This guide helps you get Sponsorships ready to sell. You’ll start with what Rhythm creates for you, then use the setup checklist to move through each setup page in order.
What Rhythm Creates Automatically
When Sponsorships is turned on for your account, Rhythm creates two starting points so you do not have to begin from scratch:
- Three starter sponsorship categories. Rhythm provides the names and content for these categories. Review them from Sponsorship & Benefits › Setup › Categories, then adjust them or add your own.
- A default sponsorship application form, with four pages, ready to use as a starting point for your first application process.
Warning
If Sponsorships is switched off and back on for your account, these starter records are written again. It is not established whether your edits to the starter categories or default form survive that rewrite, so review your categories and default application form after re-enabling Sponsorships.
The Setup Checklist
- Go to Sponsorship & Benefits › Setup. This opens the sponsorship setup overview, with a checklist grouped into Sponsorships, Applications, and a final group of settings.
- Under Sponsorships, complete Configure sponsorship fields, Configure sponsorship categories, and Configure sponsorship add on products. See Custom Fields for the first item, and Add-On Products for the third.
- Under Applications, complete Configure application custom fields, Configure application forms, and Configure application processes. See Web Forms for the application form step, and Application Processes for the last one.
- Under the final group, complete Configure sponsorship settings and Configure portal permissions. The first opens your checkout, payment, and other Sponsorship settings; see Default Checkout Settings for Sponsorships for what it controls. The second opens contact-role permissions for the Portal; see Who Can View and Buy Sponsorships in the Portal.
- After your settings, categories, and processes are in place, create your first sponsorship opportunities and their benefits so sponsors have something to buy. See Opportunity Benefits and Optional Benefit Groups.
Result
Each checklist link takes you straight to the setup page it names. The checklist does not mark items complete, so use it as an order of operations rather than a progress tracker.
Tip
The eight-item checklist does not include application status reasons, even though staff can choose them while reviewing an application. If your review process needs specific rejection or approval reasons, set them up separately; see Application Status Reasons.
What to Verify Before Going Live
Before you let sponsors apply for real:
- Confirm your account's default checkout settings are correct, including the right business unit, merchant account, bank account, and payment methods.
- Confirm each application process points to the right form and, when needed, the right restricted categories.
- Confirm at least one opportunity is on sale, with its benefits and any optional benefit groups configured the way you intend.
- Confirm the Portal contact-role permissions let the right sponsor contacts view and purchase.
- Submit a test application or purchase in your sandbox, carry it through review or fulfillment, and confirm the resulting sponsorship record, activation email, and Portal view all look right.
Warning
Test in your sandbox before doing this in your live account, so a test purchase does not create a real sponsorship record or send a real email to a sponsor.