DONATE Tickets
Sell tickets and check guests in
Entry tickets for your dinner, show or open day. Each guest gets a ticket with a QR code, which is scanned to let them in at the door.
- Ticket types with prices, limits and early bird dates
- Tables and family tickets
- Timed entry for open days and grottos
- Guest names and questions
- Donations at checkout, or free entry with donations welcome
- QR code tickets by email
- Door check-in in the portal's Door tab or on volunteers' phones with DONATE Admissions, even offline
- Waitlist, free tickets, cash sales and an event report
Getting started
Tickets is switched on for your organisation by DONATE. If you do not have it yet, email hello@nationalfundingscheme.org and we will set you up.
Your events in one place
Every event with its status, code, date, places taken and ticket sales.
Creating an event
First choose the kind of event. A one-off event, like a Christmas dinner or a carol concert, has one date and a total number of places. Timed entry, like a light trail or Santa's grotto, sells places at set times. Every event starts in Preview, so you can try everything before a single ticket goes on sale.
One-off event or timed entry
Pick the kind of event, then give it a name. You can add the rest later.
Add a picture if you like
The Picture panel is optional. The picture shows at the top of your ticket page. Landscape 3:2 works best, as a JPG, PNG or GIF of up to 2MB.
Choose your options
Guest names, passing tickets on, door check-in, the waitlist, joining instructions, terms and when guest details are deleted.
Tip for a one-off event
- Sales do not stop on their own when your event starts. Set Sales close to the start time in Details, or people can keep booking.
Ticket types
Add a ticket type for each thing you sell. Each type has its own price, limit and on-sale dates.
Add your ticket types
Early bird, standard, a table of ten or a guest of the charity. Each type shows its price, how many are sold and left, and whether it is on sale. Member prices says who to email about prices for members.
Tables, families and early birds
Admits sets how many people one ticket lets in. On sale from and until make an early bird.
Guest names and questions
Ask each guest for their name and anything you need to know, such as dietary needs. Answers are collected for every person, not just the buyer.
Ask what you need to know
Short answer, pick from a list, or a tick box. Mark a question required, or show its answer at the door.
What the buyer fills in
Buyers see Guest 1, Guest 2 and so on, with your questions under each name.
Timed entry
For light trails, Santa's grottos and anything people arrive at in waves, sell entry in times, such as 20 places every half hour.
Make times in one go
Pick the days, the opening hours, the length of each time and the places in each.
Change any single time
Each time shows how many are booked and in. Change its places, switch it to closed, or delete it if nobody has booked.
Buyers choose a time
Buyers pick a day, then a time, and see how many places are left.
Donations at checkout
Let people add a donation when they book. It goes to a campaign you choose, it can carry Gift Aid, and it is kept apart from ticket sales.
Choose where donations go
Pick a live campaign in Where donations go, choose "Add a donation at checkout", write one line of ask and suggest up to six amounts. An event takes donations one way only.
Optional, with Gift Aid
The buyer can add a donation and Gift Aid it. The page says they can come without giving.
Free entry, donations welcome
A free entry ticket has no price. Anything people give is a separate donation.
Book free, give if you like
Tickets show as Free entry. The donation box is optional, and the page says they can come without donating.
The Gift Aid rules, in plain words
- Donations must be optional, and the page says so next to the donation box. No amount is picked for the buyer.
- Donors get nothing extra. Never give donors better seats, earlier entry or anything else. Donation amounts are never shown on the guest list, the download or at the door.
- Tickets are never Gift Aided. Only the donation can be.
- Free entry with donations welcome only works if entry is truly free. That is why a free entry ticket can never have a price.
Preview before you go live
A new event starts in Preview. Your ticket page works, so try it end to end before anyone can pay.
Try it in Preview
In Preview, bookings are test tickets. No payment is taken and no email is sent. The QR code says "Safe to print now": until you go live it issues test tickets, and the same code keeps working after.
Your page, marked Preview
The ticket page says it is not published yet.
Practise with test tickets
Test tickets work on the ticket page and at the door. They are deleted when you go live.
Going live and sharing the link
When you are happy, switch Live on. Your ticket page lives under your own organisation's address, easydonate.org/your-organisation/event/..., and there is a short link too.
Switch Live on
Going live deletes every test ticket. Sales open straight away, unless you set a Sales open time.
Share your event
The Share your event panel on Setup has the Ticket page link and the Short link, and a QR code that scans straight to your ticket page. Download QR saves it for posters and flyers. The QR code and Short link are safe to print while you are still in Preview: until you go live the page issues test tickets, and the same code keeps working after.
