Grow Your Program

Your arts education program thrives most when it’s profitable and fully integrated into your nonprofit’s offerings. Of course, achieving profitability and integration isn’t easy, especially when your organization is under pressure from funders, partners, and community members to prove your impact. Yet, the consensus from the panel of experts at our recent webinar is that education programs can be more than profitable: They can be the key to growth and stability for your arts nonprofit in 2025. 

Our own Brian Rahill, CEO of CourseStorm, joined with Laura Wong, partnerships manager for technology ecosystems at Fundraise Up and Samantha Bagwell, client relations lead for the US and Canada at Spektrix, to dig into the challenges and opportunities that arts nonprofits are facing in 2025. They shared their expert insights on why education programs are critical, and how they can thrive in the coming year.

Read on for highlights from the webinar, or access the recording to hear directly from our education and fundraising experts.

Arts organizations face challenges and opportunities in 2025

Arts organizations face challenges and opportunities heading into 2025. The speakers on our panel talk to these types of organizations daily, and are noticing some trends: shifting audiences, fewer funding sources, and smaller donations.

For example, one CourseStorm customer, American Stage in St. Petersburg, FL, saw an influx of young families during the pandemic. While previously their offerings were focused on retirees, there was suddenly a real community need to serve young people. This created a challenge, but also an opportunity.

“Organizations are feeling pressure from all sides – financially (certainly), but also from their local community, patrons, and board,” shared Brian Rahill, CEO at CourseStorm.

Under these conditions, growing and maintaining interest in the arts to increase donations and impact becomes a top priority. That’s where education programs really shine. 

Why education programs are critical for arts organizations

According to Samantha and the Spektrix team, 54% of all audiences were first-time ticket buyers in 2023. They anticipate the numbers will be similar as they come in for 2024. This has prompted many arts and theatre organizations to find ever more innovative ways to connect with new audiences and turn them into repeat patrons. 

“Education programs are critical for their own sake … But in terms of revenue, they’re also a critical way to connect with new audiences and build their loyalty to your programming,” Samantha explained.

Samantha pointed out that this opportunity makes it even more important to integrate data from your education programs with your central CRM, marketing, and ticketing platform. Teams working with CourseStorm and Spektrix can instantly invite participants along to their mainstage shows, building a multilayered relationship across their organization.

Brian seconded Samatha’s point, saying, “A thriving education program is a unique opportunity to connect in a new way with the community.”

This is particularly evident in the story of one Fundraise Up client, Bric Brooklyn. This cultural organization has built education programs to address the limited representation of marginalized voices in mainstream media and remove barriers to entry for aspiring artists and creators. Toward this end, they have developed workshops, courses and mentorship opportunities for different skill levels, all in collaboration with local schools, organizations and artists.

Programs like these represent a major opportunity to increase organizational impact. It takes both vision and dedication to build them.

How arts education programs thrive

Most arts organizations are focused on making art and theatre more available to more people. Arts organizations can fill the gap left by a lack of arts resources in school systems and poor accessibility within communities. But they only thrive when they have the right technology to streamline administration and operations.

Garrison Art Center in NY is a great example of an education program thriving with support from CourseStorm. With 85 classes on offer, they were using a shopping cart that was designed for physical products. Students had to fill in shipping info to register for a class, which just didn’t make sense. Staff were wrangling multiple spreadsheets for class rosters which led to mistakes and canceled classes. There were so many manual processes, it limited their growth. With CourseStorm, they saved time and effort. 

Other examples of thriving programs include Sacramento Philharmonic in California which uses pipeline tools in Spektrix to map engagement with school districts. Wolverhampton Grand in England is building long-term relationships through community ambassador programs and creative projects. Their work pays off with larger, more diverse audiences at their events. 

Increasing registrations and ticket sales is just one piece of the puzzle. To thrive in 2025 and beyond, your arts education program also needs to support fundraising efforts.

Fundraising is storytelling: Craft a narrative that moves donors to action

Fundraising is always top of mind for nonprofit organizations in the arts. Our experts offered key insights to put forward your most compelling fundraising story in 2025 and beyond.

Laura from Fundraise Up put it succinctly: “Ultimately, people give to people.Fundraising is an emotional process.” 

Organizations need to capture a donor in that emotional moment. Fundraise Up makes this easy, by automating the daily tasks that don’t require a human touch so you can focus on nurturing relationships with storytelling. But what does it take to emotionally compel people to make the donation? 

“Be transparent – tell your audiences exactly what their donations fund.” – Samantha Bagwell

Bridport Arts Centre does a fantastic job of this on their support page. At each membership level, instead of listing benefits, they list what that gift amount funds – like providing a free ticket for a carer to accompany an audience member with a disability to an event or subsidizing a full term in their Youth Theatre for a local young person. 

One CourseStorm customer, Karamu House in Cleveland, OH offers all their classes on a sliding scale based on income so they can be sure to keep education accessible for a broad audience. This decision is an impact story generator.

Importantly, these organizations also collect demographic information in their checkout process so they can report back to funders the impact of their donations. Highlighting those impacts and telling stories will create a powerful message that inspires donors.

Ways to integrate your education program within your organization

“To make education programs work for growth, nonprofits really need to tie them closely to their mission so it feels like a natural part of what they do, making the impact clearer for supporters.” – Laura Wong

Education programs enable organizations to round out their offerings and provide a rich and complete experience for their community. None of this happens in a vacuum. 

Our experts offered some ways to integrate your education program as a core part of your organization:

• Collaborate with fundraising and marketing to tell stories
• Partner with schools, business and groups to expand your reach
• Engage the community with events and workshops 
• Use customer engagement data to make relevant, tailored donation asks

For an example of this integration in action, we look to Spectrix client Z-arts. This arts centre in the UK, runs a membership model that gives access to classes, school holiday activities and discounted tickets. This creates a holistic experience for the whole family, which drives revenue and attendance. 

It’s critical to see the complete picture of any engaged community member. Spektrix, FundraiseUp, and CourseStorm are working together to integrate and share data so that organizations can use the best technology for their needs and have a single system to see a complete view of a patron’s participation.

Key takeaways to start planning for 2025 today

Each expert panelist had key takeaways to offer for arts organizations that want to build their most effective education programs in 2025:

“Focus on the whole person. People want to be entertained, they want to support and they really want to connect and participate,” Brian offered. “A thriving education program helps round out the ways people can engage with your organization as a ticket holder, supporter, and participant in an arts community.” 

