Before you start
- Role. Approving and rejecting requires the Owner, Admin, or Manager role. A Viewer's decision is refused.
- Where to review. Open the program, then its Submissions tab. It shows the screenshot, the amount, the payment status, and the approve, reject, and bulk controls.
- Across programs. Submissions in the sidebar lists every submission in your workspace with a status filter and a program filter. Expand a pending row to approve or reject it there too. It has no screenshot and no bulk controls, so use the program tab when you need either.
- The badge. The sidebar badge counts submissions in Pending across all your programs.
Approval is irreversible
Approving a submission calculates the payout, records the money owed, and notifies the advocate. The dashboard has no undo. A second review attempt on the same submission is refused.
Check the impressions figure against the screenshot before you approve. That is the only moment the number is easy to correct.
If you approve something in error, contact support@kindlinghq.com before the next payout run, on the 1st or the 15th at 09:00 UTC.
What a submission shows you
On the program's Submissions tab, each card shows:
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Advocate | Name and email |
| Post screenshot | Their evidence for the impressions figure |
| View original post | The live post. Open it |
| Platform | Where it was posted. The advocate can only submit on platforms the program allows |
| Reported impressions | Up to 10,000,000. What the payment is based on |
| Calculated payout | The amount, with the program's CPM rate and post cap beside it |
| Est. total charge | On pending cards: the payout plus the platform fee for that reward type, which is what you are billed. 15% on cash and gift cards, flat $5 on charity, flat $25 on company-defined |
| Payment status | On approved cards: whether the payout can go out, and if not, every reason and who has to act |
| Submitted | When they reported it, and when it was reviewed once it has been |
Likes, comments, and shares are optional at submission and are not used for payment.
The amount on a pending card is an estimate. It is worked out from the program's current CPM rate and post cap. It does not apply the advocate's monthly cap, and neither does the approve dialog's "Advocate will receive" figure. Approval does, so when an advocate is near or at their monthly cap the approved amount is lower than the card and the dialog show.
Approve a submission
Approving pays impressions ÷ 1,000 × your program's CPM rate, capped at the post cap and at whatever remains of the advocate's monthly cap for the month the post was submitted in. If the monthly cap is already reached, the post is approved with nothing owed and no payment is created. Charity rewards are the exception: they are raised to the program's charity minimum, so a charity post always creates a payment. The payout record is created immediately with status Pending and is disbursed on the next payout run. See How advocate payouts work for the schedule and the five things that must be in place before money moves.
The advocate gets an email and an in-app notification with the amount. If they have not connected a Stripe account yet, the email tells them to.
Pay one advocate now
An approved cash submission whose payment is pending or failed shows a Process payment button on the program's Submissions tab, under the Approved → Payment pending sub-tab. It charges your payment method for that one payout and transfers the advocate's share right away, without waiting for the run. It requires the Owner or Admin role.
The button only appears when nothing blocks the payout. Otherwise the card shows a disabled button naming the first blocker, such as Awaiting W-9, Awaiting Stripe setup, On hold, Add a payment method, or Scheduled run only, and lists every blocker with who has to act. When the blocker is on the advocate's side, a Send reminder button emails them what they still owe, at most once every 72 hours. Gift card, charity, and company-defined rewards cannot be paid by hand; the scheduled run fulfils them. Details are on the payouts page.
Reject a submission
Rejection requires a written reason. The system will not accept one without it, and the advocate sees what you wrote in their email and in-app notification.
A rejected post can be resubmitted. The advocate can correct it and submit the same URL again; it comes back to Pending as a new submission, and your rejection stays on the Rejected view beside it. Rejected submissions do not count toward the program's minimum days between posts, so a rejection never delays the correction. The full sequence is on Rejected posts and resubmission.
Reject against your published guidelines, not against taste. If a post breaks a rule you never wrote, fix the guidelines rather than the advocate.
Good reasons are specific and fixable: the screenshot does not support the impressions claimed, the required disclosure is missing, the post is off topic for the program.
Working the queue
The program's Submissions tab has four views: Pending, Approved, Rejected, and Archived. Approved splits into Payment pending and Payment sent. A search box filters by advocate.
Bulk review. In Pending, tick the boxes, or Select all, then Approve selected or Reject selected. A bulk reject takes one reason for every selected submission. The same finality applies to every item in a bulk approval, so use it when you have already looked.
Bulk actions notify advocates the same way single decisions do: an email and an in-app notification per submission, with the reason on rejections.
Archive. Once a payout is completed you can archive the submission to move it to the Archived tab. Nothing else changes.
The all-programs Submissions screen. Filter by status (Pending, Approved, Rejected, All) and by program. The four counters count the rows the current filter returns, not the workspace, so with the default Pending filter Approved and Rejected read 0. Expand a pending row to approve or reject it with the same confirm dialog and required reason.
Review quickly. A slow queue is the most common reason an advocate posts once and never again.
What to check
Does the screenshot support the number? This is the whole verification model. Advocates report their own impressions; your review is the check.
Is the post live? Open the URL. Kindling does not check whether a post stays up; that is yours to enforce.
Does it meet your guidelines? Disclosure, platform, subject matter.
Is it their own voice? A post that reads like your marketing copy defeats the point of the program. That is a coaching conversation, not usually a rejection.
Troubleshooting
| Situation | What to do |
|---|---|
| I approved the wrong post | Contact support@kindlinghq.com before the next payout run on the 1st or the 15th |
| The amount changed after I approved | Expected. Pending cards and the approve dialog do not apply the advocate's monthly cap; approval does |
| An advocate says they cannot submit | A paused or closed program refuses posts. Otherwise check the program's allowed platforms and its minimum days between posts; they are told how many days remain, and only Pending and Approved submissions count toward that clock |
| An advocate says their post "has already been submitted" | A submission for that URL is Pending or Approved. A rejected one does not block resubmission |
| The reported impressions look implausible | Compare against the screenshot. Reject with that as the reason. The advocate can resubmit the same post with the right figure |
| The badge shows pending items I cannot find | On the all-programs screen, set the status filter to Pending and the program filter to All programs |
FAQ
Can I edit the impressions before approving?
No. Reject with the reason. The advocate resubmits the post with the right figure.
Can an advocate fix and resubmit a rejected post?
Yes, with the same URL. It arrives as a new submission. See Rejected posts and resubmission.
Does approving pay immediately?
It creates the payment. Money moves on the next run, the 1st or the 15th at 09:00 UTC, or right away if you click Process payment.
Do likes and comments affect payment?
No. Payment is impressions only.
Can a viewer approve submissions?
No. Review requires the Owner, Admin, or Manager role.
Questions about a specific submission: support@kindlinghq.com.