Events

Use events when attendance matters. A donation campaign asks for money. An event asks people to register, pick a ticket, answer a few questions, and show up. Givebear ties those steps together, from the public event page to the door.

What you can run

An event in Givebear can be:

• Free. People register, but there is no charge.
• A single fixed price. Everyone pays the same amount per ticket.
• Tiered. You offer several ticket types at different prices, like general admission and VIP.
• Pay what you want. Attendees choose the amount, with an optional minimum and a suggested figure.

Each event also has a format: in person, online, or hybrid. Online and hybrid events carry a meeting link that registrants receive.

How the pieces fit

Every event is built from a few connected parts.

• The event holds the public basics: title, date and time, timezone, location, hero image, and pricing.
• Ticket types define what attendees can buy on a tiered event. Each type has its own price, optional capacity, and description.
• The registration form collects attendee details. Name, email, and phone are built in. You add your own questions on top.
• Registrations are the records people create when they sign up. Each one tracks the attendee, ticket, amount paid, status, and a check-in code.

You assemble all of this in one place: a five-step builder for details, photo, tickets, registration form, and a final review where you publish.

The event lifecycle

Most events move through the same arc.

1. You create a draft with a title and a start time.
2. You fill in the details, add a photo, set pricing and tickets, and shape the registration form.
3. You review the public page and publish. The event stays a private draft until then.
4. You share the event page or show it on your calendar widget.
5. People register. Paid registrations are charged through your connected Stripe account.
6. You watch registrations come in from the dashboard.
7. You run check-in at the door.
8. You reconcile attendance, revenue, and any refunds afterward.

For the step-by-step version, see Create and publish an event.

What an attendee sees

A registrant opens your public event page, picks a ticket type if there is more than one, and chooses how many tickets to buy. They fill in the registration form. If the event is paid, they pay by card before the registration confirms.

After registering, each attendee gets a confirmation with a QR code. That code is their pass for check-in. People can also register at a kiosk when you run one at the venue.

Controlling who can register

You have several levers on the event, beyond pricing.

• Capacity. Cap total tickets, or leave it unlimited. You can also cap individual ticket types.
• Waitlist. When you allow it, people can join a waitlist once capacity is full.
• Approval. Require manual approval so registrations start as pending until you confirm them.
• Registration window. Set when registration opens and closes.

Each registration carries a status: pending, confirmed, checked in, cancelled, waitlisted, or refunded. You manage those from the registrations view. See Tickets, forms, and registrations.

Running the event and reading results

Each published event has four tabs in the dashboard.

• Overview shows live analytics: tickets sold, net revenue, check-in rate, capacity used, a revenue breakdown, and recent sign-ups.
• Edit reopens the five-step builder.
• Registrations lists everyone, with search, filters, status changes, and refunds.
• Check-in lets staff scan QR codes with a device camera or search by name.

The overview and registrations views live alongside the rest of your dashboard in Events and community.

Money, tax, and deductibility

Paid registrations run through your connected Stripe account. Givebear takes a plan-based platform fee and Stripe adds its processing fee. See pricing for the current rates and Donations and finance for how the money reconciles.

Two extra concepts apply to events:

• Sales tax. You can set a sales tax percentage that gets added to ticket prices. Givebear records what was collected, but it does not file or remit tax for you. That stays your responsibility.
• Deductibility. When a ticket gives the attendee something of value, like a gala dinner, only the amount above that value may be a tax-deductible gift. You record that fair market value, and Givebear shows the right disclosure on receipts.

Refunds and cancellations have their own page: Payments, refunds, and cancellations.

When not to use an event

Not every calendar item needs registration. If people only need to see that something is happening, a calendar entry is enough. Reach for an event when you need registration records, attendee answers, tickets, payment, or check-in.

Next steps