Overview

Cornerstone Events is a self-contained event calendar and registration system built for non-profit organizations, churches, schools, and associations. It requires no other plugins — no WooCommerce, no third-party calendar — and handles the full lifecycle of an event: creation, registration, payment, attendee management, and post-event follow-up.

Core Capabilities

• Custom event post type with month, list, and agenda calendar views
• Free RSVP and paid ticketed registration
• Stripe payment processing (Payment Intents API)
• Donation collection — event-attached or standalone
• Tribute/honor system (In Honor Of / In Memory Of)
• Invitation system with personalized codes and custom pricing
• Attendee guest information collection
• Coupon/discount code system
• Recurring events (daily, weekly, biweekly, monthly)
• Automated reminder emails via WP-Cron
• Waitlist management
• CSV export (registrations, guests, tributes, financial summary)
• Import from The Events Calendar (XML)
• Full email log with resend

Requirements & Installation

Minimum Requirements

• WordPress 6.0 or higher
• PHP 7.4 or higher

Installation

1. Upload the cornerstone-events folder to /wp-content/plugins/.
2. Activate through Plugins in WordPress admin.
3. On activation, all database tables are created automatically and default settings are saved.
4. You are redirected to the dashboard. Navigate to Events Manager > Settings to configure Stripe, email templates, and display preferences.

What Happens on Activation

• Creates all custom database tables
• Sets default options for currency, date/time format, email templates, and display preferences
• Schedules the daily WP-Cron job for reminder emails (idem_daily_reminder_check)
• Sets a registration ID auto-increment start point (configurable in Settings)

Admin Menu Structure

The plugin registers a top-level Events Manager menu with the following pages:

Creating & Managing Events

Events are a custom post type (id_event) with the URL slug /event/. They support title, content (description), excerpt, featured image, categories (idem_event_category), and tags (idem_event_tag).

Event Details Meta Box

Duplicating Events

Each event in the admin list has a Duplicate row action. This creates a draft copy of the event including all meta fields and ticket types. The duplicate gets "(Copy)" appended to the title and the status is set to Draft.

Registration Types

Set per-event under the Registration Settings meta box.

Registration Settings Fields

Ticket Types

Ticket types are stored in the idem_ticket_types database table (not post meta). Each event can have multiple ticket types.

Venues

Venues are stored as their own CPT (id_venue) so the same location can be reused across multiple events. The admin menu entry sits directly under Events.

Fields per venue

Picking a venue on an event

The event edit screen's Venue tab has a dropdown of published venues, a + New venue button that opens a quick-add modal (no page reload), and an Enter manually instead link that reveals legacy free-text fields for one-off events.

TEC import

When you import events exported from The Events Calendar, the included tribe_venue records are converted into id_venue posts and each event is linked via _idem_venue_id. Duplicate-title venues reuse the existing post rather than creating a twin.

Migrating legacy events

On DB upgrade to 1.10.0, existing events with free-text _idem_venue_name / _idem_venue_address meta are scanned, de-duped by name, and linked to new venue posts automatically. The legacy text meta is preserved as a fallback.

Export

Settings → Export supports a dedicated Venues CSV (one row per venue with every field plus a linked-event count).

Capacity & Waitlist

Capacity is tracked per-event. Seat count is the sum of all confirmed and pending registrations, weighted by each ticket type's seat multiplier.

• Unlimited capacity: Set capacity to 0.
• Waitlist: When enabled and the event is full, new registrations receive waitlisted status. When a seat is released (cancellation or refund), waitlisted registrants are automatically notified by email in FIFO order. Admins can manually promote a waitlisted registration to confirmed from the registrations admin page.

The [id_event_capacity] shortcode displays the current remaining seat count on any page.

Recurring Events

Recurring events are generated as individual child post entries from a parent event. Each occurrence is an independent id_event post with its own registrations, capacity, and status.

Revenue Type & Fair Market Value

Nonprofit accounting treats ticket revenue (Earned) and donations (Contributed) as distinct categories on Form 990. Cornerstone Events models this at the event and ticket level so receipts, reports, and year-end statements all handle the split automatically.

Revenue Type on each event

Stored as _idem_event_status post meta on each event. Configured in the event's Schedule tab.

