So you want to bring your local community together, whether that's a run club, a yoga session, a hiking crew, a social sports team, or something else entirely.
Great news: that's exactly what Active Locals is built for. This guide walks you through everything you need to know as an organiser, from setting up your first group through to getting paid. Bookmark it, come back to it, and reach out to us at any time if you get stuck.
Why organise on Active Locals?
Anyone with an Active Locals account can create a group and start building something around an activity or interest they care about. Some organisers start simply because they want to meet people and stay active together, we need more front-runners like that, helping make local communities healthier, more social, and more connected. For others, organising becomes a proper side hustle or business, whether you're a personal trainer, coach, instructor, or an existing business looking to grow your reach. Either way, you're in good company.
Getting started: groups vs. events
Before you dive in, it's worth understanding the difference between a group and an event, because they work together. A group is your ongoing community. An event is a specific session or meetup that group hosts. Think of it like this: your weekly running club is the group. Tuesday night's run is the event.Groups matter because they keep members connected between sessions, and they get notified when you publish something new. If you'd rather not commit to an ongoing community, Active Locals also supports standalone events for one-off activities. But if you're playing the long game (and most great local communities are), a group is the way to build repeat attendance over time.
Setting up your group
Once you're ready, creating a group is straightforward:
- Head to Create a Group and hit Get Started.
- Give your group a name, description, and location, this is the first thing potential members will see, so make it count.
- Choose up to 5 activities that describe what your group is about.
- Edit your community guidelines to set expectations for how members should engage.
- Add a photo that represents your group well.
- Accept the organiser guidelines to confirm you're across how things work on Active Locals.
And that's it, your group is submitted. From there, you can head to the Manage section any time to edit your group details, create events, view members, add co-organisers, update photos and guidelines, and manage your settings, all in one place.
A few things worth knowing:
Your group needs approval first. Every group is reviewed by our community team before it goes live and becomes discoverable in the app. This keeps the experience safe and high-quality for everyone, and our team may reach out with feedback or suggestions to help your group succeed. We also run sponsorship and promotion opportunities for selected organisers, so it's worth getting your setup right from day one.
You can edit anytime. Update your name, description, activities, location, guidelines, and photos whenever you like. Most changes publish immediately, though some may go through a quick review afterwards.Bring in co-organisers. Each group has one main organiser who owns it, but you can add co-organisers from your member list to help share the load. Just note their permissions are a little more limited than the owner's.
Hosting your first event
Good events come down to clear communication and making people feel welcome. Here's how to set one up:
- Hit Create, then Create an Event.
- Fill out your title, description, what to expect, intensity level, and website if you've got one (optional).
- Set your event start date, start time, and end time. Running it more than once? Choose whether it repeats and set an event end date. Then add your event location.
- Select accessibility and suitability options for your event, this helps the right people find it and know what to expect before they arrive.
- Add an event photo.
- Set up your event tickets, choosing your ticket type and giving each one a title.
- Review your event details.
- Hit Create Event, and you're live.
The more detail you give people at each step, the easier it is for them to say yes, and the fewer questions you'll field afterwards. A strong title and photo, a clear explanation of what to expect, timely updates if plans change, and a friendly welcome for newcomers will take you a long way too.
Running things weekly? Recurring events let you set up a repeating schedule (every Tuesday evening, every Saturday morning, the first Sunday of the month) without rebuilding the listing each time. Members book individual sessions, and you manage the whole series from one place. It's one of the best tools for building consistency and turning casual attendees into regulars.Need to run the same event again with a new date? Head to your event list, hit the 3 dots or Manage, and select Duplicate. Most details carry over automatically, so you just need to update the date and time. You can also cap numbers by setting a maximum attendee capacity, or limit specific ticket types if you're offering more than one. Speaking of which, you can create multiple ticket options for the same event, free, standard, early bird, or season passes, and see exactly which ticket each attendee has purchased.