Laura added, “Right now is prime time for planning holiday appeals or end-of-year fundraising campaigns. Use the success of your education programs to tell compelling stories and show donors how their contributions can make a lasting impact next year.”

Finally, Sam summed it up with “Stay connected.” Connect your education teams with fundraisers, marketing and box office. Connect your education program participants with your mainstage productions. And, connect your registration software with your central customer relationship management tools, to keep that conversation going in real time, capture powerful stories and statistics, and build lasting links with some of your most enthusiastic patrons.

Want more? Watch the full on-demand webinar to get all of the juicy insights and takeaways from our panel of experts.

Making your courses stand out is a challenge for any education program but unusual and fun classes can help. The trick is to choose classes that appeal to people in your community and fit their unique interests.

Classes chosen with care can show students you understand and value them. They make your course catalog more robust and set you apart from others offering classes in similar subject areas. Plus, they create great entry points for new students to get acquainted with your program and its offerings.

How to tailor classes to fit your community

Even if you offer classes online, the majority of your students are likely to come from your local community. That means it’s worth figuring out what people in your community value, and what they might like to know more about. These six strategies can help.

1. Root classes in place

Classes tied to your city, town, region or state can add unique flair to your course catalog. Consider what makes your area culturally distinct from other parts of the country. This could be art, music, dance, historically significant events, or even the homes of famous people.

The Reeves Downtown School of Music in Elkin, North Carolina offers a class in Appalachian Folksongs and the Stories Behind Them. This course is perfectly suited to Elkin’s place near the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Yadkin River. Courses like these celebrate what is unique and beautiful about your community.

2. Consider broader cultural trends

Pay attention to what’s trending on social media and in your community. Cultural trends influence how your students think, interact and spend their time. So your program may benefit from riding that wave. 

Might your students like a class in finding your style with inspiration from Taylor Swift? Maybe they’d rather figure out how AI could impact their lives. Or maybe they’re part of the growing sober-curious movement and would appreciate a Mocktails Class like the one offered by Allerton Folk School.

3.  Explore local industry needs

Look around at the industries that are growing in your community. Alternative energy, medicine, and computer-related jobs are all on the rise nationally. But what’s going on in your region?

Think about how you can help train professionals of the future. These classes may be directly rooted in the industry, or designed to build more general professional skills like business communication, leadership, or emotional intelligence for the workplace.

4. Think seasonally

Tie courses to seasonal changes, whatever those look like in your area. For example, Augusta Adult Ed in Maine offers Introduction to Nordic Skating and Ice Safetyto help people prepare to safely enjoy the Maine outdoors in the winter. 

Think about the weather, food, and foliage as you brainstorm ways to create seasonally inspired classes rooted in your region. In other words, what do people feel, eat and see as the seasons change in your region. Each of those presents multiple opportunities for classes.

5. Set the stage for a long-term relationship

Classes for kids can be the start of a lifelong learning relationship. MoCA Westport, they offer a range of summer workshops that might not sound like your traditional art museum camp experience. Customizing Sneakers taps into something kids like to foster a love of art. Ditto with their Storytelling through Graphic Novels, Comic Books and Manga Class. Classes like these help kids discover a life-long love of art.  

You might also attract a small group of very enthusiastic adult students by offering something unique and specific like a Bob Dylan Poetry appreciation class. But ideally, you have even more to offer. 

Think about how these offerings fit into your course catalog to keep students coming back.  For example, might these students be interested in a more general poetry writing or music appreciation class? How about a songwriting workshop? 

6. Ask your students!

The absolute best way to tailor fit classes to fit your students is to ask students directly. What are they interested in? What do they want to know more about? How can your program help them? Here’s how to collect and use student feedback to build better programs.

More programs with fun classes to inspire you

Of course, selecting courses that are rooted in place, consider cultural trends, and shift with the seasons is easier said than done. Here are three programs that are doing it well. 

• Art Camp 504 in New Orleans has tons of cool classes, like Mardi Gras headpiece workshops. Their 2024/2025 season has the theme: Journey into Space, including holiday camps for kids with titles like Alien Horse Races and Build the Spaceship.  highlight the sense of place/local community aspect of their classes
  
• In addition to Appalachian Folksongs and the Stories Behind Them,  Reeves Downtown School of Music offers music classes for people of all ages and experience levels. From Elkin JAM (Junior Appalacian Musicians) to Song Structure Deep Dive, they encourage musicians of all ages while maintaining strong roots in the community. 
• The Farms: An Allerton Folk School is built on the idea that members of the community have valuable knowledge to share. They offer everything from Fall Migration Bird Hikes to Beginning Mountain Dulcimer to Chicken Freezer Meals 101. 

What all of these programs have in common is a commitment to offering classes that uplift their community and engage local people. You can take the same approach with your classes.  For more on creating classes that drive registrations, check out How Cultural Trends Can Help You Create Popular Classes.

Introducing young people to the arts is a core part of any theatre’s mission. That’s especially true if your theatre has an education program. Fortunately, teachers and homeschool groups are always on the lookout for fun and educational field trip ideas. If you can market theatre productions to teachers and homeschool parents, you can fill the house while you fulfill your mission. 

Teachers and homeschool groups are always on the lookout for fun and educational field trip ideas like theatre productions.

We’ll show you how to connect with teachers and homeschool groups, plus offer some ways theatres can make their performances and programs more enticing.  

School Field Trips Are an Opportunity for Theatres

School groups offer some unique opportunities for community theatres and theatre groups. They allow you to reach a large group of people all at once, if you’re considering how to promote a play or grow enrollment in your acting classes. Attracting school field trips helps you to: 

• expose new audiences to theatre in general and prospective theatre students to your arts education program in particular; 
• form community partnerships with K-12 educators and homeschool groups;
• fulfill your mission of making the arts accessible to all (for some kids a field trip is their first theatre experience).

Once students are exposed to your theatre on a field trip, many want to return for classes or camps.

The benefits last long after the field trip is over. Once students are exposed to the theatre, many want to return again and again. Some may even choose to attend your classes or camps. And over time, the relationships you build with local teachers, schools, and homeschool groups can grow into a tradition. Imagine bringing generations of students into your theatre.

How to Find Homeschool Groups

It’s easy to find schools in your community. You probably already know where they are and you or your children may have attended one of them yourselves. Homeschool groups and co-ops may seem more challenging to connect with, but they’re actually easy to find if you know how to look. 