Fair Market Value (Mixed mode)

When an event is set to Mixed, each ticket type gains a Fair Market Value field (stored as fair_market_value in idem_ticket_types). The math:

earned portion   = min(price, FMV)
contributed portion = price − FMV

Example: a $250 gala ticket with FMV of $75 produces $75 of earned revenue and $175 of tax-deductible contribution on the buyer's receipt.

What the split drives

• Receipt emails (templates/emails/receipt.php) — Mixed tickets show an inline FMV breakdown per line and a "Tax deduction summary" panel with IRS-style disclaimer.
• Reports — the Earned / Contributed / Donation breakdown, per-event P&L, transaction ledger, and donor totals all use the saved split.
• Year-End Statements — the itemized line and deductible totals come directly from this.

Storage on registrations

When a registration is created, IDEM_Registration::store_revenue_split() writes four registration meta keys: _earned_amount, _contributed_amount, _fee_amount, _discount_amount. Reports aggregate directly from these, with a fallback formula (total_amount − donation_amount as earned) for rows predating FMV tracking.

Stripe Payment Integration

Stripe is used for all paid transactions. The plugin uses Stripe's Payment Intents API directly — no Stripe SDK required. All API calls are made via wp_remote_post().

Configuration

Navigate to Settings > Payment:

Payment Flow

1. Frontend calls POST /wp-json/idem/v1/create-payment-intent to create a Payment Intent.
2. Stripe.js collects card details and confirms the payment on the client.
3. On success, the registration is submitted to POST /wp-json/idem/v1/register with the payment_intent_id.
4. The backend verifies the Payment Intent via the Stripe API and confirms the registration.
5. Confirmation and receipt emails are sent.

Webhook

Stripe webhook endpoint: POST /wp-json/idem/v1/stripe-webhook

Handles payment_intent.succeeded to confirm pending registrations in case the frontend flow is interrupted.

Refunds

Refunds can be initiated from the registration detail page in admin. The plugin calls the Stripe Refunds API using the stored payment_id and marks the registration as refunded. Seats are released back to the event capacity.

Donations

Donations can be collected alongside ticket purchases or as standalone contributions.

Event-Level Configuration

Behavior

• Suggested amounts are shown as buttons. Clicking a selected button deselects it (clears the donation).
• When a donation is added to a free RSVP registration, payment switches to Stripe automatically.
• Donations are stored separately in donation_amount and included in financial reporting.

Standalone Donation Form

The [id_event_donate] shortcode renders a standalone donation form with no ticket selection. These create registration records with seat_count = 0. A tribute can optionally be included.

Tributes (Honors)

Tributes allow registrants to make a donation in honor or in memory of someone. Managed under Events Manager > Tributes.

Per-Event Configuration

Tribute Status

Admins can send tribute emails manually from the Tributes admin page or from the registration detail page. A red badge on the Tributes menu item shows the count of pending tributes.

Coupon / Discount Codes

Managed under Events Manager > Coupons. Codes are stored and compared in uppercase.

Year-End Donor Statements

Nonprofits owe donors a summary of each year's deductible contributions. Cornerstone generates these automatically and batch-emails them with a typed confirmation gate so you can't accidentally double-send.

Required settings

Under Settings → General → Organization Info:

Eligibility

A constituent receives a statement if they had at least one confirmed registration in the tax year with a contributed-portion greater than zero. Pure Earned ticket buyers do not get a statement (no tax implication).

Preview & batch send

Go to Reports → Year-End Statements, pick the tax year, and review the roster. Per-recipient links let you preview before sending.

The batch panel requires a typed phrase (SEND N STATEMENTS) to send. A Dry run button shows the would-send count without emailing anyone.

Public statement URL

Each recipient gets an HMAC-signed, tokenized link of the form:

https://yoursite.com/?idem_statement=TOKEN&y=YYYY&e=email

The page renders a printable IRS-style statement: itemized contributions, FMV received, total deductible portion, and the custom footer. Recipients can save-as-PDF from the browser. No database table is needed for the tokens — they are signed against wp_salt('secure_auth').

Invitations

Invitations allow admins to create personalized registration links with optional pricing overrides and quantity locks. Managed under Events Manager > Invitations.

