broad models for things people attend, and they behave differently:
- Programs with scheduled events. These are ticketed items: a timed admission, a show, a tour. They’re sold through daily sales, advance sales, group sales, and web forms, and they’re what combinations are designed to bundle. A combination groups several programs under one price so the buyer picks the date and time for each.
- Preregistered events. These are registration-based: a gala, a class, a members’ preview, a lecture. They track registrants, registration options and prices, and often guest details. They live closer to the constituent and event-management side of Altru than to ticketing.
In our experience, combinations are built around programs, and preregistered events don’t appear as items you can drop into a combination. We haven’t seen a supported way to mix the two in one combination. Because Blackbaud updates Altru over time, don’t take our word as final: check the combination setup screen in your own database (ideally a sandbox), and if you don’t see preregistered events as an option, ask Blackbaud support whether it’s on the roadmap or whether there’s a setting you’re missing.
Decide what you’re actually trying to sell
Before picking a workaround, get specific about the package. The right approach depends on a few questions:
- Do you need registrant-level detail? Meal choices, emergency contacts, child names and ages, or name badges point toward preregistered events. If you just need a headcount per session, a program may be enough.
- Is the package fixed or pick-your-own? “All four Saturdays in July” is very different from “any three of these eight classes.”
- How is it sold? Online only, at the desk, or both? Workarounds that depend on staff remembering a discount don’t hold up well on the web.
- How should revenue be recognized? Talk to finance early. A bundle price split across several events can create GL and reporting questions you’d rather settle before launch.
Workarounds that hold up
Rebuild the sessions as programs
If you don’t need much registrant detail, building the sessions as programs with scheduled events lets you use combinations directly. You get capacity per session, a single bundle price, and the buyer chooses their dates. The trade-off is losing registration-specific features, so collect anything extra (allergies, ages) through a follow-up form or at check-in. Test this in a sandbox first, especially how the combination looks on your web form.
Sell the series as one preregistered event
For a fixed series, some organizations create a single preregistered event that represents the whole package, with a registration option priced at the series rate. Each session’s attendance is then tracked separately, by roster, check-in list, or a simple attribute. It’s tidy for registration and payment, and less tidy for per-session capacity and reporting. It works best when everyone attends the same set of dates.
Register for each event and apply a discount
Staff can register the person for each event individually and apply a discount so the total matches the package price. This keeps per-event rosters accurate. The weak points are consistency and the web: desk staff need clear instructions, and you’ll want to confirm whether your online setup can apply the discount automatically or whether buyers have to call. A query of registrants across the package events helps you spot anyone who got the bundle price without registering for every session, or the reverse.
Use a separate package item, then register at no charge
Another pattern: sell the package as its own revenue item (sometimes as a program or a fixed-price item), then register the buyer for each event with a zero-dollar or comped registration option. Revenue lands in one place and rosters stay per event. It does mean two steps for staff and a reconciliation check, so keep a query that compares package buyers against registrations.
Keep the package from turning into cleanup
- Write the process on one page and give it to everyone who sells the package, including weekend and seasonal staff.
- Name things clearly. Prefix related events and price options with the package name so they’re easy to find in queries and reports.
- Build the reconciliation query before you open sales, not after the first complaint about a missing registration.
- Settle the refund rule up front. If someone misses one session of a four-part bundle, what happens? Decide before the first person asks.
Quick answers
Can a combination include both a program and a preregistered event?
Not that we’ve seen. Confirm in your own database or with Blackbaud support, since capabilities can change between releases.
Which workaround is easiest to report on?
Registering for each event individually keeps per-session numbers cleanest. Selling the series as a single event keeps revenue simplest. Pick based on which report your team actually reads.
