For Admins
What Cards are and why they matter
Cards bring the "office birthday card everyone signs" experience into Bonusly, a shared, collaborative space where your team composes messages, adds GIFs, stickers, photos, and linked recognitions for a single recipient. The card stays private until it's delivered, keeping the surprise intact.
Cards are completely separate from recognition points. No points are spent, no allowances are affected. The value is the collective, personal gesture from the team and it complements your existing recognition programs without adding cost.
Cards are available on Team and Organization plans.
Enable or disable Cards
Cards are gated behind the care_cards feature in your company's feature access settings. When your company is targeted for the Cards rollout, the feature defaults to on.
To manage the setting:
Go to your Bonusly admin dashboard.
Click Company in the left sidebar, then Account Settings.
Navigate to Feature Access.
Find Cards and toggle it on or off.
When Cards is off:
No one in your company can create, sign, or view cards.
Cards won't appear in any navigation or menus.
Existing cards are preserved but inaccessible until the feature is re-enabled.
When Cards is on:
All active people in your company can create and sign cards.
Cards appears in the give menu and navigation.
Manage Cards as an admin
Admins with awards permissions can manage all cards across the company from the admin dashboard.
Viewing all cards
Navigate to Recognition > Cards in the admin dashboard to see an index of all cards in your company. The table shows:
Card title -- the name of the card.
Recipient -- who the card is for.
Creator -- who organized the card.
Status -- whether the card is a draft (undelivered) or has been delivered.
Signatures -- how many people have signed.
Created date -- when the card was started.
You can search cards by title or recipient name, and sort by any column.
Delivering a card
If a card has been created but not yet delivered, for example, the organizer forgot or left the company, any admin with awards permissions can deliver it. Click on the card and use the deliver action. Delivery sends the recipient an email, an in-app notification, and a Slack notification (if connected).
Delivery is idempotent: if a card has already been delivered, delivering again is a no-op. The recipient won't get duplicate notifications.
Editing a card
Admins can edit an undelivered card's title, central message, theme, delivery schedule, and signer audience. This is useful if the organizer needs help or if settings need to be adjusted before the card goes out.
Once a card is delivered, it can no longer be edited.
Deleting a card
Admins can delete any card in the company. Deleting a card soft-deletes it and all its comments. Any recognitions that were linked into the card are unaffected, they remain in the recognition feed.
How Cards work for your team
Here's what your team members experience:
Creating a card -- Anyone can start a card for a colleague. They pick a recipient, write a title and central message, and decide who can sign (everyone, specific groups, or no one).
Signing a card -- Invited signers get notified via email, Slack, and in-app notification. They can add text messages, GIFs, stickers, photos, or link an existing recognition. Signing is simply adding content to the card.
Delivering a card -- The organizer (or any participant) delivers the card when it's ready. They can deliver immediately or schedule it for a specific date and time in the recipient's timezone. An alternate delivery email can be specified if the notification should also go to a different address.
Receiving a card -- The recipient gets an email and in-app notification with a link to open their card. They see all the contributions from their team in one place.
Sharing a card -- After delivery, a public link is generated so the card can be shared more broadly (in a team channel, a meeting, or printed).
How Cards relate to other recognition programs
Cards don't replace your peer-to-peer recognition, awards, celebrations, or incentives, they complement them. Here's how they fit together:
Program | Points involved? | Who initiates? | Purpose |
Peer-to-peer recognition | Yes | Any team member | Recognize specific contributions |
Awards | Yes (company-funded) | Admins or award givers | Formally reward achievements |
Celebrations | Yes (company-funded) | Automatic | Mark birthdays, anniversaries, welcomes |
Cards | No | Any team member | Collaborative group messages for any occasion |
A recognition given through the normal flow can be linked into a card, so it appears alongside everyone's personal messages. But the card itself carries no points it's the thought that counts.
FAQ
Do Cards cost my company anything? No. Cards don't involve points, and there's no additional charge for the feature. It's included with your plan.
Who can create cards? Any active person in your company, as long as the Cards feature is enabled.
Who can deliver a card? The organizer (creator), any invited participant, or an admin with awards permissions.
Can I see analytics on Cards usage? Yes. The admin Cards page shows card counts, signature activity, and creation trends. You can use this to understand how your team is engaging with the feature.
What happens to cards when someone leaves the company? Cards they created or signed remain in the system. If an organizer leaves before delivering a card, an admin can deliver it on their behalf.
Can I control who sees Cards in the navigation? Cards visibility is all-or-nothing at the company level. When the feature is on, everyone sees it. When it's off, no one does. There's no per-user or per-group visibility setting for the feature itself, though card signing can be targeted to specific groups.
Questions? Send us a note to [email protected], we'd be happy to help.