You can find homeschool groups by using the online databases available from the Home School Legal Defense Association or at Homeschool.com. A simple Facebook or Google search may also turn up groups in your area that would be happy to hear from you. 

Make it easy for parents in homeschool groups to find opportunities and field trip ideas with your theatre.

Parents in homeschool groups tend to be highly motivated to find opportunities for their children, including looking for homeschool field trip ideas. Make it easy for them by reaching out and proactively sharing information about upcoming kid-friendly performances, camps, or classes.

Tips for Attracting Field Trips

1. Promote With a Purpose – Don’t rely on your general marketing materials to attract school groups. Teachers are busy and have curriculum goals for their students. It’s not enough that a performance is entertaining or emotionally stirring. They need to see how it will enrich their students.

2. Connect Content and Curriculum – Look for opportunities to connect what happens on stage with what students are learning in the classroom. For example, a production of You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown might teach kids about friendship, community, and imagination. It could also be a starting point for a lesson on different story formats (plays, comic strips, TV shows, etc.) Websites like KidsKonnect might even offer worksheets you can share with teachers.

3. Reach Out to Schools – Send flyers and special invitations directly to schools to let them know about your student-friendly productions. Outline any group discounts or special packages you may be offering. You might even offer to perform a scene or song during an assembly to get kids excited about the production.

4. Offer Special Incentives – If you’re charging schools for tickets, try to build in some extra incentives. At Carroll County Arts Council productions, one adult chaperone is admitted free with every 10 paid student tickets. Another CourseStorm customer, Miami Theater Center, provides free transportation to and from performances. You can also offer tours of the theater, free snacks, or Q&As with the cast and crew.

5. Convert Students Into Lifelong Theatergoers – Keep kids and their families coming back to the theatre by making sure each student goes home with a flyer about your upcoming season. Consider offering a special discount code students can use later to bring their families to the theatre. This is also a great time to promote any classes, camps, or after-school programs you offer. 

Diverse Theatre Experiences Help You Reach More Students

Students may be delighted to see a play in your theatre, but you can also offer so much more. Our friends over at Savannah Children’s Theater invite students to put on a play! Theatre staff help the students rehearse and perform a curriculum-based musical comedy while teachers watch the performance. 

They also bring the theatre to the students, offering live theatre performances in classrooms and on school campuses. These flexible options help teachers and homeschool groups find the theatre experience that’s right for their students. 

If your theater offers classes or camps, check out our article on how theaters can boost enrollment in performing arts classes. 

Glassblowing is big right now. So is stained glass. Sustainability and shopping local also continue to be popular. As you’re creating your fall classes, it’s good to keep a pulse on consumer marketing trends so you can offer courses that match what learners are interested in now. 

Fall will be here before you know it, and students of all ages will be buzzing with “back to school” energy. They’ll be looking to enroll themselves and their kids in art classes, afterschool enrichment activities, and other community education programs. Can your organization capitalize on any of these trends for Fall 2024?

How Consumer Marketing Can Influence Your Class Offerings

Whether we’re talking about Pantone’s color of the year (Peach Fuzz, FYI) or wide-leg jeans replacing skinny jeans, people care about current trends. Knowing what’s trending can work to your advantage when planning and marketing classes. If you know what’s hot and what’s not, you have a better idea of what’s likely to grab students’ attention. 

Keeping a pulse on current trends can work to your advantage when planning and marketing classes. 

Consumer marketing trends are a good place to start when considering what people care about now. In 2024, consumer trends center around consumer values and needs. People want to do business with brands, including education providers, that value sustainability and community. Luckily, that’s right in many arts nonprofits’ wheelhouse.

Searches related to sustainability are surging

Reduce, reuse, recycle. Environmental impact has become a serious issue for many consumers over the last few years. The youngest generations are most concerned, with 75% of Gen Z shoppers (those born between 1997 and 2010) saying sustainability is more important than brand names. You can see it in the trends toward electric cars and minimal product packaging. Plastic bags are out, DIY projects using repurposed materials are in. 

Searches for “small scrap wood projects” are up 1,200%, according to Pinterest Predicts, a report that shares emerging trends for the coming year, based on what people are searching for and pinning on the popular platform. “Zero waste sewing patterns” is up 80%. 

Do you offer art classes using upcycled materials? How about sewing T-shirt quilts or making rag rugs? If not, this fall may be a great time to jump on the sustainability trend with some new eco-friendly classes. 

Support of local businesses is still trending

The “shop local” trend is still going strong and has even risen post-Covid. It doesn’t just apply to retailers, either: 64% of Americans are actively seeking to support local businesses, according to 2024 data. That includes searching for art classes, noncredit courses, and enrichment activities near them. 

Most arts and community education providers focus on providing educational opportunities to people in a specific city, region, or state. Good ways to target your offerings to your local community and help people find your classes is by partnering with a local business and by optimizing your website for “near me” searches. 

People are craving connection and better quality of life

The 2024 Consumer Experience Trends Report from experience management company Qualtrics reveals that people are putting a higher value on human connection. Local education providers are uniquely qualified to give students a personalized experience. If you approach your classes as a way to build ongoing relationships with students, they are more likely to come back again and again and make referrals to your program. 

Forging personal connections with your students and community is not only a smart business strategy, it also helps your education program stand out from others that treat classes like transactions or simply seats to fill. In general, Americans are overly stressed and feeling disconnected. Your classes may not directly solve these problems, but you can highlight the proven benefits of art, community, and lifelong learning. Highlighting the community aspect of your courses can be especially helpful if you offer creative aging programs. Many seniors are isolated and seeking connection and opportunities to build skills.

Trending Enrichment Classes for Kids

We know that afterschool enrichment programs are very popular in the fall. Art classes are the top after-school activity – especially since more schools are cutting art from the curriculum. So what specific kinds of art classes can you offer this fall that might appeal to kids?

Searches for “drawing classes for kids” are up 250%, according to Google Trends data. “Toddler art classes near me” is up 70%.

Google Trends is a useful tool to get specific, real-time data on what people are searching for online. You can explore what’s trending now, like the latest celebrity news or sports scores, or type in your own word or phrase to see related search terms. For example, a recent search for “art classes” revealed that searches for “drawing classes for kids” are up 250%. “Toddler art classes near me” is up 70%. Those can be clues for classes to add to your course catalog. 

