Help center
Answers, step-by-step guides, and a way to reach a person, for every SizzleGo product. Pick your product, search, or ask us.
Guides
A donor disputed a charge with their bank. What now?
SizzleGo is alerted and answers the bank through Stripe. The gift shows as Disputed on your Money page. If we need proof from you, we will ask.
Add sponsors to a drive
Show local businesses in a "Sponsored by" strip on your drive page, sorted by tier, and record what they paid by check or cash.
Add students and teams to a drive
Paste a roster of first names and last initials, or share the join code so students and parents make their own page. Add a team after a bar.
Charge pledges after a walk-a-thon or read-a-thon
Enter each student's laps or books, charge every pledge at once, and email a pay link to donors whose card was declined.
Connect Stripe so your drive can take gifts
Gifts go straight to your organization's own Stripe account. Connect it once under Settings, Billing, and every drive can publish.
Download your donor list, roster, or orders
Each drive has CSV downloads for donations, the roster, and store orders. The Money page has one CSV across every tool.
Give every month, and how to stop it
Set up a monthly gift to a school fund drive with no account. Every receipt has a link to stop it any time.
How do drive emails and reminders work?
You can email your contacts about a live drive once a day. Parents of students who are behind also get an automatic nudge, at most once a week.
Monthly donors: see and stop monthly gifts
Donors can give every month on a donation drive. See them in the Monthly donors table on the drive, and stop one with Stop.
My drive will not publish: what is missing?
Publish needs Stripe connected, room under your plan's live drive limit, and a team role that can publish. Here is how to check each one.
Refund a donation
Open the drive, find the gift in the Gifts table, add a reason if you like, and click Refund (the button shows the amount). The whole charge goes back to the card.
Sell items in a drive store and track orders
Add spirit wear, snacks, or tickets to a drive's store. Every sale counts toward the drive, and you can mark orders picked up or refund them.
Quick answers
Can I get a refund on my donation? 路 FundDriveGo
Yes. Refunds are made by the school or group that runs the drive. Their name is at the top of the drive page and on your emailed receipt. Contact them and say which gift you want refunded.
When they refund it, the whole amount you paid goes back to the same card, fees included, and you get an email. It can take several business days to show on your statement.
If you give every month and want it to stop, use the link in any monthly receipt. You do not need to ask anyone.
Can I get a tax receipt for my gift? 路 FundDriveGo
Yes. Your emailed receipt is your record of the gift. It comes right after you give, and you do not need an account.
What the receipt shows
- The amount you gave, the drive, and the student it was for, if any.
- What was charged and the date.
- Whether you covered the fee.
- If the school or group is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, a line that says so, with its EIN when it is on file, and that no goods or services were given for the gift.
Good to know
- Monthly gifts get a new receipt each month.
- A pledge gets its receipt when it is charged, after the count.
- Store purchases get an order receipt. You got something back, so it is not a tax deductible gift.
- No 501(c)(3) line? Ask the school or group if your gift is tax deductible. Their name is on the receipt.
- Lost it? Search your email for "Thank you for your" and the group's name, or ask the group. They can see every gift.
- SizzleGo does not give tax advice. Ask a tax professional about your own return.
Do I need an account to give? 路 FundDriveGo
No. On the drive or student page, you pick an amount, type your name and an email for the receipt, and pay with a card. There is no login and no password.
- Your receipt comes by email right after you give.
- You can add a note, and you can check Keep my name off the page to give without your name showing.
- If you give every month, each receipt has a link to stop it. No account needed for that either.
Does a new organization need to be approved before going live? 路 FundDriveGo
Only by Stripe. When you connect Stripe under Settings, then Billing, Stripe confirms your organization and bank account. Once Stripe says you can take payments, you can publish. There is no separate SizzleGo approval to wait for.
Stripe may turn on payouts to your bank a little later than payments, while it finishes its checks.
How fast does money reach our bank account? 路 FundDriveGo
Every gift goes straight into your organization's own Stripe account as it comes in. SizzleGo does not hold it.
SizzleGo sends a payout from that account to your bank once a day. It covers everything that has cleared in Stripe: gifts, store orders, monthly gifts, pledges, and money from your other tools. Stripe usually clears a card payment about two business days after it is made, and the bank deposit then takes a day or two. Ticket money is the one exception: it waits until about a week after each show ends, so a cancelled show can still be refunded. Amounts under $1 wait for the next day.
