Your Rhythm account has one Sponsorship settings record. It holds the default checkout settings for sponsorship purchases, plus the Portal permissions that control which contact roles can view or buy sponsorships for their organization. This article explains how that record is created, saved, and shared by the two setup pages. For details about the individual checkout fields or the permissions matrix, see the related articles below.
What It Controls
Your account has exactly one Sponsorship settings record, not a separate record for each event, category, or business unit. Two setup pages update different parts of that same record:
- Other Settings stores the default checkout settings for sponsorship purchases, including the business unit, merchant account, and bank account that receive the money.
- Contact Role Permissions Settings stores which contact roles can view and purchase sponsorships in the Portal.
Where to Find It
Go to Sponsorship & Benefits › Setup › Settings to open Other Settings, where you manage the checkout defaults. Go to Sponsorship & Benefits › Setup › Contact Roles to open Contact Role Permissions Settings.
Prerequisites
Save Other Settings at least once before you use Contact Role Permissions Settings. Until your account has a Sponsorship settings record, the Contact Role Permissions page shows only a message asking you to update the base sponsorship settings first, with a link to Other Settings. It does not show the permissions matrix yet.
- Go to Sponsorship & Benefits › Setup › Settings.
- Choose the Business Unit, Merchant Account, and Bank Account your sponsorship payments should use. All three are required.
- Set any other checkout defaults your account offers, such as whether split payments, pay-later, or an installment plan are available at sponsorship checkout.
- Select Save Changes.
Result
The first time you save, Rhythm creates your account’s Sponsorship settings record. Each later save replaces the full record with the values currently shown on the page.
Dependencies and Precedence
Both setup pages read from and save to the same record. When you save one page, it sends back everything it loaded, including values from the other page. Because of that, saving Other Settings does not clear your Portal permissions, and saving Contact Role Permissions Settings does not clear your checkout defaults.
Warning
Because each page saves the full record as it was loaded, two changes made close together can overwrite each other. For example, if a colleague has Contact Role Permissions Settings open while you save Other Settings, whichever save happens last is the one that sticks. That save includes whatever the page had loaded, not necessarily the most recent version. Avoid keeping both settings pages open at the same time, and save one page before you open the other.
Change Impact and How to Revert
Changes on either page take effect immediately for new activity. Checkout defaults apply to the next sponsorship purchase, and Portal permission changes apply the next time a contact loads the Portal. There is no separate undo. If you need to see what changed and when, check Audit History.
Permissions
You need the setup access your account grants for Sponsorships administration to open either settings page. See Staff Access to Sponsorships for the available access policies.
Validation and Errors
- If you save Other Settings without a Business Unit, Merchant Account, or Bank Account, Rhythm refuses the save and shows an "Unable to save settings" message.
- If you save settings that name a business unit, merchant account, or bank account that no longer exists, Rhythm refuses the save the same way.
- If you open Contact Role Permissions Settings before your account has a settings record, Rhythm shows a message directing you to Other Settings instead of the permissions matrix.