Since adults are the ones registering children for classes, you’ll want to keep them in mind with your marketing. We offer some tips in this post: How to Make Art Classes for Kids Appealing to Parents.

For a deeper dive into tools and strategies for finding cultural trends and trends in your community, read our blog post How Cultural Trends Can Help You Create Popular Classes.

Popular Fall Classes for Adults

Good news for arts organizations and makerspaces offering classes that build skills and teach trades: Google Trends data also revealed that among the top trending art classes are glass art classes, digital art classes, stained glass classes, and glassblowing classes. 

As we mentioned above, Pinterest Predicts reports that searches for DIY projects using wood scraps and fabric scraps are trending upward. Another popular trend for Gen X and Millennials is “aquatic architecture.” Searches for “small aquarium design,” “turtle terrarium ideas,” and “planted fish bowl” are all growing. If you offer a class on terrariums or succulents, perhaps you can tweak it for fall to jump on this trend. 

Other Trends in Continuing or Adult Ed

Of course, for many adults “back to school” means completing a degree, pursuing a job certificate program in preparation for a career change, or enrolling in other types of workforce training. 

Interestingly, popular adult and community ed programs follow some of the same consumer trends highlighted above: training programs in sustainable fields like solar power and wind turbines are growing, and many programs are partnering with local businesses to fill regional needs. 

Stay Informed of the Latest Marketing Trends

Here at CourseStorm, simplicity is part of our mission. We don’t want you to waste time scouring the internet for current marketing trends. You have more important things to do, like build student relationships and deliver quality courses. 

That’s why we keep an eye on what’s working for arts education and other community ed programs, so we can share what you need to know. 

Subscribe to our blog to get the latest marketing trends and advice delivered right to your inbox. 

A struggling kid learns ways to express herself and becomes more resilient in the process. A stressed adult laughs for the first time all day within five minutes of starting his improv class. A community rallies to put on a show that shares their cultural stories with the wider world. Each of these scenarios is just one of the reasons that arts education matters. 

Research has shown that arts education improves cognitive function, mood, and behavior, among other benefits. 

Nonprofit arts organizations might say their mission is to connect people to the arts, to challenge, educate, or inspire. A few are brave enough to acknowledge that the work they do is actually shaping a better future for all of us.

That might sound lofty, but the truth is that arts organizations really are changing the world for the better. That’s not just our opinion, formed by working with dozens of nonprofits that provide arts education, it’s also borne out by the research and real-life examples. 

In a world of AI and ever-evolving technology, arts education isn’t just nice to have, it’s vital for people and communities.

Arts Education Matters Because It Prepares Kids for Adult Life 

Although 91% of Americans believe that the arts are vital to providing a well-rounded education, the average hours a student spends in arts-based instruction falls every year. Kids who spend 300 hours on art in elementary school are down to just 33 hours by the time they hit high school age. That’s a huge loss, not just for those students, but for their communities. 

Kids who engage with the arts end up with improved cognitive functions. That means they are better able to pay attention, remember, and solve problems. They’re also less likely to get in trouble and more likely to stay in school.

As arts education is cut from schools, nonprofit arts organizations fill a vital role in the lives of children and teens and in their communities. 

As arts education disappears from schools, nonprofit arts organizations fill a vital role in the lives of children and teens by giving them access to arts education. A world where kids get more of what they need creates a future with happier, better adjusted adults. 

In their annual report, one CourseStorm customer stated, “American Stage believes that arts education is the catalyst that inspires profound connections. Students learn to connect with their peers, their teachers, communities, and their inner selves. We believe that theatre is the great communicator that creates bridges between the world of the student and the uncharted worlds which students may explore in new ways.”

Adults Thrive With Arts Education

It’s not just kids that benefit from arts education. Adults also reap real benefits from learning and practicing art. When adults spend just 45 minutes creating art, the length of a short class, they experienced reductions in the stress hormone cortisol. 

In fact, studies have linked all kinds of art forms to a wide range of benefits:

• Reading, writing, and sharing poetry can combat loneliness and help people feel more connected. 
• Singing in low-stress situations, like in a community chorus or musical-improv group, decreases cortisol and cortisone, hormones that trigger stress in the body.
• Working on a crochet project can improve mood and reduce the perceived impact of mental health conditions and negative life events.
• Learning, especially in the arts, helps people keep their minds sharp and stay connected to their communities as they age.

Aside from all of the direct benefits, art can also act as a key to unlock improved learning. Many studies have found that incorporating visual arts into professional education makes learning faster and more effective.

Art-making might even help us imagine a more hopeful future, professor Girija Kaimal told NPR. Making art helps us stay creative, so we can more effectively imagine possibilities and solve problems. That’s a skill any adult could benefit from. 

“The practice of art isn’t to make a living. It’s to make your soul grow.” – Kurt Vonnegut 

Nonprofit Arts Organizations Bring Communities Together

Amidst headlines decrying the risks of loneliness and worrying that social media amplifies divisions, art can help keep us together. In fact, 86% of adults believe that arts and culture are important to quality of life in their communities. 

That belief is based on more than good feelings. It’s founded in some pretty compelling statistics as well. Arts nonprofits support 2.6 million jobs, providing $101 billion in personal income. They also generate more than $29 billion in tax revenue. 

Even the federal government has begun to take notice. The STAGE Act, an act supporting theater and the arts to galvanize the economy, was introduced to the U.S. Senate April 9, 2024. While not specifically aimed at education programs, if approved, the $1 billion in funding would help cover rent and payroll among other costs for nonprofit theaters.

CourseStorm Believes That Arts Education Matters

At CourseStorm, we believe that arts education matters. That’s why we designed our class registration and payment system to meet the needs of nonprofit arts education programs. From pay-as-you-go pricing to integrated marketing tools, nonprofits get everything they need in a simple, user-friendly tool.

One nonprofit arts customer shared that CourseStorm frees up their time to focus on philanthropic partnerships. The organization works with a local drug prevention center, offering free art workshops for middle school and high school students. Eliminating the time-consuming manual registration process allowed the organization to triple the number of workshops they offered. 

To help nonprofit arts organizations reach more students and keep their programs strong, we published the 2024 State of the Arts Report (SOAR). In it, we share insights on registration trends, digital marketing channels, and how to reduce class cancelations, among other topics relevant to arts organizations. Read SOAR to get these insights for your program.

CourseStorm’s new State of the Arts Report found that 129 million adults in the U.S. — more than half of those surveyed — created and/or performed art during the previous year. Did you know that some lucky people get to do that on their company’s dime? It’s true! CourseStorm is among the growing number of companies offering education stipends as part of their benefits package. 

