Getting started guide

1. Create your account

Signing up takes a couple of minutes and only asks for an email address.

1. Go to the sign-up page and enter your email address (or continue with Google, if that option is shown).
2. Choose a password, then check your inbox for a verification code or link from Pathfinder and confirm it.
3. Once verified, you’re signed in automatically and taken straight to the “set up your organization” screen — there’s no separate login step.

2. Set up your organization

This step creates your organization’s workspace and makes you its Owner.

1. Enter your organization’s name — for example, “Riverside Youth Soccer League” or “Riverside School of Dance.” This is the only information needed at this step.
2. Submit the form. Pathfinder creates your organization and makes you its Owner.
3. You’re taken directly to your dashboard Overview — your organization is live and ready to configure.

3. Connect Stripe to get paid

To collect registration fees and sponsorship payments directly through your site, connect a Stripe account. Stripe handles the payment processing and sends money straight to your organization’s bank account — Pathfinder never sees or stores your bank details.

1. In your dashboard, open Payments from the sidebar.
2. Click Connect Stripe. Pathfinder creates a secure Stripe account for your organization and sends you to Stripe’s own onboarding pages.
3. Fill in your business and bank details directly with Stripe.
4. When you’re finished, Stripe brings you back to your Payments page automatically.

What the status banner means

• Payment account not connected — you haven’t started yet. Click Connect Stripe to begin.
• Finish payment account setup— you started, but Stripe still needs a bit more information. Click Resume onboarding to pick up right where you left off, or Sync status if you already finished but the page hasn’t updated yet.
• Payment account active— you’re all set. Registrations and sponsorships can now be paid online, and you can open your full Stripe dashboard anytime from this page.

4. Seasons & programs

A season is a time period (Fall 2026, or an ongoing year-round term), and a programis the specific thing families register for within it — a team, a class, a session. Every registration fee, eligibility rule, and capacity limit lives on the program.

1. From Seasons in your dashboard sidebar, create a season with a name and, optionally, start/end dates and a registration window.
2. From Programs, create a program inside that season: name, age and gender eligibility, capacity, and whether to enable a waitlist once it’s full.
3. Set the program’s fee and billing type — see the next section for the one-time vs. recurring choice.
4. Toggle the program public when you’re ready for families to register — it appears on your site automatically.

5. One-time fees vs. recurring monthly billing

Every program bills one of two ways — a flat one-time fee (the fit for a season registration or a single event), or recurring monthly billing charged automatically until canceled (the fit for studio tuition, membership dues, or any ongoing program). Set this per program from the Pricing section of the program form.

1. On a program’s Pricing section, choose One-time fee or Recurring monthly.
2. For recurring programs, the fee field becomes a monthly amount and the late-fee field is hidden, since it doesn’t apply to an ongoing subscription.
3. Families registering for a recurring program see “$X/mo” at checkout and are billed automatically going forward — there’s nothing further for them to do each month.
4. In Registrations, a recurring registration shows Active or Past Due instead of the usual Paid/Pending status, based on whether the most recent monthly charge succeeded.
5. To end a family’s recurring billing, open their registration and click Cancel subscription— this cancels the actual Stripe subscription, not just the label, so no further charges go through.

6. Registration & digital waivers

Families register through a guided flow on your public site — guardian and participant details, medical notes and allergies, and payment, all in one pass.

1. If you require a liability waiver, set it up once from Settings → Waivers. Every signature is tied permanently to the exact wording shown at the time it was signed — editing the waiver text later never rewrites what a guardian already agreed to.
2. A family finds a program on your public site, fills out the registration form, signs the waiver if one is active, and pays (or subscribes, for a recurring program) through Stripe.
3. Every registration appears in your dashboard’s Registrations list, with status, balance, and a link to the signed waiver.

7. Teams, rosters & coaches

Build teams tied to a season and program, and give coaches access scoped to exactly their own roster.

1. From Teams, create a team and assign registered participants to its roster, with jersey numbers and positions if you use them.
2. Coaches can apply through a public “Become a coach” form on your site, which lands in a staff-only review queue under Coaches.
3. Approving an application doesn’t grant access by itself — sending the actual invite (with a Coach or Assistant coach role) is a separate, explicit step, so access is never granted before you’re ready.
4. From a team’s Staff tab, assign an already-active coach to that specific team — they’ll only ever see their own team’s roster.

8. Sponsorships

Turn local sponsors into tracked, paid deals without a separate invoicing tool.

1. From Sponsors, build sponsorship packages or tiers with a price and description.
2. Send a sponsor a Stripe checkout link by email directly from the dashboard — no invoice software required.
3. Track every deal from pending to paid to fulfilled, and paid sponsors’ logos and recognition appear automatically on your public site.

9. Merch store

Sell team gear, dancewear, or spirit wear directly from your public site, with guest checkout — buyers don’t need an account.

1. From Merch, turn on the merch store, then add items with a name, price, and photos.
2. The store only appears on your public site once it’s enabled and has at least one active item.
3. Orders and fulfillment status live under Merch → Orders; buyers get an automatic email with tracking info once you mark an order fulfilled.

10. Roles & permissions

Invite board members and staff with exactly the access they need, from Settings → Members.

• Owner & association adminFull access to every part of the organization, including member roles and billing.
• RegistrarManages registrations, participants, and rosters without needing owner-level access.
• Treasurer & billing adminHandles payments, payouts, and the platform subscription.
• Coach & assistant coachScoped to their own team's roster — no visibility into other teams, payments, or org settings.
• Merch managerManages the merch store — items, photos, and orders — without access to the rest of the dashboard.
• ViewerRead-only access for board members who need visibility without the ability to make changes.

11. Branding & custom domain

Your public site is editable entirely from the dashboard — no code, no developer.

1. From Website, set your logo, brand colors, and publish news posts and pages — changes go live immediately.
2. From Domain, connect a domain you already own; Pathfinder verifies it via DNS and issues HTTPS automatically. Without a connected domain, your site is still reachable on a free Pathfinder subdomain.

12. Your Pathfinder subscription

Separate from the per-transaction fees above, Pathfinder itself is $599/year plus a one-time $299 onboarding fee on your first subscription.

1. Explore the dashboard and build out your organization for free — nothing is charged until you start your subscription from Settings → Billing.
2. From the same Billing page, choose whether your organization absorbs the one-time registration/sponsorship processing fee or passes it through to payers.
3. Manage or cancel your subscription anytime from Billing, which opens Stripe’s own billing portal — no email or phone call required.