What buyers see
Buyers book on their phone or computer, pay by card and get their tickets by email straight away.
Your ticket page
Date, doors, venue and your tickets, each with its price, and how many are left where there is a limit.
Booked in seconds
Tickets are listed straight away and emailed to the buyer.
A ticket with a QR code
Each person has their own ticket page with a QR code to show at the door, and a print option.
Passing a ticket on
The buyer can put a ticket in a guest's name. The QR code stays the same.
Changing their time
For timed entry, buyers can move their whole booking to another time with places, until their time starts.
Sending lost tickets again
Buyers can have their tickets sent again from your event page, to the email they booked with.
Managing sales
The Sales tab shows how you are doing. The Guests tab lists everyone coming, and the waitlist.
Ticket sales at a glance
Places taken and ticket sales, free places, donations added at checkout, then sales by ticket type and by day.
Everyone who is coming
The Guests tab lists everyone coming, with their answers to your questions. Download a CSV of the guest list.
Change, resend or void
Edit a guest or their table, resend their tickets, or void a ticket. For timed entry, the same menu moves a booking to another time.
Free tickets and cash sales
Give complimentary tickets, or record a sale you took in cash, by cheque or by card in person.
Move a booking
Move a whole booking to another time with places.
Email the waitlist
When places come back, email the next people in line. The first to book gets them.
On the night
There are two ways to check guests in. Door volunteers can use DONATE Admissions, a web app for their own phones at app.easydonate.org. Or use the Door tab in your portal, in a browser on any phone or laptop with a camera. Both scan the QR code, find guests by name and keep working if the signal drops. Every check-in reaches your guest list: straight away with signal, or when the signal is back. Volunteers join Admissions with an invite from your portal's Volunteers page, or ask to join and wait for you to approve them. For timed entry, use the Door tab: it loads one day at a time and flags early or late guests. The DONATE Collect app takes card donations and does not check tickets in at the moment.
Invite and approve volunteers
On the Volunteers page in your portal, click "Create invite" and send the link to one volunteer: it lets one person in without waiting for approval, works once and lasts 14 days. Anyone who finds you in the app by name or charity number waits under "Waiting for approval", and your portal users get an email and a notice in the portal about it. Approve only people you know. Anyone with a portal login can approve, decline or remove a volunteer. Remove stops their phone working for you straight away.
Volunteers set up Admissions
The volunteer opens your invite link, or goes to app.easydonate.org and finds your organisation under "Find your charity", or types your charity number under "Charity number or code", and taps Continue. They add their name, mobile number and email, then type the code we text them. With an invite they can start straight away. Otherwise the app says it has asked you to approve them, and they can start once you do. Next time, they tap "Already set up? Sign in" and use the email they gave when they set up.
Pick the event
Door check-in lists your events that have door check-in on, with how many are admitted. If there is only one, it opens straight away.
Find a guest by name
Tap the search button and type a name or ticket ref, then tap Admit.
Scan the QR code
Tap SCAN, allow the camera and point it at the ticket. It works on iPhone and Android. With signal, the check-in goes on your guest list straight away and the note says "Admitted" with the guest's name. The list shows the time and who let them in. All, To come, Admitted and Problems filter the list. A guest in a bigger booking shows who booked it, and once one is in, Admit all lets the rest of the booking in with one tap.
Keep scanning with no signal
The guest list is on the phone, so with no signal the scan still admits the guest, marked offline, and the row says queued. The check-in is kept on the phone and sent when the signal returns, and the app then says how many offline admissions were sent.
A ticket used twice
The camera edge flashes red and the note turns red, with the time the ticket was first admitted and who let them in. Scanning carries on, so the next guest can step up.
Door tab, find by name
Search by surname, buyer, reference or table, then tap Admit. Answers marked for the door show here.
Scan the QR code
Start the camera and point it at the ticket. The result shows large enough to read across a doorway.
Duplicates are loud
A ticket used twice shows in red, with the time it was first admitted.
Early or late for their time
For timed entry the door loads one day at a time, and flags early or late guests in amber. It never turns them away.
DONATE Admissions on the night
- Before the doors open, open the event with signal and leave Admissions open on it. If the app is closed or the page reloads with no signal, it cannot open the guest list again until the signal is back.
- With signal, each check-in is on your guest list straight away. With no signal, check-ins wait on the phone and the top of the screen says Offline. Once the signal is back it says how many are waiting, and they are sent. Keep the app open until they have gone.