More companies are offering education stipends to employees. These benefits may cover the arts or adult ed classes your program offers.

CourseStorm employees can use their annual educational stipend to invest in any resource that helps them learn something new. And it doesn’t have to be related to their job. Our team members have used their education stipend to subscribe to Masterclass and National Geographic, to take fitness and parenting classes, to buy books on computer science and mushroom foraging, and to sign up for stained glass workshops and ukulele lessons. 

Is this the reason CourseStorm has been named one of the Best Places to Work in Maine for two years in a row? Likely so! But this article isn’t about us. It’s about how your arts or adult ed program can serve professionals who may be looking to spend their education stipend on the classes you offer. Read on to learn how to reach this customer segment you may be overlooking and grow enrollments and revenue.   

What’s an Education Stipend and What Does it Cover?

To tap into this high-potential group of customers, it’s helpful to  understand what stipends are, who offers them, and what they do and don’t cover. That way, you can target your outreach in a way that makes the most sense for the classes you offer. Compt, an employee stipend software company, put together a roundup of 63 examples of employee stipends at top companies. They include accounting firm Deloitte’s $500 annual well-being subsidy as well as the developer of the dating app Hinge, which offers employees a $100/month date stipend. 

Visit the benefits page of top employers’ websites in your area to find out what types of employee stipends they offer.

If you have large or popular employers in your area, it may be worth visiting the benefits page on their websites to find out if they offer employee stipends and what they cover. Here are some benefits they might offer: 

• Education stipend
• Professional development stipend
• Personal development stipend
• Continued learning stipend
• Well-being subsidy
• Wellness allowance
• Health & wellness subsidy

All employee stipends are not created equal. LinkedIn’s $5,000 annual education stipend is intended for tuition reimbursement for degree-granting higher education institutions. Some stipends are specifically earmarked for professional development related to a person’s job, or for commuting, home office, or childcare expenses. But plenty of other stipends are more open-ended. And that’s where your program comes in. 

Classes to Market to Employees With Education Stipends

Speaking of employee benefits, flexible spending accounts (FSA) for health care expenses are a popular perk, but many people lose out on these funds by failing to spend them before they expire. Never underestimate the power of “use it or lose it” to motivate someone to take action. With the right marketing, you can position your classes as a great way for employees to use their education stipend before it expires. 

This could mean speaking directly to professional learners on your website, social media, or email newsletter. Or you can do targeted outreach to specific employers in your community. Here are a few ideas for classes that may be covered by employee stipends. 

Wellness-related classes. If your program offers yoga or dance classes for adults, that’s a no-brainer to pitch to people with health and wellness stipends. But many cover meditation and mindfulness-related offerings, too. Art therapy is its own specific discipline offered by licensed therapists, while mindfulness art is a broader category that doesn’t require a certified practitioner. 

Do you offer any classes that could be considered mindful art? This article shares 20 examples of mindfulness art activities, including Zentangle art and splatter painting with essential oils. The benefits of art on mental and physical health are well documented, so it’s not much of a stretch to see how a wellness subsidy could cover most any art class. 

Many arts organizations offer couples classes — a smart marketing strategy, since you’re getting two registrations at one time. 

Couples classes. Remember Hinge’s “date night stipend” mentioned above? Even if a company doesn’t offer that specific benefit, other stipends could be used for this purpose, like a “learn something new” stipend. Many arts organizations offer couples classes. For example, CourseStorm customer Studio Arts Boulder offers popular pottery class date nights: “Bring a Bestie, your BAE, or even your Baba for a night of creating.” Couples classes are a smart marketing strategy, since you’re getting two registrations at one time. 

Arts instruction. This is the most straightforward option for targeting people with education stipends that cover any type of instruction related to learning something new. Music lessons, watercolor classes, jewelry making workshops, woodworking courses, knitting classes — all of these would qualify for most personal development education stipends. 

Other Ways to Market Your Arts and Enrichment Classes to Professional Audiences 

In addition to encouraging employees to spend their stipends on your classes, there are other ways to tap into this valuable segment of customers. You can market your offerings to appeal to both employers and employees. For example, classes can be positioned as: 

• Team building activities – suggest a metalworking workshop in lieu of golf outings or escape rooms
• Customer appreciation perks – businesses can give their best customers gift cards for classes or tickets to performances
• Professional development of soft skills – improv classes to build collaboration and public speaking skills; art classes to develop creativity, etc.)
• Personal enrichment – employees (and employers!) are people, too, and many will be interested in your offerings for their own interest and enjoyment, whether their employer is subsidizing it or they’re paying for it themselves
  

You may be wondering where to advertise and promote your arts and enrichment classes to a professional audience. While our data show that Facebook is the most popular social media platform for promoting classes among our arts customers, LinkedIn is used by more than 1 billion professionals and companies. You might test out both platforms and see what works for your program.

Offer the Features Corporate Customers Need

If you’re marketing your classes to professional groups or corporate customers, you’ll need to provide a professional experience. These customers will likely require:

• Group registration, so they can sign up an entire team or department
• The ability to pay online, e.g., on a corporate credit card
• Receipts for accounting and reimbursement purposes
• Clear followup messaging – say, email confirmations to all participants and perhaps suggestions for what to wear, what to bring to class, etc. 

You can manually provide most of these things, or cobble them together from free tools like Google Forms. But if you want to present a modernized, professional experience that encourages word-of-mouth referrals to other businesses, consider investing in class registration software like CourseStorm that has those automated features built in. 

To learn more about how to grow your arts education program with new audiences, check out our article on partnering with local businesses to reach more students.

What makes Regpack users look for an alternative solution? Often it’s because they’re tired of using a tool that isn’t designed specifically for education programs, students, and instructors. They struggle with:

• Poor-fit features that don’t quite meet their needs and require extra labor.
• Time wasted doing marketing tasks that should be automated.
• Lost data because their registration system doesn’t integrate with other services they use.

To save time and frustration, education directors should look for software designed specifically for class registration. A solution is the right fit if it has the specific features instructors, students, and education programs need. This includes things like student rosters, automated marketing tools, and easy integration with the software you already use.

We’ll help you fit your best-fit class registration solution by investigating 5 Regpack alternatives.

