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  4. Understand: Event Balances and Guest Numbers

Understand: Event Balances and Guest Numbers

Allow donors to make purchases, bids, and donations during an event and pay for everything when it ends.

What are Event Balances and when should I use them?

If you’re planning to run an in-person fundraising event that incorporates other components like Raffles, Auctions, or Paddle Raises, consider enabling Event Balances. These allow attendees to donate more than once and pay for everything when the event ends, making them ideal for events where attendees have multiple chances to contribute.


How do Event Balances work?

  1. Each attendee receives a unique Guest Number when they purchase a Ticket to attend the event. They can also save a payment method to their RallyUp account for easy checkout later.
  2. During the event, each purchase, donation, or bid an attendee makes will be saved to their Event Balance. If you need to look up or update someone’s Event Balance for any reason, you can pull it up easily using their Guest Number.
  3. When the event ends, you can send a checkout link to all attendees (self-checkout) or automatically charge all balances to the attendees’ saved payment methods (automatic checkout).

What are Guest Numbers?

Guest Numbers are unique ID numbers that are automatically assigned to each guest who has a Ticket to your event. Their Guest Number will be included in their registration email for easy reference, but you can always look it up in the system if needed. Guest Number assignments typically start at 100 and go up from there. If you’d rather use a different numbering system, you can manually change each Guest Number.


How do I find an attendee’s Guest Number?

There are two ways to look up an attendee’s Guest Number if they can’t remember it or have lost their registration email:

How do I find a Guest Number from the View Ticket* Registrations screen?

  1. Go to Campaigns in the left menu.
  2. If you have chosen a list view, click on the Campaign title. If you have chosen a grid view, click on the Campaign image.
  3. Scroll down to Event Ticketing Management* and select View Ticket* Registrations.
  4. Search for the attendee’s name using the search bar.
  5. Hover over the row with the attendee’s name and select the three-dot menu on the right.
  6. Select Edit Seat.
  7. The Guest Number will be listed under Attendee information:
look up guest number

How do I find an attendee’s registration email from their Donor Profile?

  1. Go to Donor Profiles in the left menu.
  2. Find the donor you’re looking for and click on their name. This will bring up their Donor Profile.
  3. Go to the Activity timeline on the right and find the email you’re looking for. Emails will be labeled Email sent:
1684435675245 email+sent
  1. Click on the three-dot icon:
1684436108133 view+email
  1. Select View Email.

How do I change a Guest Number?

  1. Go to Campaigns in the left menu.
  2. If you have chosen a list view, click on the Campaign title. If you have chosen a grid view, click on the Campaign image.
  3. Scroll down to Event Ticketing Management* and select View Ticket* Registrations.
  4. Search for the attendee’s name using the search bar.
  5. Hover over the row with the attendee’s name and select the three-dot menu on the right.
  6. Select Edit Seat.
  7. Find the assigned Guest Number under Attendee information and replace it with the Guest Number you prefer. You can use any number as long as it hasn’t already been assigned to another guest:
look up guest number
  1. Select Save.

What’s the difference between self-checkout and automatic checkout?

All in-person events default to self-checkout, which allows attendees to review their Event Balances before being charged. When the event ends, you’ll send an email to each donor with a checkout link:

event balance checkout email

Automatic checkout charges attendees’ saved payment methods automatically when the event ends. To use this option, you’ll first need to require pre-registration for all attendees so they can create a RallyUp account and save a payment method: Understand: Campaign Pre-Registration.

No matter which option you select, you can always manually charge an attendee’s Event Balance before the event ends.


How do I enable Event Balances?

  1. Go to Campaigns in the left menu.
  2. If you have chosen a list view, click on the Campaign title. If you have chosen a grid view, click on the Campaign image.
  3. Select Campaign Setup*.
  4. Scroll down to Select any optional features you’d like to add and click on the toggle next to Gala & Event Features:
enable gala and event features


How do I enable automatic checkout?

  1. Go to Options in the timeline at the top and select Checkout Options.
  2. Scroll down to Enable donor pre-registration and click on the toggle:
prereg toggle
  1. Select the information you want to collect, when pre-registration will be available, and which components will require pre-registration (we recommend requiring pre-registration for all components you plan to run during your event):
prereg settings
  1. Scroll down to How do you want to charge Event Balances? and select Automatic checkout:
select automatic checkout
  1. Scroll down to When should donors be automatically charged? and select whether you want the system to wait to send the checkout emails until you tell it to, or automatically send them at a specific date and time:
when to charge donors


How do I initiate checkout for all attendees?

If you’ve set Event Balances to be charged at a specific day and time, you don’t need to take any further action – the system will take care of it for you. If you’ve chosen to initiate checkout manually, you can do so whenever you like:

  1. Go to Campaigns in the left menu.
  2. If you have chosen a list view, click on the Campaign title. If you have chosen a grid view, click on the Campaign image.
  3. Scroll down to Galas & Events Management and select Manage Event Balances:
manage event balances
  1. Click on Actions and select Send checkout emails for self-checkout, or Charge cards and close balances for automatic checkout:
send checkout emails


How do I add or remove items from an Event Balance?

You can update an attendee’s Event Balance anytime:

  1. Go to Campaigns in the left menu.
  2. If you have chosen a list view, click on the Campaign title. If you have chosen a grid view, click on the Campaign image.
  3. Scroll down to Galas & Events Management and select Manage Event Balances:
manage event balances
  1. Use the search bar to find the Event Balance you want to update. You can search by attendee name or Guest Number:
search event balances
  1. Hover over the Event Balance you want to update and click on the three-dot menu on the right.
  2. Select the action you want to take from the drop-down menu:
manage single event balance (1)

Manage balance allows you to add, update, or remove charges.


Can I manually charge an Event Balance before the event ends?

Yes! You have several options for manually charging an Event Balance at any time:

Charge card and close balance allows you to charge the total balance to the payment method on file.

Send checkout email allows you to send an email to the attendee so they can complete checkout themselves.

Charge manually allows you to charge the total balance in person to any payment method, including check or cash.


Frequently Asked Questions

What is a Guest Number and how does it work?

A Guest Number is a unique identifier assigned to each attendee when they purchase a Ticket to your event. This number allows you to easily look up and manage their Event Balance throughout the event.

Can attendees review their charges before paying?

Yes, with self-checkout (the default option), attendees receive an email with a checkout link that allows them to review all their purchases, bids, and donations before completing payment.

Do I need to require pre-registration to use Event Balances?

Pre-registration is only required if you want to use automatic checkout, which charges attendees’ saved payment methods when the event ends. Self-checkout does not require pre-registration.

Can I charge an attendee’s Event Balance during the event?

Yes, you can manually charge an Event Balance at any time during or after the event. This is useful for handling special situations or processing payments early if needed.

What payment methods can I accept when manually charging an Event Balance?

When manually charging an Event Balance, you can accept any payment method including credit cards, debit cards, checks, or cash. This gives you flexibility for in-person payment processing.

*Terminology may differ according to Campaign settings.

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