Settings

Configure your food bank's branding, pricing, registration rules, and operational preferences.

Overview

The Settings page is where you configure how your food bank operates within HelpingHand. You can control pricing, branding, registration requirements, order limits, and integrations.

To access your settings, go to Settings > Channel Config in the sidebar.

Key Concepts

• Pricing mode -- Controls whether products are priced in points, currency, or both.
• Auth codes -- Optional registration codes that restrict who can sign up.
• Inactive period -- Temporary closure dates that prevent new orders.
• Terms and conditions -- Registration terms shown to new recipients.
• Customer groups -- Default groupings assigned to your recipients.

Common Tasks

Changing your food bank name

1. Go to Settings in the sidebar.
2. Edit the Name field in the Channel Name card.
3. Click Save Settings.

The name appears in the admin header and on recipient-facing pages.

Setting the pricing mode

The pricing mode controls how products display prices to recipients.

1. Go to Settings.
2. Find the Pricing Mode card.
3. Select one of three options:
   • Points Only -- Products show a points value. Recipients allocate points to products. This is the default.
   • Currency Only -- Products show a dollar price. No points system is used.
   • Both -- Both modes are supported. Each recipient uses one mode based on their profile setting.
4. If you select Both, a second dropdown appears: Default Customer Pricing Mode. This sets whether new recipients default to points or currency.
5. Click Save Settings.

When set to "Points Only" or "Currency Only", that mode applies to everyone. In "Both" mode, the system checks each recipient's individual pricing preference, falling back to your default.

Uploading a logo

1. Go to Settings.
2. In the Organisation Logo card, click Browse and select an image file.
3. Click Save Settings.

The logo appears in the admin sidebar and on recipient-facing shop pages.

Configuring terms and conditions

Terms and conditions are shown to recipients during registration.

1. Go to Settings.
2. Scroll to the Terms and Conditions card.
3. Edit the three fields:
   • Heading -- The title shown above the terms.
   • Caption -- A paragraph of explanatory text.
   • Bullet Points -- Enter each point on a separate line. They display as a bulleted list.
4. Click Save Settings.

If you leave these fields empty, default terms are used.

Requiring auth codes

Auth codes restrict registration to recipients who have been given a code by a referrer or referrer contact.

1. Go to Settings.
2. In the Auth Codes card, tick or untick Require auth codes.
3. Click Save Settings.

When enabled, recipients must enter a valid auth code during registration. Auth codes are managed through the Referrers section.

Adding a registration question

You can add a custom question to the registration form.

1. Go to Settings.
2. In the Registration Question card, fill in:
   • Question -- The full question text shown to the recipient.
   • Short label -- A shorter version used in admin screens and reports.
   • Placeholder -- Hint text shown inside the answer field.
3. Click Save Settings.

Leave all three fields empty to remove the custom question.

Setting field visibility

Control which fields appear on the registration form and in admin views.

1. Go to Settings.
2. In the Field Visibility card, tick or untick:
   • Show Ethnicity
   • Show Family (Number of Children / Adults)
   • Show Phone Number
   • Show Address
3. Click Save Settings.

Unticked fields are hidden from both the shop registration form and admin recipient views.

Closing orders temporarily

Use the inactive period to prevent recipients from placing orders during holidays or closures.

1. Go to Settings.
2. In the Orders Closed Period card, set:
   • Orders closed from -- The start date. Orders cannot be placed on or after this date.
   • Orders closed until -- The end date. Orders resume once this date passes.
3. Click Save Settings.

You can set just the "from" date to close orders until further notice. Leave both fields empty to allow orders at all times.

A banner is displayed to recipients when an inactive period is active or scheduled for the future.

Setting order limits

1. In the Order Limits card, set the Order limit period (days) value.
2. This is the minimum number of days between orders. If set, a recipient can only place one order within this period.
3. Leave empty to disable order limits at the food bank level.

Configuring hours before cutoff

1. In the Hours Before Cutoff card, select the number of hours before a pickup time that orders close.
2. The default is 24 hours.

Setting checkout reservation timeout

1. In the Checkout Reservation Timeout card, select how many hours items stay reserved in a recipient's cart.
2. After the timeout, cart items are released so other recipients can order them.

Enabling recurring orders

1. In the Recurring Orders card, tick Enable recurring orders.
2. Select which frequencies to allow (e.g. weekly, fortnightly).
3. Click Save Settings.

When enabled, recipients can set their order to repeat automatically at the selected frequency.

Setting cancellation policy

1. In the Order Cancellation card, select how many days before pickup a recipient can cancel.
2. Set to empty or zero to disable recipient self-cancellation.

Enabling product bundles

1. In the Product Bundles card, tick Allow bundled products.
2. When enabled, administrators can group multiple items into a single bundled product.

Configuring open banking (Volley)

Open banking allows recipients to pay via the Volley payment platform.

1. In the Open Banking card, tick Use open banking.
2. Fill in:
   • Bank account number -- Your food bank's bank account.
   • Volley API key -- Provided by Volley.
   • Volley webhook secret -- Provided by Volley for payment confirmations.
3. Click Save Settings.

These fields only appear when the open banking checkbox is ticked.

Setting donation instructions

Donation instructions tell recipients how to make their donation payment.

1. In the Donation Instructions card, edit:
   • Bank Instructions -- Shown when the recipient selects bank transfer. Include your bank account number and reference instructions.
   • Cash Instructions -- Shown when the recipient selects cash at pickup.
2. Click Save Settings.

Configuring communication settings

1. In the Communication Settings card, enter the Email Address used for sending emails from your food bank.
2. Click Save Settings.

Barcode scanning and product import

1. In the Import Products & Inventory Barcodes card:
   • Tick Allow box level quantities to show box-level quantity columns on the catalogue import page.
   • Tick Create products on scanning barcodes to enable a mode where scanning a barcode creates a new product from the wholesale catalogue.
2. Optionally provide:
   • Anthropic API Key -- Used for AI image recognition when scanning products.
   • Remove.bg API Key -- Used for automatic background removal on product images.
3. Click Save Settings.

FAQ

What happens when I change the pricing mode? Existing orders keep their original pricing mode. New orders use the updated mode. If you switch from "Points Only" to "Currency Only", the points product attribute is removed from future product configurations.

What is the default customer group? When your food bank is set up, a default customer group is automatically created. New recipients are assigned to this group. You can create additional groups to segment recipients.

Do inactive periods affect existing orders? No. The inactive period only prevents new orders from being placed. Existing orders remain unchanged.