Invitation Codes

Codes are 10 characters, uppercase alphanumeric, using a charset that excludes ambiguous characters (0, O, 1, I, L). Codes are guaranteed unique.

Applying Codes

• Direct link: https://yoursite.com/?invite_code=XXXXXX — the code is pre-applied and the input is hidden.
• Form entry: A collapsible "Have an invitation code?" toggle appears on the registration form.

Attendee & Guest Management

For multi-seat registrations, the plugin collects guest details via a follow-up form sent after registration.

How It Works

1. When a registration with seat_count > 1 is created, an attendee tracking record is created in idem_attendees.
2. An admin sends a follow-up email, or it sends automatically if the ticket type has auto-send enabled.
3. The email contains a unique tokenized link to a guest information form.
4. The registrant fills in name, email, dietary restrictions, accessibility needs, and notes for each guest.
5. Partial submissions are allowed — the registrant can return later.

Status Progression

Pending Follow-up → Link Sent → Partial Info → Info Received

Table Numbers

Table numbers can be assigned to individual guests via the attendee edit form or inline from the attendee list. Table number is included in the guest CSV export.

Seat-edit cutoff, removals, and edit log

Each event has a Guest-info edits allowed policy (Anytime / 24h before / 72h before / Until event start / Locked after first submission) plus an optional Allow leader to remove a seat toggle. Both enforced server-side in IDEM_Attendee::get_edit_lock_state() and surfaced to the guest form.

Removals hit the REST endpoint POST /idem/v1/remove-seat, which deletes the guest, decrements expected_guest_count, and releases capacity. Every edit and removal is appended to _edit_log registration meta (timestamp, actor, IP, action, summary) and rendered as an Edit Log card on the registration detail page.

QR Check-In

Door-operations screen with a camera scanner, live stats, searchable roster, and walk-in entry. All driven by per-guest and per-attendee signed tokens.

Data model

• idem_guests.checkin_token — per-attendee QR token (primary).
• idem_guests.checked_in_at — timestamp (NULL = not checked in).
• idem_attendees.checkin_token — group-level fallback QR for registrations without filled-in guests.

Tokens are generated automatically on insert and on DB upgrade for any row missing one.

Public ticket page

https://yoursite.com/?idem_ticket=TOKEN&kind=guest
https://yoursite.com/?idem_ticket=TOKEN&kind=attendee

Renders a standalone printable ticket with event name, date, venue, attendee name, and a QR code (rendered client-side by the bundled qrcodejs). Linked from confirmation emails via the {ticket_link} and {ticket_button} merge tags.

Admin Check-In page

Events Manager → Check-In. Pick an event and the screen shows:

• Live stats: Checked in / Remaining / Expected (polls every 15 s).
• Camera scanner (bundled html5-qrcode.min.js) with auto-check-in on decode.
• Text search across guests and registrants.
• Per-guest Check in / Uncheck buttons.
• One-tap Add walk-in that creates a confirmed registration + guest in a single click.

REST endpoints

Email System

All emails are sent using WordPress's wp_mail() with an HTML wrapper applied automatically. Every sent email is logged to the idem_email_log table.

Email Types

HTML Email Wrapper

All emails are wrapped in a branded HTML shell with a header (logo + configurable background color), a content card, and a footer. Header background and primary accent color are configurable in Settings.

Theme Overrides

Email template PHP files can be overridden by placing files in your theme:

your-theme/cornerstone-events/emails/confirmation.php
your-theme/cornerstone-events/emails/receipt.php
your-theme/cornerstone-events/emails/followup.php
your-theme/cornerstone-events/emails/reminder.php
your-theme/cornerstone-events/emails/waitlist.php
your-theme/cornerstone-events/guest-form.php

Merge Tags Reference

Merge tags can be used in email subject lines and body content.

Customer & Registration

Event

Tribute / Honor

Invitation

Follow-up & Admin

Event Reminders

Reminder emails are sent via WP-Cron (daily). The cron job fires the idem_daily_reminder_check action.

Per-Event Configuration

Broadcast Emails to Registrants

Send filtered bulk email to the registrants of a single event. Events Manager → Broadcast.

