Nothing is charged until a manager says so. Review the list, press one button, and every card on file is charged, each with a receipt. One more press sends everyone without a card a link to pay, and cheques and cash can be marked paid by hand.
Collecting pledges after the night: what was pledged and collected, one card declined with the reason, payment links sent and opened, and each guest's status.
Real screenshots of Paddlit, taken with a made-up organisation, Maple & Main Children's Fund.
The list
Managers and owners open Collecting pledges for the event. Every guest who pledged is listed by bidder number, with what they pledged, the card on file and where things stand: not charged yet, charging, paid, paid by hand, card declined, link sent or refunded. At the top: what was pledged, what's collected, what's ready to charge to cards, and how much has no card.
Charging the cards
"Charge $12,500 to cards on file" asks once more before it starts: charges can't be undone, though any charge can be refunded afterwards. Paddlit then charges the cards one by one in the background, showing how far it's got, and you can leave the page while it works. Each guest gets a receipt as soon as their payment goes through, if they have an email address.
If a card is declined, the guest gets an email, and a text where they've agreed to texts, asking them to update it, and your list shows why in plain words, such as "There wasn't enough money in the account". Once they've saved a new card, press Charge again for them.
Nobody is charged twice
If the amounts changed since you looked, the charge stops and asks you to look again.
While a run is going, nobody can start another.
Every guest's charge has its own key, so a run that's interrupted and picked up again skips anyone already charged.
If Paddlit never heard back about a charge, it asks the payment processor whether it went through before trying again.
A run that stops part way is finished by the nightly check.
Links for everyone else
A second, separate press sends a link to pay to every guest who pledged but has no card, by email and, where they've agreed, text. Anyone with no way to reach them is listed. The link opens a page with the amount, an optional box to cover the card fee, and Apple Pay, Google Pay or a card. Each guest has one link at a time: sending a new one replaces the old.
Cheques, cash and everything else
Mark a pledge paid by cheque (with its number), cash, bank transfer or another way. Part payments leave the rest to collect. A receipt goes by email unless you untick it, and marking something paid can be undone.
A card payment can be refunded in full, back to the card, with an email to the guest; "Collect again" puts their pledges back on the list. Receipts can be sent again with the same number.
In practice
How it plays out
The morning after a gala
For example, six guests pledged $15,250, and four of them have cards on file.
The manager presses "Charge $12,500". Two cards go through and those guests get receipts. Two are declined, and those guests are asked by email to update their card.
One updates it on their phone that afternoon, the other at the office. The manager presses Charge again, and both go through.
The manager presses "Send payment links to the rest". One guest pays $250 from the link and covers the card fee.
The last guest pays by cheque, and the manager marks it paid with the cheque number. Their receipt goes by email.
See your next fundraising night on Paddlit
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