- Events in Preview are listed too, so volunteers can practise with test tickets, marked TEST.
- A code that is not a ticket for this event shows "Not a ticket for this event.", or "Unknown ticket (offline)." with no signal. It may be a late sale. If they have paid and you are sure, tap Admit anyway. It is listed under Needs a look in the Door tab for you to check.
- Admissions does not show the time on a timed ticket or flag early or late guests, and it does not show answers marked for the door. Use the Door tab for those.
- Signing out removes the guest list from the phone.
The Door tab, offline and the "Needs a look" list
- The Door tab keeps the guest list on the device. If the signal drops, keep scanning. Check-ins are saved and sent when you are back online.
- A code that is not on the list offers "Admit anyway". If two doors admit the same ticket while offline, the first admission stands.
- Both show under "Needs a look" for you to check afterwards. Click Checked when you have.
- Several people can run the door at once, each on their own device, with the Door tab, DONATE Admissions or both. A device with no signal does not see another door's admissions until it reconnects. Clashes and Admit anyway from either show under Needs a look.
After the event
The report shows who came and what was given. DONATE sends the thank-you email and removes guest details for you.
The event report
Attendance and no-shows, ticket sales by type, donations made at checkout, and what was given on the night.
What happens next
- The thank-you email: at 9am the morning after your event ends, the buyers of tickets that were checked in get a thank-you, with a link to your donation campaign if you chose one.
- Guest details: the number of days after the event that you set in Options (30 by default), names, emails and answers are removed from your guest list and the door. Your sales totals stay.
Fees and refunds
Online ticket sales are paid out with your other income, through your usual DONATE payouts. Offline sales (cash, cheque, card in person) are already with you: DONATE pays nothing out for them and charges no fee.
Fees
- Online ticket sales: 4.5 per cent plus 22p for charities, or 5 per cent plus 22p for other organisations. Tickets never carry Gift Aid. No booking fee is added for buyers.
- Donations at checkout carry your usual donation fees: for a charity, 4.5 per cent plus 22p without Gift Aid, or 40 per cent of the Gift Aid plus 22p with it. Organisations that are not charities pay 5 per cent plus 22p. Gift Aid is only claimed for charities.
- Gift Aid on checkout donations: DONATE claims it and pays it to you with your payout. Do not claim Gift Aid on these payments yourself as well.
- Offline sales (cash, cheque, card in person) are already with you. DONATE pays nothing out for them and charges no fee.
- Charges on each payout: a usage fee of £3 for each week (Monday to Sunday) in which your organisation receives £10 or more, and a transfer charge of 0.5 per cent of the payout (at least £3) plus £7.50. Organisations without charity rates pay 1.5 per cent plus £7.50.
Refunds
- Only a whole booking can be refunded, and DONATE does it for you. Single tickets from a booking cannot be refunded on their own.
- A full refund also refunds any donation made at checkout in the same payment.
- Email hello@nationalfundingscheme.org with the event name and the ticket reference, for example CHRI-0042. References can repeat across events, because the first letters come from the event name.
- To cancel a free ticket or one entered by mistake, void it from the Guests tab. Voiding sends no money back.
