How do I post an event listing and collect RSVPs?

Posting an event on Idealist? Use our new RSVP feature to easily track who’s planning on attending!

Posting an Event

To post an event, log in to your Idealist account and click your name in the upper right corner of the page. Select the name of your organization from the dropdown menu, then click “+Create New Listing.”

Select the “Event” listing type, and you’ll be led through a short form to fill out details about your event. Be sure to fill out the Attendee instructions section on page 4 to tell attendees where to find the specific event space, what they should bring, or any other information that they'll need to know. You can also include your contact information for any questions people may have.

Visit our other article for more information on what types of events you can post on Idealist and don’t forget to check out our Terms of Service and community guidelines.

Collecting RSVPs on Idealist

If you’d like attendees to RSVP directly through Idealist, you’ll have the option to toggle on “RSVPs are enabled for this event” on page 4 of our “Create an Event” form.

Screenshot of the Idealist website showing how to enable RSVPs for an event listing

When you collect RSVPs through Idealist, you’ll see a list of everyone who responded as “Going” or “Interested.” This list is dynamic, so if someone can no longer make it to the event, they’ll have the ability to change their RSVP to “Not Going” which will remove them from your list.

To access the list, navigate to your organization’s Dashboard then head to your “Manage Listings” section. Click on the specific event listing and you’ll see a list of anyone who RSVP'd.

Please note that only individuals with an active public profile on Idealist will have the option to RSVP through your listing directly.

Check out our other articles for more information on profiles and RSVPing.

Contacting Attendees

Once you head to your event dashboard, you’ll have the option to send bulk messages to anyone that RVSP'd. Click the “Contact List” button for each response type and you can customize separate messages for folks that said they’ll be attending and those that said they’re interested in attending.

You can send as many messages as you’d like, so feel free to provide updates to attendees as your event approaches.

Screenshot of the Idealist website showing how to contact event RSVPs

Enabling Comments

Want attendees to be able to connect and interact through your event listing? You’ll have the option to enable commenting on your event listing on page 4 of our “Create an Event” format. Commenting can also be enabled or disabled at any point by editing your listing. When you disable comments, any previous comments will remain hidden unless you re-enable them.

Only people that have a public profile on Idealist that have RSVP'd as “Going” or “Interested” will be able to see and contribute to the conversation.

Screenshot of the Idealist website showing where to enable commenting on an event listing

Idealist Days

Idealist Days are monthly celebrations of action and connection on the 12 days of the year that are written the same worldwide (7/7, 8/8, 9/9 etc).

If you’d like to mark your event as an Idealist day, check the box marking “This is an Idealist Day Event” under your event description on page 1 of the “Create an Event” form.