Filters

Composer

• Subject line.
• Rich-text body via wp_editor (TinyMCE).
• All email merge tags available ({first_name}, {event_name}, {ticket_button}, etc.).
• Live recipient count refreshes on filter change.
• Send Test — delivers one copy to an admin-specified email using the first recipient's merge data (subject prefixed [TEST]).

Send behavior

Messages route through IDEM_Email::send() (full branded wrapper + log entry) with type broadcast. De-duplicated by lowercase email so one person with two registrations gets one copy. Synchronous send — comfortable for lists up to a few hundred; batching via AJAX progress bar is a roadmap item for larger lists.

Scheduled Summary Emails

Opt-in revenue digest that fires weekly or monthly to recipients of your choice — useful for keeping a board member in the loop without giving them a WP login.

Settings

Settings → General → Scheduled Summary Email:

Mechanics

• Implemented as IDEM_Scheduled_Reports hooked into WP Cron via idem_scheduled_report.
• Custom cron schedules weekly (7 days) and monthly (30 days) are registered by the plugin.
• On setting change, the hook is unscheduled and re-scheduled automatically.
• On plugin deactivation, the hook is cleared.

Contents

Last 7 or 30 days: registration count, Earned / Contributed / Donations / Fees / Gross totals, plus a per-event table. Logged as email type scheduled_summary.

Reports Overview

Events Manager → Reports. Ten tabs covering financial, constituent, and operational views. Every tab supports CSV export (nonce-protected), date-range presets (Last 7 / 30 / 90 days, YTD, Last Year, All Time, Custom), an event filter, and a registration-status filter.

Data plumbing

All report queries aggregate directly from registration meta written at insert time by IDEM_Registration::store_revenue_split():

For registrations predating this storage (before DB v1.8.0), a fallback formula reads total_amount − donation_amount as earned and donation_amount as contributed — so historical data still renders meaningfully without a backfill.

Shortcodes

[id_events]

Displays the full event calendar with view toggle (month / list / agenda) and navigation.

[id_events view="list" category="fundraisers" limit="5"]

[id_event_register]

Displays the registration form for a specific event.

[id_event_register id="42"]

[id_event_capacity]

Displays the remaining seat count for an event. Outputs a <span> with one of four CSS classes: idem-capacity--unlimited, idem-capacity--available, idem-capacity--low (≤10 remaining), or idem-capacity--full.

[id_event_capacity id="42"]

[id_event_donate]

Displays a standalone donation form for an event. Requires Stripe to be configured.

[id_event_donate id="42"]

CSV Export

Located in Settings > Export. All exports can be filtered by event and date range. Files are UTF-8 with BOM for Excel compatibility.

Every report tab also has its own CSV export. For a full lossless WordPress-to-WordPress migration, Tools → Export (WXR) works with both the id_event and id_venue post types.

Settings Reference

Found at Events Manager > Settings, organized in tabs.

General

Email Templates

One editor per email type (Confirmation, Receipt, Follow-up, Reminder, Waitlist, Invitation, Tribute, Admin Notification). Each has a subject and body field with merge tag reference. Preview / Test button available for all templates.

• From Name / From Email
• Email Logo (media uploader)
• Header Background Color (color picker)
• Primary Accent Color (color picker)
• Admin Notification Recipients (comma-separated)

Display

Import from The Events Calendar

Located in Settings > Import. Supports importing events from The Events Calendar plugin via WordPress XML export files.

• Venues XML: Upload a separate venues XML file for venue resolution.
• Skip existing: Avoid re-importing events that already exist (matched by title).

Content cleanup automatically strips WPBakery shortcodes, Tribe blocks, and Fusion Builder markup.

Database Tables

All tables use the WordPress table prefix (e.g., wp_idem_registrations).

Registration Statuses

Developer Reference

Action Hooks

Filter Hooks

// Modify CSV export column headers
add_filter( 'idem_export_columns', function( $columns, $type ) {
    // return modified $columns array
}, 10, 2 );

// Modify CSV export row data
add_filter( 'idem_export_row_data', function( $row, $reg, $type ) {
    // return modified $row array
}, 10, 3 );

REST API Endpoints

Key Constants

Helper Functions