School and Organization Support

In order to easily sell tickets, earn revenue and drive attendance, events must be created inside your virtual box office. All schools, departments and teams should be defined before creating an event. After an event is created, it can be published, shared and is ready for sales!

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How to Create an Event:

1. Located on the Dashboard, select +New Event
2. Enter the event details (see below for specifics regarding event details)
3. Click Next
4. Define Ticket Levels
5. Click Next
6. Confirm all ticket levels have been created by selecting Confirm
7. Preview and Publish

Publishing events is required to make them visible to the public. It is important to note that publishing an event simply means that the public can view the event details. While an event is public, tickets will not be available for purchase until the defined on-sale start date.

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Each of your events requires an Event Organizer. This is set within the Schedule Publish module during your event creation process. Our support and customer experience teams will have direct contacts for any questions related to events, ensuring quicker resolutions. Allowing Hometown to understand who organizes your events allows us to provide better service and communication. Immediately allowing our team to know who to contact streamlines communication between all parties.

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We recommend scheduling publish times when creating events, so you don’t have to worry about publishing them later!

1. At the end of the Event Setup process, click Publish
2. Choose the Event Organizer. This event organizer must be one of the users in the box office that are at least a Department Manager or above, and have access to the event, school, venue, and department that coincides with the event.
3. Select the desired publish option
4. Click Save

Should you need to edit any event details to an existing event or ticket level, you can do so is your Box Office. These changes will be reflected on the fan’s digital ticket. Changes will not reflect on a previously downloaded PDF ticket.

Please reference the full customer knowledge base on your dashboard for more information.

Hometown provides a way for clients and ticket purchasers to share event links directly to Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) or through a copy of a link. To enhance user experience and increase event visibility, this feature allows clients to effortlessly share event links directly from the Box Office.

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How It Works

Client:

• Within the event details page, there will be an option to share events. 
• This will only be available for events that are set to public and are published.

Fan:

• There will be multiple places a ticket purchaser can share an event:
• On the ticket options page within http://events.hometownticketing.com
• On the new school pages (when released). 

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How To Configure, Use, Enable

• You will have the option to share via Facebook, X (Twitter), or by copying the direct link which you can then post anywhere.
  
  • The social page being shared to will be the one that the user has access to on that computer. So, if you want to use the school page to share, you would need to be logged into that page.

• Link shared will be direct purchase page on our Events Page

As a benefit of working with Hometown, you have the opportunity to sell ads on your event tickets and keep 100% of your ad sales.

• All ad spaces are owned and sold by the school, and 100% of ad revenue stays with the school.
• Three (3), full-color ad spaces are available to sell at a price that you set.
• Ads appear on all PDF event tickets and are sent via email to all online ticket buyers.
• Tickets may be printed out or shown on a mobile device for event entry.

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You set the price. You manage your ad sales.

Submit the ad file to your Hometown Client Success Manager and we’ll place it on your tickets.

Creating a venue is required to provide a precise location for your event. You can create as many venues as you’d like to. The venue chosen for each event will appear on your ticketing page, and on the tickets themselves, so your fans know exactly where to go.

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Creating a New Venue:

1. Log into the Box Office
2. From the top menu, click on District → Venue List
3. Click +New Venue
4. Enter the Venue Name, Address and Time Zone
5. Click Create Venue

The Hometown Gate App allows administrators and event staff to seamlessly and securely scan fans into events. To get started, download the Hometown Gate App on any smart device.

1. To log into the Gate App, you will need your Client ID, Username, and Password. You can use the same credentials you use to log into the Box Office. You can also create User Accounts with a security level of App Only, and those accounts can only be used to scan tickets in the Gate App for extra security. 
2. Once logged in, just choose the event you’re scanning for. The camera will open on the device, allowing the user to start scanning tickets! HINT - events will appear in the Gate App to scan tickets 12 hours before the Event Start Time by default. To change this, add a “Doors Open Time” to the ticket level in the Virtual Box Office!
3. There are 3 options that will appear after scanning a ticket: 
   
   • ‍Valid Ticket:  this ticket is valid & should provide entry‍
   • Duplicate: this ticket has already been scanned‍
   • Wrong Event/Invalid:  this ticket is for the wrong event or is not legitimate

Using Offline Scanning Manually

All user permissions will have access to toggling on -

1. Settings → Offline Scanning toggle → Select Continue on message shown.
2. When Offline Scanning is enabled, the scan screen will go from a gray to a blue background to help understand it’s a different setting, along with a banner message.
3. # of Scans will be displayed on the scanner screen & tickets that have an Offline Check-In associated can be see in the Guest List

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Intermittent Connection Issues

In a scenario where a user runs into an issue validating a ticket while scanning normally, we will be able to detect an issue in communicating to our server. 