5 Regpack Alternatives Worth Exploring

• CourseStorm
• Sawyer
• Modern Campus
• Jackrabbit
• RegFox

We’ll walk you through all of these options, but if you’d rather try a Regpack alternative for yourself, start your free trial of CourseStorm today.

CourseStorm

CourseStorm is a class registration software designed specifically for education programs. We’ve built in all the features nonprofit arts and culture and community education programs need to deliver a seamless class registration and payment process to their learners.

Benefit #1 – Tools Learners and Instructors Need to Succeed

Class registration is special. You have to meet the expectations of both learners and instructors while also getting the information your organization needs. Regpack tries to manage registrations for group travel, conferences, and classes all through the same software. As a result, it’s lacking some essential tools.

CourseStorm’s class registration software includes student accounts, where your learners (or their parents) can easily manage their registration and payment information. Instructors also get special treatment. They can easily see who is registered and communicate with all the students in their class through integrated email tools.

Imagine an instructor for an ongoing life drawing class wants to remind students to bring a photo of a pet to their next class. With CourseStorm, they can easily draft and send an email that goes out to all of the students signed up for that class.

Benefit #2 – Automated Class Marketing Connects Learners With Their New Favorite Class

Successful education programs don’t just sell individual classes, they build ongoing relationships with students. Regpack gives you transactional emails, but that’s not enough to maintain a long-term relationship.

CourseStorm’s automated personalized class marketing emails keep students engaged by automatically notifying them of classes they might like. It also lets them know if a class is in danger of cancellation due to low enrollment and can send automatic SMS reminders about upcoming classes.

A student who enrolled in last month’s Intro to Beadwork class might also be interested in your upcoming Beaded Earrings course. CourseStorm will automatically email them to let them know about that and any other classes they might find interesting without you having to lift a finger.

Arts programs that use CourseStorm’s automated emails to send students personalized class recommendations attribute 14% of enrollments to this feature alone.

Benefit #3 – Easy Integration With Other Tools You Use Everyday

Much as we’d love to have one software solution to rule them all, the truth is that most education programs need multiple tools to keep things running. You need to be able to transfer data between various tools, something Regpack does not do easily.

CourseStorm integrates with many of the software solutions you already use and depend on. Get WordPress plugins, use our calendar feed, or access thousands of app integrations through Zapier. Because we’re designed with nonprofit programs in mind, we also integrate with PatronManager and Little Green Light. All of these integrations help your data flow smoothly between software tools, so it’s always exactly where you need it.

How do integrations help you? Here are a few examples: If you’re running the education program for a theater company, you might use PatronManager for ticketing and fundraising, Google Calendar to schedule classes and events, and WordPress to run your website. CourseStorm integrates with all of these and thousands of other apps so you never have to waste time manually reentering data.

Explore a Regpack alternative that offers all of this and more. Start your free trial of CourseStorm today and experience the difference for yourself.

Sawyer

Sawyer is a kid-focused solution designed for camps, classes, and events. They offer an embed option so you can include class listings on your website, but their core offering is a class listing on the Sawyer site.

This pits your classes head-to-head against others in your area. Parents can easily see and compare classes from multiple education programs. If you opt for their basic plan, you’ll pay a marketplace fee of 30% per registration.

Features and Capabilities:

• Class marketplace on their website
• Group registration and family profiles
• Basic reporting

Modern Campus

Modern Campus offers an enterprise-level solution with a price tag to match. Their focus is firmly on higher education. This makes it a great solution for colleges and universities offering non-degree programs, but a bit costly for the rest of us.

Designed for “non-traditional student management,” this platform helps you manage student schedules, marketing, reporting, finance, curriculum and credentialing. It’s ideal for campus-based education programs and the students that enroll in them.

Features and Capabilities:

• Campus maps and virtual tours
• Non-traditional student management
• Digital credentials to share with employers

Jackrabbit

Jackrabbit focuses on schools or youth activity centers that offer gymnastics, dance, swim, cheer, or music programs. Their features are tailored for these types of programs and students.

A front desk point-of-sale system helps with merch selling. Skills-tracking features allow instructors to share student progress with parents, and the built-in timeclock helps administrators track instructor work hours.

Features and Capabilities:

• Built-in costume and recital management
• Staff time clock
• Skills tracking through parent portal

RegFox

RegFox is well-suited to event registration, but may be a less attractive option for class registration. Their event page builder is ideal if you’re doing a few high-volume events a year. You can spend the time you need to build out an inviting event page.

On-site check-in tools, support for merchandise and product upselling, and email-drip campaigns are all valuable for yearly events that draw big audiences. This software might be an ideal alternative to Eventbrite or Cvent, but doesn’t have everything students and instructors need.

Features and Capabilities:

• Attendee management
• Real-time event analytics
• Up-selling and merchandise add-ons

The Regpack Alternative You’ve Been Searching For

By now, we hope you’ve found the Regpack alternative you’ve been looking for. If you’re still on the fence, maybe some experiential learning can help you decide. Start your free trial of CourseStorm today.

Arts and culture play an important role in our lives. Millions of people in the United States participate in the arts each year, both by attending performances or exhibits and by creating art themselves. Arts education has a measurable positive impact on children both academically and socially. And arts organizations provide economic value for communities, among other benefits.

The pandemic hugely impacted arts organizations, forcing many to close. Of those that survived and thrived, many were CourseStorm customers. We dug into our data to find out why.

The pandemic had a huge impact on arts organizations. Many of them were forced to close, such as community theatres whose revenue was based on live performances. Many arts organizations that survived and even grew were those offering education programs, camps, and classes. And many of them were CourseStorm customers.

We dug into our data from more than 1 million class registrations from hundreds of arts programs to uncover patterns and strategies to help other education programs flourish. We’re sharing this exclusive data from CourseStorm along with insights from other trusted industry sources in our new State of the Arts Report, which we’re calling “SOAR.”

What’s in the State of the Arts Report (SOAR)?

Our goal in publishing this report is not only to showcase what’s working for CourseStorm customers, but to share insights and strategies that can help any arts education program thrive.

Our new report, SOAR, not only shares what’s working for our customers, but also offers insights and strategies that can help any arts education program thrive.

SOAR offers data-backed answers to questions like: 

• What are the best days to offer arts classes?
• Which are more popular, daytime or evening classes?
• What type of arts program remained popular and even grew during the pandemic?
• How far in advance do people register for kids’ classes during the school year vs. the summer?
• Where should arts programs focus most of their digital marketing efforts?
• What percentage of students are returning vs. new, and how do you keep them coming back?
• How do you reduce class cancelations?

