Use bulk host import when you need to prepare and invite a large banquet or event host roster (for example, 100+ hosts for a gala) without entering each person one at a time.
This works at the event level. It creates or updates host memberships, then lets you send invitations to many of them at once. It is separate from a table’s Hosts tab in Tables and Seating.
• Event host membership — a person’s invitation to serve as a host for the event overall (status, seat goal, and optional table assignments). Bulk import creates and manages these.
• Table host — the seating-level assignment of a host, sponsor, underwriter, or volunteer to a specific table. See Tables and Seating.
Bulk import can optionally assign one or more table numbers to each host when you commit the file.
• Draft — imported or added, not yet invited
• Invited — an invitation email has been sent
• Pending — the host has opened the invitation but has not responded yet
• Accepted — the host confirmed they will serve as a host
• Declined — the host declined
• Failed — the last invitation attempt failed to send
• Revoked — staff cancelled the membership (invitation links stop working)
1. From the event’s Hosts area, download the CSV template. Columns include First Name, Last Name, Email, Phone, Seat Goal, and Table Numbers.
2. Fill in one row per host. Table Numbers can list zero, one, or several table numbers (not table IDs), comma-separated, if you already know assignments.
3. Upload the file for preview. Preview never creates or changes records — it only classifies each row so you can review before committing.
4. Review each row’s action:
• Create — no matching contact or membership; a new contact and host membership will be created
• Match — matches an existing supporter contact (by cleaned-up email) who does not yet have a membership for this event
• Update draft — matches an existing Draft membership for this event and will update it instead of creating a duplicate
• Duplicate — repeats another row in the same file, or the person already has an active membership for this event
• Error — missing required information or cannot be processed (for example, no usable email); the problem is listed on that row
5. Deselect or correct any rows before committing. Only selected rows are committed. You can set seat goal and zero, one, or multiple table numbers per row.
6. Commit. Each selected row is saved in its own step, so one bad row does not discard the rest of a valid batch. Failures are reported per row.
7. Download the result file. It lists the membership ID created or updated for each successful row, plus any row-level errors.
• Names, emails, and phone numbers are cleaned up before comparison.
• Existing supporter / donor contacts are matched first by normalized email.
• Confidential client-only records are excluded from matching. A host row is never silently linked to a client-only record; if the email only matches a client-only contact, CoolFocus warns and creates a new contact instead.
• A row is Duplicate if it repeats an email already used earlier in the same file, or if the matched contact already has an active membership (Draft, Invited, Pending, Accepted, Declined, or Failed) for this event.
Once memberships exist (from import or added one at a time), select multiple rows and run a batch action:
• Send invitations — sends invitation emails to selected Draft or Failed memberships and moves them to Invited
• Resend invitations — resends to selected Invited, Pending, or Failed memberships. Resending rotates the invitation link, so older invitation links stop working
• Revoke — cancels selected memberships after a confirmation step and immediately invalidates active invitation links
After each batch action, CoolFocus shows how many were queued, sent, failed, or skipped, with reasons for any row that did not succeed (for example, no email on file, or a status that does not allow that action). A batch never reports full success if any row failed.
Retrying is safe: rows that already succeeded are not duplicated or re-sent.
• Run a small test batch first to confirm your CSV columns match the template.
• Keep the result file after each import or batch action as your record of what happened, especially for large rosters.
• If an invitation fails, fix the underlying issue (such as a missing or corrected email), then use Resend.
• After hosts accept, use Tables and Seating for table-level seating and guest management.
• Automated host/guest nudges are separate — see Event Reminder Journeys.
• Tables and Seating — table hosts, guests, and seating after hosts are assigned
• Event Reminder Journeys — automatic host and guest reminders
• Fundraising Events Overview — event hub, sidebar, and Overview tab
