The Program access card in Program settings controls who can find your program and how new people join. It has three switches: Show in Browse programs, Allow new participants to join your program, and Approve each signup before they join. Changes apply straight away to new signups. Current participants carry on as normal.

Where do I find the Program access settings?

1. Open the program name dropdown at the top of your Dashboard and select Program settings.
2. The Program access card is at the top of the page. Each switch shows whether it's On or Off, and a banner at the top of the card sums up what your settings mean.

Use Preview signup form in the card's header to see the form as participants will. When new signups are paused, the link reads Preview what participants see and shows the page people get instead.

What do the three switches do?

Show in Browse programs

When it's on, people in your organisation can find your program on Browse programs. When it's off, the program is hidden from Browse programs: only people with your signup link, or those already in the program, know it exists.

Best for hiding: niche or regional programs, or a program only for selected people, for example a state-based program within a national organisation, or an executive program.

Allow new participants to join your program

When it's on, your signup form is open: new people can sign up, and each successful signup counts towards your total participant count. Turn it off to pause signups, for example when an intake has closed. This is the same switch as in the program name dropdown on your Dashboard.

While signups are paused:

• Current participants carry on as normal.
• People who have already started signing up can still complete their profile and join.
• Benched participants, and benched or declined signups, can't join or rejoin until you turn it back on.
• If your program is shown in Browse programs, it stays listed there as Signups closed, with no way to join.
• You can't invite new people. Bulk invite, Suggest a mentor or mentee on your Dashboard, and Invite or Invite again on the Invitations tab are turned off, and approving a participant's referral shows Registration is disabled for this program.

Approve each signup before they join

When it's on, new signups wait in the Signups table until you accept them. When it's off, people join straight away once they've completed the signup form and confirmed their email address. This switch only applies while you're accepting new participants.

Best for approval: structured cohort programs, programs with limited places, or any program where you want to check each person before they join.

If you turn approval off while complete applications are waiting, you'll be asked to confirm. Select Stop approving and those applications become active straight away and move to Participants. From then on, new signups join straight away, and benched participants and declined signups can rejoin without your approval.

How do the switches work together?

The banner at the top of the Program access card tells you which of these applies:

Turning joining off never changes whether your program is shown in Browse programs.

How do I share my signup link?

Use the Share your signup link row at the bottom of the card to copy the link or invite people by email. If your program is hidden from Browse programs, this link is the only way new people can join, so only share it with people you want in the program. While joining is off, the link can't be shared: turn on Allow new participants to join first. For more on your signup form, see Accessing Signup form.

How do I approve or decline a signup?

When approval is on, new signups appear in the Signups tab with a status of Pending. Select a participant to open the Approve or decline modal. You have two primary actions:

• Approve — activates the participant in your program immediately.
• Decline — moves the participant to the Mentoring Bench. Their profile and application answers are kept, they won't become active in the program, and you can activate them at any time from Participants or invite them to another program from the Bench.

When declining, you can toggle Notify participant on or off. If it's on, an editable email message is sent to the participant with the outcome. The default template is pre-filled, but you can customise it before sending.

If you need to remove someone entirely (for example, they've left the organisation or breached conduct), use the separate Remove option at the bottom of the modal.

When approval is off, there's no approval queue to manage, but you can still bench or remove a participant from the Signups tab if you need to.

How do benched participants and declined signups get back into my program?

You don't need to re-invite them. While Allow new participants to join your program is on, they can come back by themselves from your program's page:

• Approval off: they see Welcome back! and select Confirm and rejoin to rejoin straight away.
• Approval on: they're told their place in the program has ended and can select Reapply. Their application comes to your Signups tab for approval.

While joining is off, they see that the program isn't accepting new participants right now. Their profile, answers, and past loops stay on file, and they can come back once you turn joining back on.

You can also invite benched people from the Mentoring Bench, or by entering their email addresses in Bulk Invite.

What do I do when someone applies for the wrong program?

If a participant has signed up for the wrong program, you can redirect them to the correct one without losing their information:

1. In the Signups tab, Decline their application. This moves them to the Mentoring Bench and keeps their profile and application answers.
2. Go to the Mentoring Bench, filter for Benched, and search for the participant.
3. Select Invite to send them a signup link for the correct program. When mapping fields, match their existing answers to the new program's signup form where possible.

If you choose to notify the participant when declining, use the message to let them know you're redirecting them and what to expect next.

Can I add a program description for Browse programs?

Yes. You can add a short program description in Program settings alongside the program name. This description appears on your program's card in Browse programs, giving participants useful context, such as what the program is about and who it's for, before they decide to join or apply.

What happened to Program type (Open, Apply, and Hidden)?

The Program type setting in Program settings > Advanced has been replaced by the Program access card. Your program kept its setting when the card arrived:

• Open is Show in Browse programs on, with approval off.
• Apply is Show in Browse programs on, with approval on.
• Hidden is Show in Browse programs off. Hidden programs can now let people join straight away, too: turn approval off.

Browse programs still labels programs Open to join or Apply to join, depending on whether you approve each signup.

Does changing these settings affect current participants?

No. The Program access settings only affect how new people find and join your program. Anyone already active in the program carries on as normal.