SOAR also includes valuable insights about the economic and academic benefits of arts education to the greater community.

Where Does the Data Come From?

CourseStorm has more than a decade’s worth of data from 1 million+ class registrations. This includes more than 250 customers in the arts, including Garrison Art Center, Miami Theatre Center, and Mainly Mozart Youth Orchestra. 

CourseStorm has more than a decade’s worth of exclusive data from 1M+ class registrations, including hundreds of customers in the arts.

In addition to sharing exclusive findings from our customer database, SOAR includes the newest data from industry sources such as the National Endowment for the Arts, Americans for the Arts, the Brookings Institution, and more.  

The robust report contains timely information and actionable strategies to guide arts organizations during this pivotal time in arts education. Whether you’re still struggling to bounce back from the pandemic or have more enrollments than you can manage, SOAR can help you navigate your challenges and thrive going forward. 

Who Is SOAR for?

This report is for anyone offering noncredit, open-enrollment enrichment classes in the visual or performing arts, or any programs offering similar classes outside of the arts that want to learn from their peers. It’s especially geared toward nonprofit arts and culture organizations that want to make data-informed decisions about:

• How to save time and be more efficient
• How to make their programs more cost-effective and profitable 
• Where and when to promote their classes 
• How to better serve their students 
• How to reach more people and grow enrollments 

We hope the data in this report helps you make your classes even better and more valuable to your community. If you need support to ease your administrative burden and grow enrollments, CourseStorm is here to help.

Download the report today and SOAR in 2024!

Any nonprofit arts organization that offers classes or other educational programs to the public needs class registration software because it takes the burden off of administrative staff and streamlines the signup and payment process for students.

The right class registration software for nonprofits addresses the challenges of many arts organizations, including:

• Resource and staffing constraints. Whether your education program is a one-person show, run by volunteers, or requires part-time hires, the administrative burden of handling class registration is too much. You need software that will allow you to take a lunch break.
• No streamlined financial system. You are wasting time collecting and organizing payments, have difficulty in issuing refunds, and your bookkeeping is complicated.
• No integration with other systems. For class registration software that truly simplifies things for nonprofits, it needs to integrate with your existing donor management platform. No duplicating efforts or records, just a streamlined flow of data between the platforms.
• No time to learn a complicated new registration system. The right class registration software for nonprofits is easy to use for administrative staff, instructors, and students alike. You want something that you can start using right away, with minimal training.

Some arts education programs are still struggling to recover and grow enrollments again after the pandemic. Other programs may have more classes and students than they can manage. In either case, the right class registration software for nonprofits will help you streamline the registration process, automate as many tasks as possible like payments and waiting lists, and save you time and money.

In this post, we’ll take a look at four key features to help you decide which class registration software is right for you.

Streamlines and automates with online payments, customized registration forms, and more

Streamlined financial system that simplifies payments and refunds for staff and students

Integrations with other software to store and view customer data all in one place

The support you need to get you and your staff up to speed quickly

CourseStorm

Impossibly Simple Class Registration Software

Save time. Enroll more students. Perfect whether you offer classes in-person or online.

CourseStorm was designed to provide online registration that’s impossibly simple for people to use to sign up for classes. It’s easy to use, just a few clicks from start to finish, to increase your enrollments with no additional work on your part. We also created a streamlined process for programs to handle payments, refunds, and transferring students between classes, even if they’re different prices.

Create a sample course catalog in just a few clicks — no credit card needed.

Key Feature 1 – Streamlines and automates with features like online payments, customized registration forms, and self-serve waiting lists

The best class registration software provides a hands-off process that streamlines the registration experience for the student so that they are empowered to complete registration and payment online on their own without unnecessary calls to your staff.

The ability to customize registration forms can help you gather information while making the experience more pleasant for students.

Let’s say you’re offering a kids’ theatre class that includes a field trip to see a play. You will want to collect emergency contact information for each student. You can easily customize the registration form in CourseStorm to include this.

Our waiting list feature allows programs to enable students to add themselves to the waiting list if a class is full. Then, if a spot opens up, they’ll be automatically emailed with a link to register.

Key Feature 2 – Streamlined financial system that simplifies payments and refunds for staff and students

Online registration and payment software simplifies payments, eliminating time spent collecting and organizing payments that come in by check or over the phone. Students pay online when they register, without any need for help from your staff. CourseStorm also makes it easy to transfer students between classes, even if there’s a difference in cost. And, because we know schedules and plans can change, we make it easy to issue refunds when necessary with just a couple of clicks. CourseStorm also makes it easy to give students discounts with promo codes, and reduce the barriers to registration by offering payment plans for big-ticket classes.

Key Feature 3 – Integrations with donor management platforms and other software give you a complete view of customers’ activity all in one place

In addition to everything listed above, your nonprofit could benefit from class registration software that integrates with the tools you’re already using. CourseStorm makes it easy to manage class registrations, donors, and campaigns with useful software integrations.

PatronManager Integration

PatronManager is a ticketing, fundraising, and marketing solution designed for arts programs. It’s used by theaters, music venues, festival organizers, and others who need to manage events. The PatronManager-CourseStorm integration gives nonprofits a more detailed picture of their patron, participant, and donor base.

Little Green Light Integration

Little Green Light (LGL) is a donor management software that helps nonprofits improve fundraising and donor relationships. The Little Green Light-CourseStorm integration lets CourseStorm class registration data appear automatically in LGL. Use it to include learners in appeal campaigns, manage communications, and send invitations for special events.

Other Useful Integrations for Nonprofits

Integrations with other software solutions can streamline data management so staff and volunteers can spend more time moving the mission forward. CourseStorm integrates with WordPress using a custom plugin, and with Mailchimp, Google Suite, and other essential tools through Zapier.

Key Feature 4 – The support you need to get up to speed quickly and train your staff

The right class registration for nonprofits is easy to use and requires minimal training. You want something that volunteers and staff members alike can quickly get comfortable with. That way you can spend less time training and more time serving participants.

A good class registration software streamlines the training process to simplify the user experience. CourseStorm offers a comprehensive Help Site. Get answers to your questions 24/7/365 from our help articles and videos. We also offer email and phone support for certain plans. All customers have access to onboarding videos. Depending on your plan, this may be live or on-demand recorded webinars.

Create a sample course catalog in just a few clicks — no credit card needed.