To check, go to Money. To your bank shows what has already landed. Next payout shows a payout on its way, or says it is waiting for the next daily payout. If a payout looks late, write to hello@sizzlego.com. Nothing can be paid out until Stripe has turned payouts on for your account.
How is my child's privacy protected on a fund drive? 路 FundDriveGo
A student's fund drive page is kept small on purpose. It shows:
- A first name and last initial only. A full last name is never shown.
- A team or class, if the organizer or student added one.
- A short line your child wrote when joining, if they added one.
- How much has been raised and the names of supporters who chose to show their name.
There is no place for a student photo. The only picture is the drive's cover picture, chosen by the organizer.
If you gave a parent email when joining, it is never shown on the page. It is only used for updates about the drive. To have your child's page taken down, ask the organizer.
Is FundDriveGo connected to SignUpGo or EventTicketGo? 路 FundDriveGo
Yes. FundDriveGo is the Fundraising tool inside SizzleGo, next to Signups, Tickets, and the rest. Your team uses one login for all of them.
- One contact list. Donors are added to your contacts under People, and the Tell your contacts card on a drive emails the same list your other tools use.
- One Stripe connection. Connect it once under Settings, then Billing, and gifts, tickets, and store sales all land in the same account.
- One Money page. Every gift, sale, and payout shows in Money, split by tool.
Donors never need an account in any of these tools.
Is it free to start a fund drive? 路 FundDriveGo
Yes. On the Free plan you get CalendarGo, GazetteGo, and SignUpGo, plus one more product of your choice. Pick FundDriveGo and you can run up to 3 live drives at a time with no yearly cost.
Every gift has one payment fee, card processing included. It is lower on paid plans:
- Free: 5.9% + 60c
- Community ($399 a year or $39 a month): 4.9% + 60c
- School ($1,999 a year per site): 4.4% + 50c
- District (from $1,399 a year per site): 3.9% + 40c
Donors see the fee before they pay and can choose to cover it. Community and up have no limit on live drives. See pricing for the full plan list.
Is there a review before my drive can go live? 路 FundDriveGo
No separate SizzleGo review is needed. The only check is Stripe's. When you click Connect Stripe under Settings, then Billing, Stripe asks for your organization's details and a bank account. As soon as Stripe says your account can take payments, the Publish button on your drive works.
If Publish still does not work, see the readiness article. The usual causes are Stripe not finished, your plan's limit on live drives, or your role on the team.
My pledge card was declined. How do I pay? 路 FundDriveGo
When the drive charged your pledge, your card said no. Maybe it expired, or your bank wanted you to confirm. Nothing was charged.
- Open the email titled "Your pledge to" the school or group "did not go through."
- Click Pay your pledge.
- The page shows the amount per unit, how many were counted, and your total.
- Enter any card and click the Pay button.
The email comes in the language you used to pledge, English or Spanish. You get a receipt by email when it goes through. If the page says the pledge is not waiting for a payment, it is already paid or was cancelled. Questions go to the school or group running the drive. If you lost the email, ask them to send the pay link again.
What fees does a donor pay? 路 FundDriveGo
There is one payment fee, and card processing is included in it. You see it before you pay. Nothing is added later.
- If you cover it, the fee is added to your total, and the school or group gets your whole gift.
- If you do not, you pay just your gift, and the fee comes out of it.
The rate depends on the group's plan: 5.9% + 60c on Free, 4.9% + 60c on Community, 4.4% + 50c on School, and 3.9% + 40c on District.
Example on Community: for a $50 gift the fee is $3.05. Cover it and you pay $53.05 and they get $50. Leave it off and you pay $50 and they get $46.95.
What happens if a drive does not reach its goal? 路 FundDriveGo
Every gift still counts and goes to the school or group. A drive goal is a target to rally around, not all or nothing. Nobody is refunded because the goal was missed.
When the organizer ends the drive, the page stops taking gifts and thanks everyone who gave. Monthly gifts to that drive stop too, and those donors get an email.
Still need help?
Tell us what you are trying to do and we will get back to you by email, usually within one business day, sooner during a live event.
For tickets and events, the Ask assistant answers most questions in seconds.