Setting up Stripe and getting paid
If you're charging for tickets, this is the part you can't skip. Active Locals uses Stripe to securely process payments and send you payouts, so connecting it is what unlocks paid ticketing.Here's how it works: when you're setting up your event tickets, select Paid as your ticket type and hit continue. You'll land on the Setup Payouts with Stripe screen, which lays out exactly what you'll need before you start:
- Business details
- Personal details and ID for verification
- Bank account details for payouts
- Contact details for attendees
From here, you can either Create New Account if this is your first time connecting Stripe, or Link An Existing Account if you've already got one set up elsewhere. Choosing Create New Account takes you into Stripe's own onboarding, which looks like this:
- Sign in to Stripe Express with your email address, then continue.
- Add your phone number, agree to Stripe's terms, and continue, you'll get a text with a verification code to confirm it's you.
- Verify your personal details, your legal name (exactly as it appears on your ID), email, date of birth, and home address.
- Add your business details, including your industry (for most community organisers, something like Charity/Social Services is a good fit) and website (or a product description if you don't have a website, generic or under-construction sites aren't accepted here).
Stripe will keep walking you through a few more steps from there, including your ID and bank details, before your account is fully verified.
You will need to provide ID. This isn't an Active Locals thing, it's standard across virtually every payment platform, driven by Australian AML/CTF regulations. Stripe needs a government-issued photo ID (passport, driver licence, or similar) to verify the account holder. We can't override or bypass this step, so make sure your ID is valid, readable, and matches what you enter during onboarding. Once Stripe approves your account, paid ticketing and payouts switch on automatically. Good news: you don't need Stripe at all if you're only running free events. It's only required for paid ticketing.How money moves: when someone books a paid event, they pay the ticket price plus a small $1 booking fee. On your side, a 4% organiser fee is deducted automatically, no manual payment handling required. Once your event finishes and the payout window passes (typically around 48 hours, to allow for refunds and disputes), your earnings move to your Stripe account and out to your bank on Stripe's payout schedule, currently daily. Depending on your bank, it can take another 1–3 business days to actually land.Promo codes aren't available yet for standard tickets, but you can still run free events and set up multiple ticket types in the meantime.
Refunds and cancellations
Refund eligibility depends on timing:
- More than 24 hours before the event: attendees get an automatic refund on the ticket price (booking fees aren't refundable)
- Less than 24 hours before: attendees can cancel, but no refund
- After the event: attendees can request a refund within 14 days if something went wrong, and our team reviews these individually
If you need to cancel an event yourself, attendees are generally refunded in full, processed automatically back to their original payment method. For recurring events, you can cancel a single session or the whole series. Just try to give people as much notice as possible.One thing to flag: if a refund is approved after you've already been paid out, Stripe may deduct that amount from a future payout or your available balance.
Keeping your community safe
As an organiser, you're setting the tone for your community. That means accurate event info, clear communication, and following local laws and our community guidelines. If someone behaves in a way that makes others feel unsafe or uncomfortable, address it directly and, if needed, ask them to leave. You can always loop in our support team for anything that needs extra support. After each event, attendees can leave a 5-star rating, which builds into your overall group rating over time. Written reviews aren't supported yet, but a strong rating goes a long way in building trust with new members.
Growing your group
The best-performing groups tend to do a few things consistently:
- Host regularly, so people know what to expect
- Use clear descriptions and quality photos
- Welcome newcomers personally
- Publish the next event early, so members always have something to look forward to
- Share outside the app and encourage members to invite friends
Verified, active groups with regular events are also more likely to get featured across the app, and we run social media features, sponsorships, and promotional support for standout organisers. If that sounds like you, get in touch at admin@activelocals.com.au, we'd love to hear your story. Still have questions?
This covers the essentials, but every community is different. If you're unsure about anything, from structuring your event to handling a tricky situation, our community team is genuinely happy to help.