After more than 3 seconds of waiting on a response, we will serve the user with a message and suggest they go into Offline mode to continue scanning, with an option to stay in online scanning.

Please reference the full customer knowledge base on your Virtual Box Office dashboard for more information.

Box Office Login

1. Login to your Box Office using your provided clientid at the following URL
   
   • If your clientid is: clientid, access your Box Office here: clientid.hometownticketing.com  
2. Enter your username & password

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Forgot Username or Password

• If you forgot your username, please contact your Hometown Client Success Manager or Hometown Support from your Schoolfundr dashboard.
• If you forgot your password, please use the Forgot Password? tool on the login to reset your password by providing your username and email address.

The Detailed Financial Audit is a report that includes all event transactions, including refunds, for a specific event with sales. This report is broken down by ticket level, method of purchase (Box Office, Point of Sale, or Online), and fees. 

Accessing the Detailed Financial Audit - 

1. Open the Event Details of the event you wish to view the audit. (Events → Event List → View Past Events)
2. Under Box Office Tools, click Event Reports
3. Select Detailed Financial Audit - includes all event transactions
4. Click Run Report

As a Hometown customer, you get to define your own refund policy with fans and are responsible for processing your own refunds if you are using Stripe for your payouts. There are a few different types of refunds:

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Full Refund

1. Find the order in the Order List within the event or under Reports → Order List
   
   • You can search for the order by Name, E-mail, Phone Number, Order Number, Last 4 digits of the Credit Card used, or Transaction ID
2. Click on Order Details next to the order you are looking to refund/adjust
3. Locate the red button that says Refund Charge - once selected, a window will open for you to choose your refund type
4. Select Submit Refund to process a Full Refund

Partial Refund

1. By selecting Partial Refund, you will then need to select each ticket to refund/adjust under the Tickets heading near the bottom, and then click submit
2. Check the box next to each Ticket ID you would like to include in your Partial Refund
3. Select Submit Refund

Price Adjustment

1. Switch the default select from Refund Items to Price Adjustment towards the bottom and check the box next to each ticket you would like to adjust under the Items heading
2. Enter the Price Adjustment Amount (amount is per item selected) - the amount entered in the box is the amount that will be refunded on each ticket selected (if $1.00 is entered, $1.00 will be refunded per ticket selected)
3. Select Submit Refund

Hometown has an in-house support team dedicated to assisting our customers. We can help with technical troubleshooting and expertise, questions about the platform, and assistance on event day! 

Reach out to your dedicated client success manager, or log in to your Virtual Box Office to talk with us via chat or phone (during business hours).

Once you are logged in, follow the steps:

1. On the left side menu click on Create new fundraiser
2. Choose your fundraiser category (it can be more than one)
3. Fill in your fundraiser information and click Submit
4. Your fundraiser page is ready to start raising money

Sharing your fundraiser is the only way you will reach your goal!

We recommend sharing your fundraiser with as many people as possible. Social media posts are important because they reach a broader audience and can lead to more donations. On your fundraiser dashboard, you will be able to share your fundraiser on different social media as well as via email and SMS.


How do I delete a fundraiser? 

If you would like to delete a fundraiser, contact us, and we will quickly assist you.

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Contact us through any of our channels:

• Email us: help@schoolfundr.org 
• Chat with us from your Dashboard by clicking the chat link on the bottom right of the screen

Schoolfundr offers 5 different options for you to add a new participant for your fundraiser:

Option 1: Add via Email

With this option, you will email an invitation to the participant. For the page to be created the participant needs to accept the invite.

1. Go to the Participants tab
2. Click on Add Participants
3. Choose Add via Email
4. Add the participant email - you can add more than one email at once
5. When you are ready click on Send Invitation

Your participants will receive the invite via email.

Option 2: Share Link

You can have participants join your campaign by sharing the campaign link with them

1. Go to Participants tab
2. Click on Add Participants
3. Choose Share Link
4. Share the link with the participant

Option 3: Add Manually

You can add the participants manually

1. Go to the Participants tab
2. Click on Add Participants
3. Choose Add Manually
4. Fill participant's information
5. Click on Add Participant
6. The participant page will be ready to be shared

Option 4: We will upload it for you

We are happy to support you with anything you need! We just need you to share the following information with us, in an email or Excel file:

1. Participant Name (first name and last name initial)
2. Up to two Emails (e.g. participant, mom, dad, and/or guardian)

No other information is needed. Email us your information at help@schoolfundr.org

Edit Existing Participant: 

You can easily edit a participant's information: Photo, Name, Email, Additional email, and Story.

1. Search for the Participant
2. On the 3 dots click on Edit
3. Edit the information
4. Click on Update to save changes

Resend invitation Email:
If a participant has not accepted your invitation yet, you can resend the invitation email at any time.

