Note: The Fund a Need feature is specific to the In-Person Event campaign type.
Also known as a paddle raise or special appeal, Fund a Need empowers you to make a direct appeal to in-person participants during your event. You can customize giving levels tailored to your mission and then easily add contributions to the tabs of multiple supporters at once.
Enable Fund a Need
Visit your campaign's Dashboard.
Select Settings on the left side menu.
Select Fund a Need and adjust the toggle to On.
You will see a review of your current Participant Event Number settings. If this feature is not enabled, we recommend clicking Manage Settings to customize your preferences and enable this feature, which will allow you to track contributions by a participant's assigned number than than just searching by name or email.
Click Manage Fund a Need to be taken to your new Fund a Need dashboard.
Create Donation Levels
Visit your campaign's Dashboard.
Select Fund a Need on the left side menu.
Select Create a Need in the top right corner.
Enter a title for the need and the amount of the donation level and click Save.
Each donation level you create will be listed in your Fund a Need dashboard, allowing you to return and quickly log contributions from supporters giving at your preset levels. You can create as many levels as you need.
Below is an example of three giving levels created for the same need. The needs are sorted by size and include a summary of how many supporters have given at that level as well as the total amount raised per each need. The Fund a Need dashboard will show the cumulative amount raised across all needs.
Note: The name you enter as the Fund a Need name is the name that will appear in the itemized Order Receipt participants will receive next to their donation amount.
Add To Supporter's Tab
During your Fund a Need, you can quickly log contributions to the open tabs of multiple participants simultaneously. This feature is most efficient when you have assigned Participant Event Numbers, which can allow you to quickly pull up participants based on the assigned number of their paddle rather than searching by name.
Visit your campaign's Dashboard.
Select Fund a Need from the left side menu.
Click on the three dot menu of the Need that a direct appeal is being made for and select Add to Supporter's Tab.
The screen will show all your registered participants. Type in the event number or name to quickly find a participant. Click on their name to log the Fund a Need donation to their tab. You can continue to enter as many donors as applicable to that donation level. Click Add to Tabs when complete.
You will return to your Fund a Need dashboard and the display will update to show you the new amount raised. Repeat with your next donation level.
When adding supporters to a donation level, the left side of the screen will show you all your registered participants, their event number, and if a credit card is placed on file for them. The right side of the screen will display the supporters that have contributed the Fund a Need at the applicable level. To remove a supporter that was accidentally added, simply click on the minus sign next to their name in the right side panel.
Note: Fund a Need donations are designed to be quickly efficiently added to supporter's tabs during your live event, but if you were taking names or numbers on paper, you can also log them after the fact or while completing Event Day Check Out.
View Fund a Need Snapshots
For each Need or donation level you create, you can view a snapshot that shows all the participants contributing at that level.
Visit your campaign's Dashboard.
Select Fund a Need from the left side menu.
Click on the three dot menu of the Need and select View Snapshot.
From the snapshot, you can complete several actions:
You can use this snapshot to see if there are any payments that are remaining post-event, as contributions will be marked Pending, Completed, or Failed (if their credit card on file could not be charged).
You can quickly access someone's tab by clicking on their name.
You can edit the name of the Need and the Amount. Any changes to the amount will only affect new contributions, not existing contributions that are already placed on participant tabs.
You can click Add to Tabs to log more supporters at this donation level.
Close Out Tabs to Collect Payment
After your Fund a Need is complete and you have logged all donations to the open tabs of participants that contributed, you can decide when you want to close out tabs. Every event is different. Whether you want to charge people immediately, at the end of the evening, when they visit a table before departing your event, or the next day, you have options!
When you close a tab, you can charge the credit card placed on file, a new credit card, or log a cash or check payment if the supporter prefers to pay offline. After logging payment, a receipt will be issued to the supporter.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do the Fund a Need contributions added to a supporter's tab impact my campaign's fundraising goal?
Anything added to a participant's tab is logged as a contribution to your event and is reflected in your campaign total, even if payment has not been charged. If you add a Fund a Need contribution to someone's tab, for example, it will raise your campaign total by the amount of their winning bid. If items are removed from someone's tab throughout the night, your campaign total will adjust accordingly.
Do Fund a Need contributions show up on my campaign's Live Display?
Yes. If you are using Live Displays for fundraising activity, the Donation Feed will show Fund a Need contributions in real time as they are added. The Donation Feed is optional to display, so this can be disabled if desired.
Are Fund a Need contributions different from donations?
Fund a Need contributions are tax-deductible donations to your organization. They are treated similarly to donations and appear in all the same places donations do (such as your campaign page's donation feed and any Live Displays for donations you have created), but they have an added label that will appear on a supporter's Order Receipt noting the Fund a Need that was supported.
Fund a Need donations are classified as donations in your campaign's Dashboard and will be included in your Donations Report, categorized as Fund a Need. Each Fund a Need contribution has its own donation snapshot you can view, which will show you the donor information and status of the contribution to help you understand if it's been successfully completed.
What does the receipt that supporters receive look like?
Supporters receive your campaign's Order Receipt, which you can customize. This receipt is adaptive, with different sections that may appear for Registration, Donations, Live Auction, Shop, Raffle, and Misc. Items, depending on what was purchased on the order. Fund a Need contributions will appear under the Donations section, with the title of the need and the amount contributed.