Settings reference
Setup, Event page and Details
| Setting | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| About the event | What people see above the tickets. Up to 5000 characters. | Empty |
| Picture | Optional. Shown at the top of your ticket page. Landscape 3:2, JPG, PNG or GIF, 2MB max. | None |
| Name | Shown on the ticket page and on every ticket. | Required |
| Venue | Shown on the ticket page, tickets and emails. | Empty |
| Sales open | When sales start once you are live. | As soon as you go live |
| Sales close | When sales stop. For a one-off event, set it to the start time. | Never: set a Sales close time |
Setup, Tickets (per ticket type)
| Setting | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Entry | Paid, or Free entry, donations welcome. Fixed once people have booked. | Paid |
| Price | The ticket price. 0 for a free ticket. | 0 |
| Admits | People per ticket. 10 for a table of ten. Fixed once sold. | 1 |
| How many to sell | The most of this type you will sell. Set it for a free hidden type too. | No limit |
| Fewest and most per order | Limits on one booking. | 1 and 10 |
| On sale from and until | Dates this type is on sale. Use them for an early bird. | While sales are open |
| Hidden | Not listed. Only people with the direct link can book it. | Off |
| Switched on | Off stops sales of this type. A type with bookings is switched off, not deleted. | On |
Setup, When (one-off event)
| Setting | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Starts | When the event starts. Reminders and the thank-you email key off it. | Required to go live |
| Doors open | Shown on the ticket page and tickets. | Empty |
| Total places | The most people who can come, across every ticket type. | No limit |
| Change to timed entry | Switches the event to timed entry. Only until someone books. |
Setup, When (timed entry)
| Setting | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| First and last day | The days to make times on. | Required |
| Length | 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour or whole day. | 30 minutes |
| Opens and closes | Opening hours on each day. | Required |
| Places per time | The most people in one time. | No limit of its own |
| Days of the week | Only make times on these days. | Every day |
| Each time | Change its places, switch it to closed, or delete it if nobody has booked. | Open |
| Overall limit (under More) | The most people across all times together. | No limit |
Setup, Guest questions
| Setting | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Question | Asked for each guest. Up to 20 questions. | |
| Answer type | Short answer, pick from a list, or tick box. | Short answer |
| Required | Buyers must answer before booking. | Off |
| Show at the door | The answer shows on the Door tab. | Off |
Setup, Donations
| Setting | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Where donations go | Where checkout donations go. Must be live. The donation box only shows when one is chosen. | None |
| Your ask | One line above the donation box, up to 250 characters. | Empty |
| How buyers donate | No donations, Add a donation at checkout, or Included in ticket prices. An event takes donations one way only. | Add a donation at checkout |
| Suggested amounts | Up to six buttons. None is picked for the buyer. | None |
| Smallest donation | A checkout donation must be at least £1. | £1 |
Setup, Prize draw
| Setting | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Free prize draw | Links a free prize draw to the event. Every ticket, paid or free, gets one free entry for each person it admits. Only raffles set up as a free prize draw are listed. | No prize draw |
| Add a prize draw | Makes a free prize draw for the event and enters every ticket sold so far. You then add the prizes. |
Setup, Options
| Setting | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Ask for every guest's name | Buyers name each place, not just themselves. | Off |
| Let guests pass their ticket on | Buyers can put a ticket in someone else's name. | On |
| Check guests in at the door | Turns on the Door tab, and lists the event in DONATE Admissions until 2 days after it starts. For a longer season, use the Door tab after that. | On |
| Offer a waitlist when sold out | Buyers can join a waitlist when tickets or a time sell out. | On |
| Joining instructions | Sent with every ticket: parking, dress code, where to go. | Empty |
| Terms | Shown before people pay. The only prize a ticket may include is a free raffle ticket in the event's prize draw. | Empty |
| Delete guest details after | Days after the event ends. Names, emails and answers are removed from your guest list and the door. Totals stay. | 30 days |
Checking guests in, two ways
| What | DONATE Admissions | The Door tab |
|---|---|---|
| Where | app.easydonate.org, on a volunteer's own phone | Your portal, in a browser on any phone or laptop with a camera |
| Who | Volunteers you invite or approve on the portal's Volunteers page, who confirm their mobile by text | People with a portal login |
| Scan the QR code | Yes, on iPhone and Android | Yes |
| Find a guest | Name or ticket ref | Surname, buyer, ref or table |
| With no signal | Keeps admitting from the list on the phone, if the event was opened with signal and left open, and sends check-ins when back online | Keeps admitting, and sends check-ins when back online |
| A ticket used twice | Shows when it was first admitted and who let them in | Shows when it was first admitted |
| A code not on the list | Admit anyway, listed under Needs a look in the Door tab | Admit anyway, listed under Needs a look |
| Timed entry | The whole list, with no time shown and no early or late flag | One day at a time, early or late flagged in amber |
| Answers marked for the door | Not shown | Shown |
Emails DONATE sends for you
| When | Who gets it | |
|---|---|---|
| Tickets | As soon as a booking is made. Not in Preview. | The buyer, with a link to each ticket |
| Reminder | 48 hours before the event. For timed entry, 24 hours before their time. | Buyers |
| Thank-you | 9am the morning after the event ends. | Buyers of tickets that were checked in |
| Waitlist | When you click Send email. | The next people on the waitlist |
Questions
- How is Tickets different from Team challenges?
- Tickets sells entry to a dinner, show or open day. Each guest gets a ticket with a QR code, which is scanned to let them in at the door. Team challenges are for supporters who fundraise as a team, and each member gets their own dedicated donation page. You can run both for the same occasion.
- How do I get Tickets?
- DONATE switches it on for your organisation. Email hello@nationalfundingscheme.org and we will set you up.
- Is ticket money a donation?