Eliminate Up to 80% of Your Time Spent on Administrative Tasks

By now, we hope you have all the details you need to make an informed decision. The right software can make a big difference for your nonprofit’s education program. It can simplify the work of staff and volunteers while creating positive experiences for participants.

We designed CourseStorm as the streamlined and simple solution for community, arts, and nonprofit organizations. But you don’t have to take our word for it. Start your free trial of CourseStorm today and see for yourself why so many nonprofits have chosen CourseStorm.

With the holiday gift-giving season approaching fast, arts organizations are looking for ways to promote their classes to Christmas shoppers and those celebrating other winter holidays. The good news is that many people are already on board with the idea of giving experiences as gifts. What holds them back is often the logistics. It’s easy to stick a video game under the tree, but how do you package violin lessons? 

Help holiday shoppers give the gift of an experience like classes or tickets to a performance by highlighting all the reasons these make great gifts.

Arts organizations can help holiday shoppers give the gift of an experience like classes or tickets to a performance by highlighting all the reasons these make great gifts.

If you want Christmas shoppers and other gift-givers to consider purchasing classes for friends and family, you first need to highlight all the reasons your classes make great gifts. Then you have to support the gift-giving experience by helping them package their gift in a way that feels meaningful. We’ll address this one step at a time. 

Reasons to Give Experiences as Gifts Rather Than Stuff

Consumer Reports found that, among all age groups, people derive more happiness from experiences than from material goods. The desire for quality time with friends and family has increased more than ever since the pandemic. Even so, Christmas shoppers may not think of your classes or performances as possible gifts unless you explicitly make the connection for them. 

Giving experiences as gifts gives the recipient skills or memories that last a lifetime. It’s also more eco-friendly and a great last-minute gift option!

Here are some ways you can frame your marketing messages to reach Christmas shoppers and other gift-givers: 

A gift for a lifetime. As children grow up, they may fall out of love with this year’s trending toy, but they’ll always have the skills they learned in pottery class. Creating something with your own hands is exciting no matter what your age. Young children can get a kick out of making art to hang on the family fridge, while teens may be excited to learn how to knit a scarf themselves. Creative aging programs are built upon the idea that older people want to continue to build skills as they age, as well.

Give the gift of connection. Our world is suffering from a loneliness epidemic. A new poll found that nearly 1 in 4 adults feel lonely, with the rates highest among young adults ages 19 to 29. Participating in art classes and activities helps provide a sense of community and connectedness. This is especially important for certain populations like veterans. 

It’s more eco-friendly. A recent study by NielsenIQ found that 78% of U.S. consumers say that a sustainable lifestyle is important to them. If you know your community is environmentally conscious, play up that angle in your class marketing efforts. An educational experience beats unwanted material goods ending up in the trash. 

Experiential gifts are a smart last-minute option. Let’s face it: the holidays are a busy time of year. It can be tough to shop, wrap, and ship gifts in time. If you have rolling admissions for your classes, open seats at an upcoming performance, or other opportunities available that would make good gifts, let your customers and community know. Then all they have to do on the actual holiday is give the recipient a card or email notifying them of their gift.  

Experience Gifts for Couples: Classes They’ll Love

Offering couples classes is a great way to attract customers who want to give experiences as gifts. Cooking classes, ballroom dancing, and jewelry making are all good gift experiences for couples, but those are just the beginning. Mixology classes, a terrarium workshop, or anything else couples can do together make great gifts. 

From cooking classes to jewelry making to mixology, offering couples classes is a great way to attract customers who want to give the gift of quality time and connection.

CourseStorm’s head of marketing, Nic, and her husband attended a restorative foraging class in their community. Guided by a sustainability expert from a local university, they walked around outdoors and identified lots of native and non-native plants and learned about how to process acorns for acorn flour. “It was fascinating to learn about foraging through this lens and to try something new,” she said. 

Pro tip: Offering couples classes is also a great way to boost your website’s SEO and help people find your classes online. “Couples classes near me” is a very popular search term, so if you offer couples classes, be sure to state this clearly on your website, in your online course catalog and course descriptions, and on your social media platforms. 

For more specifics, read our article on how to promote couples classes for Valentine’s Day, birthdays, anniversaries, and other holidays throughout the year.

Christmas Shoppers Want Something to Wrap

Even Christmas shoppers who are already convinced that giving experiences as gifts is a good idea may hesitate because they want the recipient to have something to unwrap. Many people find joy in watching someone unwrap a gift. This is especially true for people giving gifts to kids. Help shoppers overcome this obstacle by offering something tangible to go with the experiential gift. 

• Branded merch – If you already have branded merchandise, offer a magnet, mug, tote bag or tee-shirt to anyone purchasing classes as gifts during the holiday season.

• Gift shop merchandising – If your organization has a gift shop, set up a small section with inexpensive gifts relevant to different classes. This could include pencils and a sketchbook for an art class, an adult and child apron set for a cooking class, or Shakespear magnets and stickers for a theater class.

• Printed certificates – Printed certificates can be placed in an envelope or even wrapped in a box with some tissue paper. Print some fillable certificates on high-quality paper and give them away with gift orders. 

Many people find joy in unwrapping and watching others unwrap a gift. Help holiday shoppers by offering something tangible to go along with the experience they’re gifting.

Even if your organization doesn’t offer these things, with a bit of imagination, you can help your customers come up with a tangible item to gift alongside the experience. Here are just a few ideas: 

• Paintbrushes, pencils, or pastels along with a sketchbook for someone you’re gifting a session of art classes

• Funny Shakespeare magnets or stickers for a teen you’ve signed up for theater camp

• An adult and child apron set to go along with a grandparent-and-grandchild cooking class

• A basket of colorful yarn for someone enrolled in a knitting or crochet class

• A monogrammed journal for a person you’re giving a writing class or poetry workshop

• Safety glasses or work gloves to go along with a wood or metalworking workshop at a makerspace

For more creative and unique ideas to go with your experiential gifts, check out UnCommon Goods and MoMA Design Store. Visitors can search by interest, price range, recipient, and even eco-friendly products.

Making it easy for people to give your classes as gifts, such as by offering group registrations and promo codes, is a smart marketing strategy all year round.

Making it easy for people to give your classes as gifts is a smart marketing strategy all year round. Consider offering discounts or promo codes to encourage gift-giving, and allow group registrations to simplify the process for students who want to give and take a class with a loved one. CourseStorm has all of these features and more.