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What is a Leaderboard?

Leaderboards & Goals FAQ

Leaderboards are built for any fundraiser where people help raise money — students, classes, teams, groups, or individuals. They work because they motivate participants to share, give them clear goals, and keep momentum going throughout the campaign.

If your fundraiser has participants, you should use a leaderboard.

Why Use a Leaderboard

Participants do the sharing

Each participant gets:

  • A personal share link
  • A personal results page
  • Real-time text updates as donations come in

This shifts promotion from a single organizer to every participant.

Supporters know who they are helping

At checkout, supporters can choose who they are supporting. Participants can personalize their results page with a message and optional photo, helping supporters feel connected to the person or group they are supporting.

Goals create momentum

Leaderboards include participant goals that give people something concrete to work toward.

Tiered goals:

  • Encourage early sharing
  • Keep participants motivated after hitting an initial goal
  • Provide clear “what’s next” milestones

Participants are notified when they reach a goal and are encouraged to push toward the next tier.

How Leaderboards & Goals Work

What happens when you enable a leaderboard

  • Participants appear on the leaderboard
  • Each participant has a personal results page and share link
  • Donations are automatically attributed
  • Supporters can select who they are supporting at checkout
  • Participant progress updates in real time

Leaderboards are optional, but participant goals are required once you choose to use one.

How Goals Work

Campaign goal

The campaign goal is the total amount you want to raise overall.

Participant goals and tiers

Participant goals are milestones for individual participants.

During setup:

  • You enter a campaign goal
  • You estimate how many participants you expect
  • A starting per-participant goal is calculated
  • Goal tiers are created (for example: Base, Epic, Legendary)

Organizers can:

  • Change goal amounts
  • Rename tiers
  • Add or remove tiers
  • Change emojis
  • Edit motivational messages

Who sees goals?

Participants see their goals, progress, and next tier.
Supporters do not see participant goal amounts, rewards, or motivation text. Supporters may be prompted to help a participant reach their next tier.

Editing goals and tiers

Goals can be edited at any time.

From the Leaderboard page, click the target icon to:

  • Update goal amounts
  • Rename tiers
  • Add or remove tiers
  • Change emojis
  • Edit messages

Changes take effect immediately, and participant progress updates automatically.

Goals do not auto-adjust if your participant count estimate changes. You must edit them manually.

How to Set Up a Leaderboard

Step 1: Open the Leaderboard tab

Any campaign can add a leaderboard. It is not tied to a specific template.

Step 2: Click “Get Started”

This begins the leaderboard and goal setup flow.

Step 3: Set your campaign goal

This is your overall fundraising target. You can change it later.

Step 4: Estimate participants

This number is used to calculate starting participant goals. It is only an estimate.

Step 5: Review and save goal tiers

Default tiers are created for you. You can customize them now or later.

Step 6: Add participants (optional)

You can paste in participant names now or let participants add themselves during enrollment.

Step 7: Invite participants to enroll

Share the enrollment link so participants can:

  • Claim their spot
  • Verify their phone number
  • Receive their personal share link
  • Access their personal results page
  • Add parents or helpers

Campaign Status and Enrollment

Participants can enroll before a campaign is live.

If participants share their personal links while the campaign is still in draft:

  • Supporters will see a message that the campaign is not quite ready
  • Donations will not go through yet

Once the campaign is live, those same share links work immediately.

Best practice

  1. Go live
  2. Invite participants
  3. Promote publicly

Participant Experience

After enrolling, participants:

  • Receive a text with their personal share link
  • Receive a text with a link to their results page
  • Can customize a message on their results page
  • Can upload an optional photo
  • See total raised, rank, and goal progress
  • Get a text every time someone donates
  • Get notified when they reach a goal and what comes next
  • Can access their share link anytime from their results page
  • Can add up to two parents or helpers

Participants can also open individual transactions on their results page to thank supporters by email, call, or text when contact information is available.

Sharing the Fundraiser

For organizers

  • Share the enrollment link with participants
  • Share the general campaign link publicly

For participants

  • Share only their personal share link
  • Do not share the enrollment link

Personal links ensure donations are attributed correctly.

Using Tags (Teams, Classes, Groups)

Tags let organizers group participants and view aggregated results.

You can:

  • Assign tags individually or in bulk
  • Click a tag to see totals for that group

Tags are for organization and reporting and do not affect goals.

Managing Participants

Organizers manage participants from the Leaderboard page.

Common actions

  • Edit a participant’s name
  • Copy a participant’s share link
  • View a participant’s results page
  • Add or edit tags
  • Remove a participant

Bulk actions

Select multiple participants to:

  • Assign or change tags
  • Unenroll participants
  • Remove participants
  • Merge participants

Unenroll vs remove

  • Unenroll – Removes participant access to their results page and updates, but donations can still be attributed
  • Remove – Deletes the participant from the leaderboard entirely

Merging duplicate participants

If the same participant is accidentally added more than once, organizers can merge them.

From the Leaderboard page:

  1. Select the duplicate participants
  2. Click Actions
  3. Choose Merge Together
  4. Select which participant to keep

All purchases from the merged participants will be combined under the selected participant, and the duplicates will be removed from the leaderboard.

Leaderboard Settings

Organizers can control:

  • Leaderboard visibility (Only organizer or public)
  • Whether supporters must select a participant at checkout
  • The label shown at checkout

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need a special campaign type to use a leaderboard?

No. Any campaign can add one.

Should I use a leaderboard for small fundraisers?

Yes. Even a few participants benefit from personal links and goals.

Can I customize or add goal tiers?

Yes. You can add, remove, rename, or change goal tiers at any time.

Can I change goals mid-campaign?

Yes. Participant progress updates automatically.

Do supporters see participant goals or rewards?

No. Supporters do not see goal amounts or motivation text, but they may be prompted to help reach the next tier.

Can participants personalize their page?

Yes. Participants can add a message and an optional photo.

Can participants enroll before the campaign is live?

Yes. They can enroll and get their links, but donations will not work until the campaign is live.

Why can’t supporters donate?

The campaign is likely still in draft.

Why aren’t goals showing?

Participants must enroll to see goals and progress.

Why don’t goals auto-adjust when fewer participants join?

Goals are intentionally manual so organizers stay in control.

Someone is missing from the leaderboard. What should I do?

Participants can add themselves during enrollment, or the organizer can add them manually.

Why is a participant still selectable?

They may be unenrolled but not removed.

What if a participant appears twice?

Duplicate participants can be merged so all purchases count toward a single participant.

What If I Want Tracking Without a Leaderboard?

Leaderboards and goals are motivation tools.

If you only want back-end tracking, and you do not want:

  • Participant sharing
  • Goals or rankings
  • Participant pages or updates

Then you do not need to use a leaderboard.

Instead, any campaign can add product or checkout questions to collect information with each donation or purchase, such as:

  • Student name
  • Class or grade
  • Group or team

This information is captured internally for reporting without exposing it publicly.

If you want motivation and sharing, use a leaderboard.
If you only want tracking, use checkout questions.

See the FAQ on Questions for more details.