hope-events/info.md

Hope Events — Event Management Platform for Churches

What is it?

Hope Events is a complete event management platform built specifically for churches and faith-based organisations. It handles everything from advertising upcoming events and taking online registrations to collecting payments and donations, sending QR-coded tickets, checking people in at the door, and balancing the books afterwards.

It runs in any web browser — on a phone, tablet, or computer — with nothing to install.

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What does it do?

For your congregation

• Browse events — a clean, mobile-friendly listing of upcoming events with photos, descriptions, dates, and location (with a map and directions). Fully booked events show a "Sold Out" badge, and popular tickets show how many are left.
• Waitlists — when an event sells out, people can join a waitlist and are offered places automatically as they free up.
• Parental consent for youth events — parents receive an email and WhatsApp to give consent online (with medical details and an emergency contact); children can't be checked in until they have. Reminders go out automatically.
• Group bookings — a parent can register several children at once, naming each one so they get their own ticket and their own form, with the tickets sent to the parent or to each person.
• Discount codes — enter a code for a staff, leader or promotional discount, shown on the invoice and receipt.
• Register online — choose from multiple ticket types (e.g. adult, child, family, dinner, T-shirt sizes) at different prices, including early-bird pricing. People can register as a guest or with an account, depending on how you set up the event.
• Pay online — secure card payments (including Apple Pay and Google Pay) via Yoco. Outstanding balances can be settled any time from a link in their email or WhatsApp.
• Give — members can make donations online, which you can put towards someone's registration (for example, to sponsor a child's camp place).
• Invoices and receipts — branded PDF invoices and payment receipts are sent automatically and can be requested again at any time.
• Receive tickets — QR-coded tickets are sent by email and/or WhatsApp as soon as a registration is paid. Each person chooses how they'd like to be contacted.
• Add to calendar — one tap adds the event to their phone or computer calendar.
• Registration forms — events can include custom forms (dietary requirements, medical information, emergency contacts, indemnities, etc.), saved as they go.
• Downloads — events can include attachments such as maps, schedules, or waiver forms.
• Their own dashboard — see registrations, tickets, payment history, and forms in one place; add tickets, cancel before paying, and manage their profile and privacy.

For staff on the day

• QR code scanner — check people in by scanning their ticket with any phone camera. A single ticket can cover a whole family and be checked in a few people at a time.
• Rooms & groups for camps — drag campers into cabins, small groups or buses (or auto-fill by capacity and gender), print lists for leaders, and show the cabin on each ticket.
• Ticket transfer — can't make it? Pass your ticket on to a friend; they get a fresh QR code and the old one stops working.
• Works without Wi-Fi — lock a check-in point to a phone and keep scanning with no signal; scans sync automatically when the connection is back.
• Scan points — set up separate check-in points (e.g. main hall, dinner) that only accept the right tickets.
• At-the-door desk — search by name, phone, or ticket number; register walk-ins; take cash, card, or EFT payments; check people in; and print or resend tickets on the spot.
• Self-service kiosk — set up a tablet where visitors register themselves. Returning visitors are recognised by their email or phone number.
• Check-in confirmations — attendees get a message confirming how many people were checked in.

For event organisers

• Event management — a step-by-step wizard for creating events: details, ticket types and pricing, early-bird tiers, stock limits, check-in points, registration forms, visibility, and attachments.
• Flexible publishing — schedule an event to go live later, keep it hidden and share it only by link, give it a short web address (e.g. /camp-2026), or create "contact us" events (e.g. baptisms) with no registration.
• Coupon codes — percentage, fixed or free codes for staff, leaders, volunteers and promotions, limited to events, tickets, dates, number of uses or particular people. A staff price can also apply automatically to your team.
• Payments — record cash, card, EFT, or voucher payments; issue refunds; send payment links; assign donations; and match card payments to registrations. Every payment records who took it.
• Messaging — send emails or WhatsApp messages to attendees, filtered by who has paid or still owes. Personalise messages with each person's name, balance, or their own payment link. Schedule reminders, thank-you messages, and promotions in advance.
• Daily summary — the event team gets a daily email with registrations, payments, and outstanding balances in the run-up to each event.
• Forms — view, filter, and print attendee form responses.
• Reports — 17 ready-made reports covering payments, revenue, attendees, ticket usage, registration status, donations, discounts, parental consent, medical lists, costs, and profit. Each can be printed or exported to PDF, Excel, email, or WhatsApp.
• Dashboard — revenue, donations, registrations, and tickets sold at a glance, compared with the previous month.

For administrators and treasurers

• Cashup — record event costs, count cash by denomination for each staff member, and compare expected and actual takings for cash, card, and EFT. Close the event once the books balance.
• Profit reporting — see revenue, costs, and profit per event.
• Audit trail — a record of who did what and when for refunds, donations, manual registrations, cancellations, event changes, and settings changes.
• User management — manage accounts and roles (member, staff, supervisor, admin), and erase a person's personal data on request.
• Registrations overview — every registration across all events, with paid and outstanding totals.
• Site settings — update your organisation's name, address, logo, brand colours, email settings, legal pages, and WhatsApp connection yourself, with a live preview. No technical knowledge required.
• Backups — the database is backed up every night, and backups can be downloaded from the admin panel.

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Built to be trusted

• Your branding — your logo, colours, and name on the website, emails, invoices, receipts, and reports.
• Privacy — Terms of Use and Privacy Policy pages filled in with your details, and members can close their account or have their personal data removed.
• Security — two-step login codes by email or WhatsApp (required for admins and supervisors, optional for members), protection against password-guessing, a record of each account's recent logins, and the ability to sign out on all devices.
• Help on every page — a "Need help?" button explains each page in plain language.

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Pricing

Hope Events is offered as a hosted service. You don't need to worry about servers, databases, or software updates — we handle everything.

Plan	Details
Monthly subscription	Fixed monthly fee, billed in advance
Annual subscription	Annual fee, billed in advance (discounted vs monthly)

Pricing is quoted per organisation based on expected usage. Contact us for a quote.

WhatsApp messaging requires a WhatsApp number linked to the platform.

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Getting started

1. Get a quote — contact us and we'll provide pricing for your organisation.
2. We set it up — once you're onboarded, we deploy and configure the platform for you. You'll receive a link to your site.
3. First login — a setup wizard walks you through entering your organisation details, creating your admin account, and adding your logo and colours. No technical steps required.
4. You're live — start creating events and inviting attendees.

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Support and changes

• Hosting and maintenance are included in your subscription. We keep the platform running, up to date, and backed up.
• Basic support — we'll assist with your site link and answer general questions at no additional charge.
• Development requests — custom features or changes can be requested at any time. These are quoted upfront and billed before development begins.
• Suggestions — feature suggestions are always welcome and considered for inclusion in future updates, subject to our approval.

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Payment processing

The platform integrates with Yoco — a South African payment gateway that supports all major credit and debit cards, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You will need your own Yoco merchant account to accept payments.

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Built for Hope Family Church, Henley-on-Klip. Available to other churches and faith-based organisations.