Membership & Sponsor Booth
HometownLift's Membership Booth and Sponsor Booth use Stripe Tap to Pay so a parent or local business can enroll on the spot at your back-to-school night, season-opener, or community event. Tap a card. Get a receipt. Walk away enrolled.
The challenge
A parent at the back-to-school night says 'sign me up for the booster club.' The volunteer hands them a clipboard. They write their name. The clipboard rides home in someone's tote bag. Two weeks later, that parent is never enrolled.
A local business owner at the season-opener says 'put me down for the gold sponsorship.' The board member promises to follow up. Three weeks pass. The business owner forgets they ever committed. Revenue lost.
Asking a parent or local business to write a $250 check at a community event is a friction wall most won't cross. They have a card and a phone. If you can't take payment from a card and a phone, you're losing the sale.
Buying or renting a Square terminal for a once-a-quarter event isn't worth it for most volunteer-run orgs. Equipment sits in a closet, batteries die, the cable goes missing.
The HometownLift approach
From the admin dashboard, generate a Membership Booth QR code tied to your org. A volunteer scans it on a phone or tablet, the public booth page opens, and they can enroll a parent in any active membership tier. Tap the card. Receipt is emailed. Enrolled.
Same pattern, different audience. The Sponsor Booth lets a volunteer sign up a local business owner in real time at a season-opener, ribbon cutting, or chamber mixer. Tier picked, card tapped, sponsor confirmed.
Stripe Tap to Pay works on supported iPhones (no extra hardware) for in-person card payments. For higher-volume nights, a Stripe WisePOS E reader gives you a dedicated terminal. Either way, you're using the same platform — no separate POS subscription.
Volunteers don't need a HometownLift login to run the booth. The QR code embeds a server-verified volunteer token tied to your org and the booth — secure but frictionless. When the event ends, you rotate the token from the admin and the booth link goes dead.
Every enrollment ends with a transactional email containing the receipt, the tier benefits, and your org's contact info. The new member or sponsor walks away with proof in their inbox before they leave the table.
Booth enrollments land in the same member roster and donor CRM as online enrollments. Your reporting doesn't split between 'online' and 'in-person' — it's all one ledger.
FAQ
Stripe Tap to Pay on iPhone supports iPhone XS and newer running iOS 16.4+. Tap to Pay on Android is available on certain devices. For high-volume events or chip cards, the Stripe WisePOS E is a dedicated reader. Check Stripe's official documentation for the current device list.
No. The Membership Booth and Sponsor Booth use a QR-embedded volunteer token. Scan the QR, the booth page opens, the volunteer can enroll. Admin can rotate the token at any time to revoke booth access — useful when the event ends or the volunteer turns over.
Stripe Tap to Pay needs an internet connection to authorize the payment. If cell service is iffy, bring a hotspot or check that the venue has guest WiFi. We don't currently support fully-offline payments — but most modern venues are connected.
Yes. Generate as many booth QR codes as you need (Membership Booth at the front table, Sponsor Booth at the VIP table, Concession ordering at the snack stand). Each runs independently with its own volunteer access.
Explore more
Recurring dues, tiered benefits, and auto-renewal.
Learn more →Local-business sponsor programs with logo display.
Learn more →QR-ordered concessions for game-day sales.
Learn more →How HometownLift protects donor and member data.
Learn more →Ready to get started?
