Manage the organisations and referrer contacts that refer recipients to your food bank, including the auth code system that links recipients to their referrers during registration.
The referrer system connects external organisations (such as social services, community groups, and health providers) to the recipients they refer. It uses an auth code mechanism so that every recipient who registers is linked back to the referring organisation and the individual referrer contact who referred them.
You will find the referrer system under Referrers in the admin sidebar. It has three sub-pages:
Admins only see referrers, contacts, and auth codes that belong to their own food bank.
A referrer is an organisation that refers recipients to your food bank. Each referrer record stores:
A referrer can have many referrer contacts, many auth codes, and many recipients linked through those auth codes.
A referrer contact is an individual staff member at a referrer organisation. Each contact record stores:
Referrer Contacts can also have their own admin login (see Referrer Contact Invitation below).
An auth code is an 8-digit number that a recipient enters during registration. It is composed of two parts:
| Part | Length | Source | Example |
|------|--------|--------|---------|
| Prefix | 4 digits | The referrer's auth code prefix | 1234 |
| Suffix | 4 digits | A randomly generated code unique within the referrer | 5678 |
The full auth code in this example is 12345678.
Key rules:
Both referrers and referrer contacts can be linked to a customer group. When a recipient registers with an auth code:
This lets you control which products and order limits apply to recipients from different referrers or referrer contacts.
Auth codes are generated in batches from the Referrer Contacts grid:
Each auth code is an 8-digit number that is unique across the entire system. The system generates codes automatically and ensures there are no duplicates.
When a recipient registers on the shop front and your food bank requires auth codes, the following happens:
Auth code validation only applies to food banks with the orders or smart_orders plan that have the Require Auth Code setting enabled. Food banks without this requirement skip the auth code step entirely.
Referrer Contacts can be given their own admin login so they can view their recipients and orders. The invitation flow works as follows:
If a referrer contact has already been invited but has not yet set their password, clicking Create Login again resends the invitation email with a new token. If the referrer contact already has an active login, the system shows an error message.
Referrer Contact logins can be managed and deleted from the Referrer Logins section.
You can export unused auth codes as a plain text file:
The exported file contains one full 8-digit auth code per line (prefix + suffix). You can then print or share these codes with the referrer organisation.
The Auth Codes grid includes a Copy Auth Codes button at the top. This lets you copy all visible unused auth codes to the clipboard for quick sharing.
Navigate to Referrers > Referrers. The grid displays:
| Column | Description | |--------|-------------| | Name | Organisation name (sortable). | | Created On | Date the referrer was added (sortable). | | Referrer Contacts | Number of referrer contacts linked to this referrer. | | Recipients | Number of recipients referred by this organisation. Click the count to view them. | | Auth Codes | Total number of auth codes (used and unused). | | Group | The customer group assigned to this referrer. |
Actions per row: Edit, Delete, Contacts (view referrer contacts), Auth Codes (view codes), Export Unused (download unused codes).
Navigate to Referrers > Referrer Contacts. The grid displays:
| Column | Description | |--------|-------------| | First Name | Referrer Contact's first name (sortable). | | Last Name | Referrer Contact's last name (sortable). | | Referrer | The organisation this referrer contact belongs to (sortable). | | Recipients | Number of recipients linked to this referrer contact. Click the count to view them. | | Auth Codes | Total number of auth codes assigned to this referrer contact. | | Group | Customer group override (if set). |
Actions per row: Edit, Delete, Generate 10 More Auth Codes, Auth Codes (view codes), Export Unused, Create Login (send invitation).
The grid can be filtered by referrer using the Filters panel.
Navigate to Referrers > Auth Codes. The grid displays:
| Column | Description | |--------|-------------| | Auth Code | The full 8-digit code (prefix + suffix). | | Assigned | Date the code was used by a recipient (blank if unused). | | Recipient | The recipient who used this code (blank if unused). | | Referrer Contact | The referrer contact this code is linked to. | | Referrer | The referrer organisation. |
The grid can be filtered by referrer and referrer contact using the Filters panel.
A Copy Auth Codes button at the top of the page copies all visible unused codes to the clipboard.
Registration is blocked and an error message is displayed. The recipient must enter a valid, unused 8-digit code to proceed.
No. Once an auth code is assigned to a recipient, it remains assigned even if the recipient is later deleted.
There is no fixed limit. Each referrer has a 4-digit suffix space (1000--9999), giving a theoretical maximum of approximately 9000 codes per referrer. In practice, the system retries up to 100 times to find an unused suffix, so performance may degrade if a referrer approaches this limit.
The prefix is generated automatically when the referrer is created and must be unique. Changing it would invalidate all existing auth codes for that referrer. This is not recommended.
The referrer contact's customer group is an override. If the referrer contact has a group set, recipients who use that referrer contact's auth codes are placed into the referrer contact's group. If the referrer contact has no group set, your food bank's default group applies.
No. Auth code validation only applies when your food bank has a plan of orders or smart_orders and the Require Auth Code setting is enabled. Other food banks skip the auth code step during registration.