1. Search for the Participant
2. Click on Resend invite
   

Delete a Participant:

1. Search for the Participant
2. On the 3 dots click on Delete

Note: Participants that already received donations cannot be deleted.

Having a page per participant allows deeper connections with donors. A Grandmother is more likely to donate to her grandson than to the school coach.

Here is why:

• Many donors seek social recognition for their contributions and want to ensure that the recipient is aware of their donation. Grandparents are MUCH more likely to contribute to their grandkid's page vs. a general page.
• Donors will be able to see the donations from other family members on the participant's page, which can influence them to make larger donations to beat other family members.
• Sense of ownership for participants, giving them their own goals and page to share with prospective donors.

Here is how you customize donations amounts:

1. From your fundraiser dashboard click on Edit Fundraiser
2. Go to the Customize tab
3. Edit your pledge levels
4. Save changes

If you are a 501c3 nonprofit organization, you can include your organization's Tax ID in the receipt so that donors can claim their donation as tax deductible.

Everyone who makes a donation with Schoolfundr will receive an email with a 'thank you' note and the receipt for the donation.

The Tax ID will appear at the bottom of the donor's receipt email.

Here's how to enter the Tax ID:

1. Go to your fundraiser
2. Click on Edit Fundraiser
3. Go to the Settings tab
4. Custom email footer and tax information
5. Click Save

Once your fundraiser ends and you are ready to withdraw your funds go to the Payouts page in your Dashboard.

Important: Please note that checks are mailed out on the 15th of each month. If you request a payout on the 15th or after, your check will be mailed out on the 15th of the following month.

Follow the steps to withdraw your money via check:

1. On 'Payouts' find the fundraiser you want
2. Click on the blue 'Withdraw' button
3. Select 'Check' as your payout method and fill in the information
4. Request payout
5. After being mailed the check will take between 10 to 14 business days to arrive. (Important: please note that checks are mailed out daily Monday through Friday.)

Once your fundraiser ends and you are ready to withdraw your funds go to the Payouts page in your Dashboard.

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Follow the steps to withdraw your money:

1. On 'Payouts' find the fundraiser you want
2. Click on the blue 'Withdraw' button

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If you are withdrawing with Stripe remember to connect it to your bank account. 

The timelines for each option are the following:

• Stripe: If you request a payout today, it will be processed and deposited into your stripe-connected bank account (or credit card) within 3-5 business days
• Check via USPS Mail: takes 10 to 14 business days
  (Important: Please note that checks are mailed out daily Monday through Friday.)

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Note: 

• The delivery time for checks can be affected by holidays, weather conditions, and other typical delays to mail.
• All payments are subjected to a thorough verification process and manual review prior to approval for security purposes
• Payouts made out to an individual's name are not allowed and will not be approved. All payouts must be made to organizations, such as schools or booster clubs

To withdraw funds raised to your bank account, please connect your bank account or debit card. Schoolfundr uses Stripe to securely process and payout your funds.

How to setup Stripe:

1. Go to Payout dashboard
2. Click on Get started with Stripe to connect your bank account
3. You will be taken to Schoofundr and Stripe setup page 
4. Follow the instructions and fill in your information
5. Choose how you would like to connect - Bank Account or Debit Card
6. Fill the information requested
7. Click Save - (you will still be able to review your information)
8. Once you are done reviewing your information, click on Agree and Submit
9. You are all set! You are now ready to withdraw your funds raised with Schoolfundr!

Log in to your account and your account information at any time.

How to update personal information:

1. On the left side menu go to 'Account'
2. Update any information needed
3. Click 'Save' when finished

How to reset your password:

1. Go to 'Account' on the left side menu
2. Scroll down till the end of the page
3. Click on 'Reset Password'
   

You will receive an email with instructions to reset your password. Please follow the steps provided to secure your account.

Change email request

If you need to change your account email contact our support team via chat or email at help@schoolfundr.org 

If you would like to change your account email or transfer its ownership to another person we have your back. Contact us through any of our channels and we will happily assist you:

• Email us: help@schoolfundr.org
• Chat with us from your Dashboard by clicking the chat link on the bottom right of the screen

Schoolfundr features the very best in secure payment encryption technology. Your donors’ online payments are safe, and the money is stored securely until your fundraiser is over and you’re ready to request a withdrawal via electronic bank transfer or check.

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With respect to payout verification and receiving your funds securely:

All payments are subjected to a thorough verification process and manual review prior to approval for security purposes

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Payouts made out to an individual's name are not allowed and will not be approved. All payouts must be made to organizations, such as schools or booster clubs.

Hometown has an in-house support team dedicated to assisting our customers. 

Reach out to your dedicated client success manager, email us at help@schoolfundr.org, or log in to your Schoolfundr account to talk with us via chat.