Resources
Sponsor guide
Everything a sponsor needs to know about creating discount campaigns, partnering with stores, issuing coupons and gift cards, and managing your wallet.
Overview
What a sponsor does on SponsorPay
As a sponsor, you fund part of your recipients' purchases at specific stores. That might be a business subsidizing grocery shopping for employees, a charity funding purchases for recipients, or anyone who wants to direct spending power to a community they support.
You create a discount campaign, partner with one or more stores by agreeing on terms, then issue coupons or gift cards to your recipients. When a recipient shops at an approved store, the discount applies automatically at checkout. Your wallet is charged in real time. Reports update immediately.
There are no paper vouchers, no manual tracking, and no chasing stores for invoices. Every redemption is recorded, every dollar is accounted for, and your balance is always visible.
What you control
Your settings and permissions
Discount campaigns
Create named campaigns with optional expiry dates. Each campaign is the container — stores, coupons, and gift cards all live inside it. You can activate, hold, or revoke a campaign at any time.
Store partnerships
Browse stores that have published discount options and send them proposals. You set your own contribution percentage. The store reviews and approves or rejects the proposal.
Coupons
Individual scannable barcodes for recipients. You control who gets them, how many times each can be used, and per-sale or cumulative spending caps. Create them one at a time, via bulk CSV, or as printable PDFs.
Gift Cards
Prepaid dollar-amount cards that recipients spend across one or more purchases. You set the amount and expiry. They're accepted at any store that has opted in to gift cards.
Your wallet
Top up your wallet manually or configure auto-refill so it recharges automatically when the balance drops below a threshold. Every redemption deducts from your wallet in real time.
Payment method
The credit card on file that funds your wallet. You can update it at any time. If your wallet runs empty, redemptions pause until you add more funds.
What you don't control
Store discount terms are set by each store — you pick from what they publish. Stores also control whether they approve your proposal and can set their own contribution percentage. Admin manages payout timing on the store's side.
Campaign lifecycle
From idea to live redemptions
Create the campaign
Give it a name and an optional expiry date. The campaign starts in INACTIVE status — nothing can be redeemed yet. You can create the campaign and set it up before involving any stores.
Browse stores and send proposals
Browse stores that have published discount options. Select a store, choose one of their options, and set how much your sponsorship will contribute per redemption (e.g., 15%). The store sees your proposal and approves or negotiates.
Wait for store approvals
Each store reviews the proposal, optionally sets their own contribution percentage, and approves or rejects. You'll need at least one approved store before you can activate the campaign.
Issue coupons or gift cards
With stores approved, create the items your recipients will use at checkout. Assign them to specific people (with name, phone number) or leave them generic. Set per-coupon usage limits and spending caps.
Activate the campaign
Once you have approved stores, coupons ready, and a funded wallet, activate the campaign. Coupons become live and can be redeemed at any approved store immediately.
Monitor and report
Your portal shows every redemption in real time — who redeemed, at which store, what the discount was, and your running wallet balance. Campaign-level totals update automatically.
Issuing to recipients
Coupons vs. gift cards
Coupons
A coupon gives the recipient a percentage discount at checkout. One coupon can be used multiple times (subject to your limits). Accepted at any store that is part of the campaign.
Coupons are best when you want to discount specific purchases without limiting what the recipient can buy — for example, giving an employee 15% off groceries for a month.
- Assign to a specific person with name and phone
- Restrict to N uses or a total dollar cap
- Create as printable PDF or send by email
- Bulk-create from a CSV file
Gift Cards
A gift card carries a fixed dollar balance the recipient spends across one or more visits. The balance decreases with each redemption and stops working when it hits zero.
Gift cards are best when you want to give a specific dollar amount with flexibility on what the recipient buys — for example, a $50 food credit for a family.
- Set the exact dollar amount per card
- Optional expiry date
- Accepted at any store opted in to gift cards
- Balance tracked and updated per redemption
Coupon settings in detail
These are the limits and controls you can set on each individual coupon.
Recipient name
Optional. Assign the coupon to a specific person for tracking.
Phone number
Optional. If set, the customer must provide the last digits at checkout to redeem.
Max uses
How many times this single coupon can be used across all stores. Null = unlimited.
Max sale amount
Cap on the total sale size the discount applies to per redemption.
Sponsor budget cap
Maximum total dollars the sponsor will fund through this coupon across all its redemptions.
Cumulative sale limit
Total across all redemptions — coupon stops working once this dollar amount of sales has been covered.
Your wallet
How the sponsor wallet works
Add funds
Charge your card on file to top up your sponsor wallet. Admin can also add funds directly — note that admin-added funds are not refundable to your card.
Redemption deducts
Every time a customer uses one of your coupons or gift cards, the sponsor's portion of the discount is automatically deducted from your wallet.
Auto-refill (optional)
Set a low-balance threshold and a refill amount. When your balance drops below the threshold, the system charges your card and refills your wallet automatically.
Request a refund
If you want your remaining balance back, you can request a refund to your card on file. Note: admin-added funds cannot be refunded.
Auto-refill example