Email Notifications

Ignition Crowdfunding sends automatic email notifications to backers and staff (administrators and operators) at key moments in the campaign and pledge lifecycle. All emails are managed from the Emails tab in Ignition → Settings.

Configuration

Sender details

Setting	Description
From Name	The name that appears in the “From” field of outgoing emails. Defaults to the site name.
From Email	The email address used as the sender. Defaults to the site admin email.

Enabling and disabling emails

The email notifications table lists every email type with a checkbox to enable or disable it. All emails are enabled by default. Disable any email to stop it from being sent — the plugin will skip it silently.

A separate Always on (security) group at the bottom of the table holds emails that cannot be disabled: password reset, email change request, email changed, and password changed. Their checkboxes are locked on. See Security emails below for the rationale.

Each row in the table shows:

• Enable checkbox
• Email name and description
• Recipient badge — Backer, Staff, or All (account-level emails such as the Welcome and security emails, which reach the account holder whatever their role)
• Preview link to see a sample of the email

Click Preview to open a rendered sample of the email in a popup window, showing the subject line and formatted body with placeholder data.

Staff notification preferences

The site-wide enabled/disabled toggle on the Emails tab decides whether each email is dispatched at all. For staff emails, each administrator and operator additionally chooses which categories they personally receive — preferences live on their WordPress Profile page (Users → Your Profile) under Crowdfunding Notifications, and on the Notifications section of their front-end Account page. The Staff group heading on the Emails tab links to the profile page.

Backer emails

These emails are sent to the backer who made the pledge.

Email	When it sends
Welcome	When an administrator creates a Backer account from wp-admin → Users → Add New. Contains a branded “Set your password” button that opens an in-site set-password form. Replaces the WordPress-default plain-text new-user email for plugin roles only; non-plugin roles still receive the WordPress default.
Pledge Confirmation	Immediately after a backer creates a pledge. For guest backers, the email includes a “Claim my account” link — see Email Verification.
Email Verification	When a new user registers through the auth form. Contains a single-use activation link. See Email Verification.
Account Claim Reminder	When a guest backer requests a claim link from the auth form. Contains a single-use activation link to set a password.
Payment Received	When a payment succeeds for the pledge — staff recording an offline payment, or a gateway confirming a card payment. The email leads with the amount actually charged; if that was more than the pledge, it names both figures and prints an itemised breakdown of the charge beneath.
Pledge Canceled	When the pledge is canceled (by the backer or by staff).
Refund Issued	When a refund is issued against the backer’s pledge.
Campaign Succeeded	When staff declare the campaign’s result and the goal was met.
Campaign Failed	When staff declare the result and the goal was not met.
Funding Goal Reached	When staff announce that the campaign reached its goal (sent once per campaign).
Campaign Update Published	When a new update is published on a campaign the backer has pledged to.

Creator emails (add-on)

Emails addressed to campaign creators — new-backer and payment notifications, approval and rejection notices, goal-reached, and the campaign lifecycle series (live, paused, resumed, ended, outcome, closed) — are part of the Ignition Platform Mode add-on, since the creator persona lives there. A default (direct-mode) install sends backer and staff emails only. See Reviewing submissions for the moderation notices Platform Mode adds.

Staff emails

These emails are sent to staff — every administrator and every operator — when significant events happen on the site. They appear under the Staff group on the Emails tab, and each name ends (Staff). Each person opts in or out for themselves through the Crowdfunding Notifications section on their WordPress Profile page or the Notifications section of their front-end Account page.

Staff emails are grouped into notification categories:

Category	Default	Emails it controls
Campaign lifecycle (staff digest)	Enabled	Campaign Live, Campaign Ended, Goal Reached, Campaign Succeeded, Campaign Failed
Backer cancellations	Enabled	Backer Canceled
Every new pledge	Disabled	New Pledge
Refunds	Enabled	Refund Issued

The Every new pledge category is off by default so high-volume sites can opt in deliberately.

Email	When it sends
Campaign Live	When a campaign goes live by transitioning to active.
Campaign Ended	When a campaign ends and its result must be declared.
Goal Reached	When staff announce that a campaign reached its goal. Sent once per campaign.
Campaign Succeeded	When staff declare a campaign’s result and the goal was met.
Campaign Failed	When staff declare a campaign’s result and the goal was not met.
Backer Canceled	When a backer cancels a pledge.
New Pledge	When any backer creates a new pledge. Off by default.
Refund Issued	When a refund is issued against any pledge on the platform.

To stop the plugin from sending a staff email entirely, disable its row on the Emails tab. To control who on the staff receives it, have each person change their own preferences.

Refund emails

When staff issue a refund, two notifications go out in a default install:

• Refund Issued (backer) — tells the backer their refund has been issued.
• Refund Issued (Staff) — notifies staff who have the Refunds category on.

With Ignition Platform Mode active, the campaign’s creator is also notified.

These emails can use the {refund_amount} merge tag (the amount returned) and {pledge_net} (what the backer has paid in total for this pledge — everything charged, less everything refunded) alongside the usual tags like {campaign_name} and {backer_name}.

{pledge_net} is a charge figure, not a contribution figure. Where an add-on let the backer add a tip or cover a fee, part of what they paid was never destined for the campaign, so the backer’s partial-refund email says “You have now paid … in total for this pledge” rather than calling it a contribution.

Security emails

These emails relate to authentication and account changes and are always sent regardless of the user’s notification preferences.

Email	When it sends
Password Reset	When a user requests a password reset from the auth form. Replaces the WordPress-default plain-text reset email — see Lost Password.
Email Change Request	When a user requests an email address change from the Account tab. Sent to the new address with a confirmation link.
Email Changed	After a confirmed email change. Sent to both the old and new addresses as a security alert.
Password Changed	After a successful password change from the Account tab. Sent as a security alert.

Users cannot opt out of these emails from the Notifications section of Account; the toggles apply only to the regular backer emails listed above.

How emails work

Emails are sent using the standard WordPress wp_mail() function. This means they respect any SMTP or mail service plugins you have installed (e.g., WP Mail SMTP, Mailgun, SendGrid).

Each email uses a simple HTML template with merge tags — placeholders like the campaign name, pledge amount, and backer name that are replaced with real data when the email is sent.

Tip

If emails are not being received, check your WordPress email configuration. The plugin sends emails through wp_mail(), so any delivery issues are typically related to your server’s mail setup or SMTP plugin configuration.