Send Custom agreements for signature

By the end of this guide you'll have sent a Custom agreement — a side letter, consent, acknowledgement or any other document you've set up as a Custom template — to one or more contacts for e-signature, straight from the holding, without creating a fundraise or an opportunity.

Where Custom agreements are sent from

Custom agreements live on the holding's Agreement Templates page. The page opens on the Send & Tracking tab, where you send agreements and follow every request you've sent; template definitions sit on the second tab, Templates. A Custom send is tied to the holding only: it doesn't need, and doesn't create, a fundraise or an opportunity, and it has no expiry date.

Send a Custom agreement

1. Open the holding's Agreement Templates page. The Send & Tracking tab is selected.
2. Select Send to open the Send agreement dialog. The dialog shows how many Custom e-signature credits your organization has left, and it starts empty every time you open it.
3. Choose a template from the Template dropdown. As its subheader says, only Custom templates can be sent here, and only templates that are Ready are listed.
4. Add the contacts who should sign. Each contact becomes the Investor signer on their own, separate request.
5. If a contact is linked to two or more investing entities that hold an open position in this holding, pick the investing entity this agreement is for in that contact's block. You can't send to that contact until you choose.
6. If the template has extra signer roles (for example a Witness), pick a contact for each role inside every recipient's block. Each role needs a different contact with an email address, and it can't be the recipient of that block. Different recipients can use different contacts for the same role.
7. Optionally, write a personal note. It appears in the email to the first signer on each request.
8. Select Send. Each contact you added now has a request in the tracking table.

How investing entities fill in the agreement

The investor's name and email and your firm's details are always filled in from the contact and your organization. The amount fields — total commitment, total contributed and remaining commitment — come from the open positions the chosen investing entity holds in this holding. Current call and current contribution fields stay blank on a Custom agreement.

• One investing entity with an open position in the holding: it's used automatically and no picker appears.
• Two or more: you choose one in the dialog.
• None: the agreement is still sent, with the investing entity name and the amount fields left blank.

What signers receive

Signers are asked one at a time, in the order the template sets. Only the signer whose turn it is is notified; later signers hear nothing until everyone before them has signed.

• The current signer gets an email branded with your firm that names the agreement and the holding, with a Review & Sign button. Your personal note appears only in the email to the first signer.
• If that signer already has access to your investor portal, the button opens the portal, where the agreement waits for them under Action Required.
• If they don't have portal access, the link in the email opens the page for that signer: it shows your firm and the holding, and they review and sign there without creating an account. No portal invitation is sent.
• When a signer finishes, the next signer in the order is emailed the same way, without the personal note. When only your firm's counter-signature remains, your team is notified instead.

E-signature credits

Custom agreements use your organization's Custom e-signature credits. Each request uses one credit when it's created, however many people sign it. Reminding or cancelling a request neither uses nor refunds a credit, a request that fails to be created uses none, and NDAs and subscription agreements don't draw on Custom credits at all.

• The Send agreement dialog always shows how many credits remain.
• When credits are running low, the Send & Tracking tab shows a banner with the number remaining and asks you to contact Covercy support to purchase more.
• If you try to add more recipients than you have credits left, the dialog shows remaining versus requested and doesn't add that contact.
• A send that asks for more requests than you have credits for is refused as a whole: nobody receives a request, and no credits are used.
• With no credits left, the tab says so and tells you to contact Covercy support to purchase credits; selecting Send shows that message instead of opening the dialog.

If something goes wrong for one recipient

Each recipient is handled on their own, so one problem doesn't stop the rest of the send. A contact without an email address isn't sent a request, while the other contacts in the same send are. If a request is created but its email can't be delivered, the request stays in place and that recipient is flagged with a warning; check the contact's email address, then use Remind from the tracking table to email the current signer again.

Check that it worked

Each contact you sent to appears as a new row in the Send & Tracking table with a Pending status, and the Next Signer column shows whose turn it is. Following requests through to completion, reminding signers, counter-signing and finding the signed file are covered in Track and complete Custom agreements. If a send is refused and you can't see why, contact Covercy support.