What actually happens after you hit publish
The setup guide gets you to launch day. This is what the next few weeks actually look like — where to check progress, when money really shows up, and what's normal versus what needs your attention.
A campaign going live is the start of the process, not the end of it, and most of what happens next is quieter and more automatic than people expect. Here's a realistic walkthrough of what to actually watch for, in the order you'll encounter it.
The first donation
As soon as a gift succeeds, the donor sees a confetti-and-thank-you moment built around the specific participant they supported, and a receipt goes out to their email automatically — nobody on your end has to generate it by hand. Your dashboard's raised total updates immediately. Nothing else needs to happen on your side for a single gift to be complete.
Two numbers that will not match, and that's fine
"Total raised" and "total paid out" are tracked separately on purpose, and they're supposed to diverge. Raised is everything donors have given so far. Paid out is the smaller subset Stripe has actually deposited into your bank account. Money typically lands about two business days after a gift succeeds — so at any given moment during an active campaign, raised will run ahead of paid out. That's the system working correctly, not a delay to worry about.
| A normal week one, roughly | |
|---|---|
| Day 1-2 | A handful of gifts from people the organizer texted directly — the intentional "quiet launch" before a wider share |
| Day 3-7 | The bulk of first-week activity, as participants share more broadly and early donors' payouts start landing |
| Ongoing | A steady trickle, with visible bumps right after a progress update or reminder goes out |
The nudges you didn't have to send yourself
Once a campaign is live, the built-in Coach quietly does some of the organizing work on its own: it can send a one-time reminder to any participant sitting under half their personal goal, and it surfaces plain coaching tips directly on a low-progress participant's page. None of this requires you to track who's behind — it's checking that in the background.
If a donor disputes a charge
Rarely, a donor's bank flags a charge and opens a dispute rather than contacting you directly — sometimes a legitimate concern, sometimes just someone not recognizing the charge on their statement. You'll see it on your dashboard's Disputes page with a clear deadline, and the fastest resolution is almost always just reaching out to the donor directly before that deadline passes.
When the campaign ends
- Closing a campaign stops new donations but doesn't affect payouts already in motion — those keep landing on their normal schedule.
- A short, specific thank-you that names what the money actually bought ("new jerseys," not just "we hit our goal") is worth sending — it's what makes next year's ask easier, not just a nice gesture for this one.
- Export your donor list and tax receipts from the Donations page before you archive anything — it's a two-click export, and the easiest time to grab it is right when the campaign closes, not months later.
The dashboard isn't something you have to watch. It's something that's fine to check once a day.
What week two should feel like