🔗 Looking for best practices? Check out our guide to setting up points.
📣 Ready to launch? Use this playbook to roll out Shoutouts to your team.
🛠 Want to add admins? Read our permissions guide.
🎥 Watch: How to Set Up Donut Shoutouts
Prefer a quick walkthrough? This short video covers:
How to configure your emoji, points, and channels
How to create and manage rewards
What happens when you launch
What it looks like in Slack
🛠 Step-by-Step: How to Set Up Donut Shoutouts
Step 1: Set Your Shoutouts Program Basics
Go to the Donut dashboard → Shoutouts and configure the Basics:
Emoji picker: Choose an emoji (like 🍩 or 👏) that teammates will use to give points. You can select any emoji from your Slack workspace, including custom emojis.
To use a custom emoji:
Click Use a custom emoji from your Slack workspace.
You’ll be prompted to authorize Donut to access your workspace’s custom emoji.
Once authorized, you’ll be able to select any custom emoji or alias you’ve created in Slack.
Points name: Customize what your points are called (e.g. Kudos, Tokens, High-Fives).
Reactions: Allow teammates to give points by adding the selected emoji as a reaction when someone is tagged in a message.
Slack channel: Pick where Shoutouts happen—this is where teammates will tag each other and recognize wins.
Weekly points: Set how many points each teammate can give per week
💡 Each emoji used in a Shoutout = 1 point.
Step 2: Build Your Reward Store
Create rewards that reflect your culture—monetary or not. On the Rewards tab, you can:
Add custom rewards (PTO, coffee gift cards, team swag, etc.) or start with Donut’s templates.
Set a name, description, image, point value, and visibility for each reward.
Rewards are hidden by default—toggle them “on” when you're ready to launch
🚫 Don’t need rewards? No problem.
You can now launch a Shoutouts program without a rewards store. On the Rewards tab, just toggle off Enable rewards program. Recognition and point-giving will still work as usual—no rewards required.
Step 3: Assign Admins
By default, Donut Account Admins have Shoutouts admin access. You can also add more Shoutouts-specific admins in the Permissions tab.
Admins can:
Create and manage rewards
Fulfill rewards or mark them complete
Deactivate Shoutouts
📦 Step 4: Create a Fulfillment Channel
If you're using the rewards store, the next step is to set up a private Slack channel where Donut will post when someone redeems a reward.
Messages will include:
Who redeemed a reward
Reward details
A one-click “Mark Fulfilled” button
Example fulfillment message:
Once marked fulfilled, Donut will update the message to reflect completion.
🚀 Final Step: Launch Your Program
Head to the Launch tab in the Donut dashboard to complete setup and go live.
The Launch tab includes:
✅ A checklist of everything required to launch
🔄 Links to quickly fix any missing steps
📣 A sample Slack announcement you can post to your Shoutouts channel
To enable the Launch button, you'll need to:
Select your emoji
Configure 1+ Slack channels for Shoutouts
Add at least 3 visible rewards (if you have this enabled)
Create a fulfillment channel
Once you click Launch, teammates can start giving and receiving Shoutouts in Slack immediately.
📌 What Happens After Launch
Once your program is live:
Teammates give Shoutouts by tagging a colleague in the designated Slack channel and including the chosen emoji.
Donut tracks points and sends confirmation messages in Slack.
Each Friday at 10 AM (based on the Shoutouts admins' median time zone), Donut posts a reminder in your Shoutouts channel encouraging teammates to use any remaining points before they reset.
Recipients can view and redeem rewards right from Slack.
Admins manage setup, track fulfillment, and visibility from Slack and the Donut dashboard.
Want to make your rollout successful?
📣 Follow our launch playbook to get buy-in and momentum from day one.
🏆 View and Use the Leaderboard
Once your program is live, Donut automatically tracks Shoutouts activity in a Leaderboard—accessible from the left sidebar menu in the Donut dashboard.
Top Givers and Top Receivers are highlighted for admins
You’ll also see each teammate’s Donuts given, received, and redeemed
Non-admins will only see their own totals in Slack—leaderboard visibility is admin-only
📊 Use the leaderboard to recognize high participation, celebrate milestones, or spotlight unsung heroes in team meetings or newsletters.
Pro tip: Add a fun monthly reward or team shoutout for the #1 giver!