Can we auto-create or import participants in bulk?

We can help expedite registration of participants in bulk via a custom Participant Import Service.

We offer an Import Participants service that uploads Peer-to-Peer Participants to a Pledge or Multi-Pledge event that's ideal for campaigns with a large number of returning constituents or where registration is handled entirely by the organization.

Importing Participants

The import service has the ability to auto-create Individuals, Teams, and Multi-Pledge Groups (if applicable).

On import, the following is generated for each successful record:

• A unique username (unless otherwise specified)
• Password is auto-generated per our Password Policy
• Participant/team/group page using the default Page
• User receives a send personalized email using the “Individual Registers (Account Information Sent)” Message Template to Participant’s e-mail, as if they registered themselves
  • Note: The email can be disabled should you choose to communicate separately.

Indeed, the fundraising experience for imported participants (in the Participant Centre) is identical to any other player who registers via the front-end site.

Recommended steps

Given that an import has public-facing impact, we typically recommend the following steps and allowing a 12-15 business period: 

1. Download the sample file from Event > Manage Users > Import Participants. The sheet is mapped for completion of participant information you’d like to import.
2. Collectively schedule date and time of import into the a live raisin event, assuming the file passes your internal QA. For large imports (>5000 users) we suggest performing the import outside of business hours, but in general, a 1000 user import can be performed at any time of day.
3. As an email is sent to registered users, verify that copy in the “Individual Registers (Account Information Sent)” is correct.
4. One business day prior to import, complete an import of a test group of users that includes internal users and specified administrators from your organization (if you wish).
5. Event is made live.
6. Full import triggered at specified date/time.
7. Import runs in background at rate of approx. 1000 participants/hour.
8. If enabled, emails will send as each participant is registered.

Technical specifications

• For users who might already have participated in a previous event on raisin, the import service also allows for Returning Users to imported, so long as you specify their previous event and user ID (this can be found in the Participants & Surveys Download), along with all other participant contact information – so often for returning participants, administrators will simply copy + paste each participant’s row and reformat based on the import specs. Returning Participants retain the same username and password as the previous campaign.
• Participants are imported without registration fees (as if you were creating them via the “Add Participant” tool in raisin Admin).
• Survey Question responses cannot be imported.
• When Team Name is added to the import file, the user will automatically be registered as part of the specified team. For the first instance of that Team Name, we will create the team anew. If there is an exact match on Team Name for subsequent rows, we will simply add the individuals to that team. If there is no match found in the system, we will, of course, create a new Team/Group. Therefore, before performing the import, you will want ensure that the data is clean so that correct matches can be made.
• If any exceptions are observed, they will be sent to you for review and manual registration.