> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://www.referly.so/docs/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Award a bonus retroactively > When you create a performance bonus that affiliates already qualify for, Referly can pay them right away. Learn how retroactive awarding works. When you set up a [performance bonus](/docs/help-center/gamify/performance-bonuses/overview), some of your affiliates may already have passed the goal — especially if you're counting their **Lifetime** activity. Referly doesn't make you chase those people down. When you save the bonus, it checks who already qualifies and offers to pay them on the spot. ## When the prompt appears As you **Publish** a new bonus (or **Save Changes** to one you're editing), Referly looks at everyone in the bonus's audience and finds any who already meet the goal but haven't been paid it yet. If it finds some, an **Award bonuses now?** window opens before the bonus saves. This comes up most often when: * You choose the **Lifetime** scope, which counts everything an affiliate has done since they joined — so long-standing affiliates may already be over the target. * You **edit an existing bonus** and lower the target or widen the audience, bringing already-qualified affiliates into range. If nobody already qualifies, there's no prompt — the bonus just saves and waits for affiliates to reach the goal on their own. ## Awarding the bonus The window shows exactly who's about to be paid and how far past the goal they are — for example, *12 / 10 referrals* — so there are no surprises. It lists the first several affiliates and tells you how many more there are. You have two choices: * **Save and award** — saves the bonus and pays every listed affiliate their reward right away. Each earned bonus lands in that affiliate's [rewards](/docs/help-center/manage/rewards/bonuses) and triggers their **Performance Bonus Earned** notification, exactly as if they'd just hit the goal. * **Cancel** — closes the window without saving. Nothing is awarded, and you can adjust the bonus first. Each affiliate can only earn a given bonus once. Affiliates who were already paid this bonus won't appear in the prompt or be paid again. ## After you award Once awarded, these bonuses behave like any other earned reward — they carry an accepted status and are collected into [payouts](/docs/help-center/manage/payouts/overview) along with the affiliate's commissions. From then on, the bonus keeps running: any affiliate who reaches the goal later is paid automatically, no prompt needed. ## Related Set the goal, the reward, and the audience. How performance bonuses work end to end. Find awarded bonuses in your rewards. How earned bonuses get paid out.