- No. A ticket buys entry, so it is a ticket sale. It never carries Gift Aid and is kept apart from your fundraising totals. Donations people add at checkout are real donations to your campaign, and can carry Gift Aid.
- What does it cost?
- Online ticket sales cost 4.5 per cent plus 22p for charities, or 5 per cent plus 22p for other organisations, and no booking fee is added for buyers. Donations at checkout carry your usual donation fees. Offline sales (cash, cheque, card in person) are already with you: DONATE pays nothing out for them and charges no fee. Your usual payout charges apply.
- Can I try it before going live?
- Yes. A new event starts in Preview. Book test tickets, scan them at your door, then switch Live on. No payment is taken and no email is sent in Preview, and test tickets are deleted when you go live.
- How do I sell a table of ten or a family ticket?
- Add a ticket type and set Admits to 10, or 4 for a family. One ticket then lets in that many people, and each person gets their own QR code.
- How do I give free tickets to volunteers or a speaker?
- In the Guests tab, click Add tickets and choose Complimentary. Or make a hidden ticket type with a price of 0, set How many to sell, and send its direct link.
- Someone paid me in cash. How do I record it?
- Click Add tickets in the Guests tab and choose Paid in cash, by cheque or by card in person. No card is charged. The sale shows in your ticket sales as offline. The money is already with you, so DONATE pays nothing out for it and charges no fee.
- Can I run a free event and still take donations?
- Yes. Add a ticket type with Free entry, donations welcome, and choose a donation campaign in Setup. Entry stays free, and a gift from a UK taxpayer can carry Gift Aid if your campaign takes it. Gift Aid is only for charities.
- Can I give donors better seats or earlier entry?
- No. Donations must be optional and donors get nothing extra, or Gift Aid cannot be claimed. That is why donation amounts never show on your guest list, the download or the door.
- How long are places held while someone pays?
- 15 minutes. If they do not finish paying, the places go back on sale.
- How do my volunteers check guests in on their phones?
- With DONATE Admissions. Send each one an invite from Volunteers in your portal, or let them find your organisation by name or charity number at app.easydonate.org and approve them on the Volunteers page. They add their name, mobile and email, and type the code we text them. Then they pick the event and tap SCAN. It works on iPhone and Android. They do not need a portal login.
- Should we use DONATE Admissions or the Door tab?
- Admissions suits volunteers on their own phones. The Door tab suits anyone with a portal login, and it is the one to use for timed entry and for answers marked for the door. Both put check-ins on the same guest list, so you can use both at the same event.
- What if the signal drops at the door?
- Keep scanning. The Door tab and DONATE Admissions both keep the guest list on the device and send check-ins when the connection is back, and anything unusual shows under Needs a look. With Admissions, open the event with signal before the doors open and leave it open, because the app cannot open the guest list again with no signal.
- Someone shows a ticket that is not on the list. What do I do?
- If you are sure they have paid, tap Admit anyway, in the Door tab or in DONATE Admissions. It is saved and listed under Needs a look in the Door tab so you can check it later.
- A guest arrives an hour early for their time. Will the door refuse them?
- No. The Door tab shows early or late in amber, but it never turns anyone away. You decide. DONATE Admissions does not flag early or late, so use the Door tab for timed entry.
- Can buyers change or pass on their tickets?
- Yes. From their ticket page they can put a ticket in a guest's name, and for timed entry move their booking to another time with places, until their time starts.
- How do I refund a ticket?
- DONATE refunds whole bookings only, not single tickets from a booking. Email hello@nationalfundingscheme.org with the event name and the ticket reference, as references can repeat across events. A full refund also refunds any donation made at checkout in the same payment. To cancel a free ticket or a mistake, void it. Voiding sends no money back.
- Can a ticket include entry into a prize draw?
- Yes, a free one. In the event's Setup, under Prize draw, click Add a prize draw. Every ticket, paid or free, then gets one free entry for each person it admits, and nobody can buy more entries. Because nobody pays to enter, it needs no lottery licence. Keep it that way, so do not raise a ticket price because of the draw and never advertise it as worth a sum of money. Winners are told by email.
- When are guest details deleted?
- The number of days after the event ends that you set in Options, 30 by default. Names, emails and answers are removed from your guest list and the door. Your totals and the report stay.
- Can the DONATE Collect app scan tickets?
- Not at the moment. DONATE Collect takes card donations. To check guests in on a phone, use DONATE Admissions at app.easydonate.org, or the Door tab in your portal.