Challenge Sponsorship

What is Challenge Premium Sponsorship?

Challenge leaders can power up their challenges by purchasing premium upgrades for their participants ($10 per plan). Every plan in the challenge gets plan-specific premium benefits for up to the number of upgrades purchased. Participants don’t need their own premium subscription to use these features.

For Challenge Leaders

How to Power Up Your Challenge

Create and Save some details about your Challenge.
Go to the edit page for your challenge
Scroll to the "Power Up Your Challenge" section. It should look something like the following
Click "Upgrade Your Challenge".
You’ll be taken to Stripe Checkout, where you can choose how many upgrades to buy (quantity is pre-filled with your current participant count).
Complete payment.
You’ll be redirected back to your challenge edit page with the ability to see your bought sponsorships and who will benefit from them.

What Participants Get When You Upgrade

When you buy upgrades, participants receive:

Plans up to one year long (instead of 60 days on free accounts)
Progress notes and time tracking (instead of simple tracking on free or premium lite accounts)
Rich plan descriptions (instead of no descriptions on free accounts)
Shared visibility – plans are visible to fellow challenge participants

Managing Your Upgrades

After you’ve purchased upgrades, the "Power Up Your Challenge" section shows:

How many participants have premium (e.g., “13 of 15 participants upgraded”)
A list of participants with their upgrade status
An "Add More Upgrades" button to buy more sponsorships

If you’re close to running out of spots (e.g., 80% or more used), you’ll see a nudge to add more upgrades.

Who Gets Premium?

Upgrades are applied to participants in the order they joined. New participants join at the end of the list. If you add more upgrades later, the next participants in line receive premium automatically. No need for them to take any action. Participants will have premium for the plans that join the challenge as long as their plan is a part of the challenge.

For Challenge Participants

How to Tell If a Challenge Has Premium

On the challenge page, look for the "Premium Features Included" badge on the challenge header. This means the leader has purchased upgrades for participants.

Before You Join

If premium spots are available: you’ll see how many spots remain (e.g., “This challenge includes premium features — 3 spots remaining”).
If all spots are filled: you’ll see that premium spots are full but you can still join with free-tier features.

After You Join

If you receive premium: You’ll see a message explaining that you now have access to progress notes, time tracking, rich descriptions, and plans up to one year long.
If premium spots are full: You’ll see a message that you’ve joined and that premium spots are currently filled, but you’re on the list if more open up.

Using Premium Features in a Sponsored Challenge

If your plan has premium via the challenge, you’ll see a "Premium via [Challenge Name]" badge in the progress editor and plan creator. You can use:

Progress notes and time tracking
Rich plan descriptions
Plans up to one year long
Plans visible to fellow challenge participants

Leaving a Sponsored Challenge

If you leave a challenge where you had premium:

Your existing progress notes are kept
You can’t add new notes or use time tracking
You’ll see a confirmation message before leaving

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How much does it cost?

A: $10 per upgrade. Each upgrade gives premium to one participant’s plan.

Q: Can I buy more upgrades later?

A: Yes. Use "Add More Upgrades" on your challenge edit page.

Q: I’m already a premium subscriber. Do I need this?

A: No. If you have Pacemaker Premium, you already have these features. Challenge sponsorship is for gifting premium to free participants.

Q: What happens if someone leaves the challenge?

A: Their premium spot is freed. The next participant in line (by join order) receives premium automatically.

Q: Are my plans private in a sponsored challenge?

A: In sponsored challenges, plans are public and shared with fellow participants. This is required so everyone can see each other’s progress.

Q: What happens after the challenge completes?

A: After the challenge closes, participants may no longer be added or removed from the challenge. Gifted premium benefits will last at max up to 1 year from the challenge start date.