Seeding Rewards

Rewards are funds from your company that go into a user's Giving Account for donating to eligible nonprofits. You can distribute rewards to many users' Giving Accounts, in more than one currency, using the batch seeding process. Seeding works well when you recognize employees for campaign participation or distribute funds for team activities.

The system validates users and budget impacts, then adds rewards to their Giving Accounts. Seeded rewards do not appear on your Donation Report until they are donated, and they do not affect the user's annual rewards balance.

Permissions

Anyone with the Awards Manager or Budget Manager user role can create and manage seeding batches. To generate a list in Benevity Reporting, you also need the Reports Manager user role. To generate a list in Reporting Studio, you need a Reporting Studio user account with access to Employee Engagement reporting.

Creating a new seeding batch

To create a new seeding batch:

1. Select Manage in the top right corner of the screen.
2. Select Company Giving in the top navigation bar and choose Seeding.
3. Select Create New Seeding to start a new batch.

Complete the following steps to seed accounts.

Adding basic info

Enter batch information:

• Batch description: a name for the seeding batch. It auto-populates the unique Batch identifier (not editable).
• Expiry date (optional): the date the funds expire.
• Expiry time (optional): the time the funds expire.
• Expiry time zone (optional): the time zone for the expiry time.
• Automated confirmation email: choose whether to notify users by email when rewards are added. You can return to a batch later to send the email if you process several batches first.

Seeded rewards email to notify users

Adding users

Upload a .csv, .xlsx, or .xls file with a single column of employee IDs or email addresses for the accounts you want to seed. .xls and .xlsx files must be version 2007 or later.

1. Prepare your user list. Depending on what's available for your program, you can:
   • Download the sample template from this step, delete the example email addresses and employee IDs, and enter one email address or employee ID per row. Use the same identifier type for every row (all emails or all employee IDs).

     Note: Email addresses are case-sensitive and must match the email in the user's profile (for example, USER1@BENEVITY.COM or user2@benevity.com).

   • Generate a list from Benevity Reporting using the User List stock report. Delete all columns except email address or employee ID before you upload.
   • Generate a list from Reporting Studio. Use the Participation Explore to build and download the list.

     Note: User Email and Employee ID need PII access in Reporting Studio; without it, those fields show as [REDACTED].

2. Choose the identifier type included in the file.
3. Select Add File or drag and drop a file into the upload area.
4. Select Scan to check that IDs exist on the platform, find duplicates, and identify user currencies.
5. Review the validation summary. Warnings do not block seeding. Errors require action before you continue.

If validation finds issues, you can Download a Validation Report or Upload a New File. Resolve all errors, then select Next. Large user lists can take longer to upload, validate, and process.

Adding amounts

The seeding currency for each user depends on their localized experience on the site. It is the currency they transact in. For example, if your user list includes users from three different localized experiences, three currency fields appear along with the number of users.

1. Enter the Amount per user for each currency detected in the user list. You can enter one amount per currency.
2. Select Scan budgets after you enter amounts to validate impacted budgets.
3. Review the validation summary. Warnings do not block seeding. Errors require action before you continue.

The validation checks whether there is enough budget for seeding rewards. Seeded rewards can impact All or Volunteering budgets in any currency, but they never impact individual user budgets. If two budgets are affected in the same currency, remember that users are only seeded once. Learn more about budgets.

You can:

• Download a Validation Report to download an Excel report of budget impacts.
• Adjust Amounts to reduce budget usage.
• Increase budget limits to prevent exceeding a budget.

Resolve all errors and confirm budget usage, then select Next.

Reviewing and submitting

Review the details and impacts of the seeding batch. Select Download Seeding Report to export details to Excel.

Review the impacts carefully before you select Submit to process the batch and credit user Giving Accounts. The seeding process runs in the background, so you can continue managing your program. Later, you can return to the completed seeding batch.

Managing seeding batches

Go to Manage > Company Giving > Seeding to open all seeding batches.

The list shows batches and the following details:

• Batch identifier: the unique identifier for the batch. Reference this identifier if you need to contact Support.
• Last modified date: the last date and time any update was made to the seeding batch.
• Last modified by: the user who last interacted with the batch.
• Status: Draft, Processing, Action required, Complete.
• Actions: Edit, Delete, View.
  • You can only edit or delete a Draft batch.

Continuing a drafted batch

Select Edit next to a batch draft if you want to continue with it. You can pick up where you left off and work through the steps as outlined above.

If you previously validated the user list or the impacted budgets, run the validation again so that it is up to date. Each validation is actioned from the appropriate step of the process, or you can run both validations at Review and Submit.

Reviewing a submitted batch

Select View next to a submitted batch to review it. It has a status of Processing, Action required, or Complete:

• A Processing batch is locked and displays the progress as user Giving Accounts are seeded. You are informed if errors are found.
• An Action required batch has been processed with issues. Select Download Report to review issues and take action.
• A Complete batch has been processed without issues.

Once the seeding process is complete, you may have the option to Send Confirmation Email to users if you previously chose not to. If you send the confirmation, an email is sent immediately informing users of their new rewards.

If a seeding batch has the Action required status, you can View it and Mark as Complete if you do not want to take action.

Notifications

Admin notifications

If you create a seeding batch, you receive an email when:

• User list validation is complete.
• Budget validation is complete.
• The seeding batch is processing.
• The seeding batch is complete without errors.
• The seeding batch is complete and action is required.

Only the admin user who submits the seeding batch receives these emails. You cannot opt out of these system notifications.

Connection issues

You may be notified of connection issues when the page is idle for too long. Refresh the page to continue.

User notifications

Once a seeding batch is submitted, users are seeded immediately as the job progresses. However, a user may not receive a notification or have an updated rewards balance on their Dashboard right away, even though they have been seeded. Timing and what users receive depend on whether they have logged in before and on the batch email setting:

• Previously active users: For users who have logged in before, the balance and banner are not updated yet. They need to log back in at least two hours after the seeding job for the balance and banner message to appear.

• New users: If a user has never logged into Benevity Donate, the rewards banner and updated Giving Account balance appear right away, even if they log in within two hours of being seeded.

• Email notifications: If you selected email notifications for the seeding batch, users receive a confirmation email when rewards are added to their account. However, delivery may be delayed depending on system volume.
• Expiry reminder emails: Users receive reminder emails 10 days before and 24 hours before their seeded rewards expire.

Verifying immediately whether a user was successfully seeded

The most reliable place to confirm that a user has been seeded is by selecting My Profile > Rewards. This section reflects the updated rewards balance as soon as the user is seeded. If available, users can use their seeded rewards immediately.

Accounting for seeding job processing times

The time it takes for a seeding job to finish depends on the size of the batch and the system load. Large jobs, especially those involving tens or hundreds of thousands of users, may take longer, particularly during peak periods like Giving Tuesday. These high-traffic events can increase overall processing time and delay notifications.

Related Resources

Benevity Reporting stock reports

• User List: generate employee IDs or email addresses for seeding (Benevity Reporting).
• My Rewards Redemption by Identifier: measure rewards usage by seeding identifier.
• Seeding Campaign: report on participation and impact by user group.
• Seeding Campaign Cause Report: report on nonprofit impact from a seeding campaign.

Reporting Studio resources

• Generating a user list in Reporting Studio: build a single-column list from the Participation Explore.
• Reporting Studio Participation Explore glossary: User Email, Employee ID, and filter fields for building seeding lists.
• Using Reporting Studio effectively: navigation, standard dashboards, and self-service reporting.

Training course

Seeding Rewards (approximately 5 minutes)