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# Becoming a steward

You can become a steward when a participating caretaker has an open stewardship offering. You will review the care promise, choose how your support appears, and complete a monthly subscription through Stripe.

## 1. Find an animal

Open the [stewardship marketplace](https://creatures.com/marketplace?stewardship=1), follow a link from an animal's profile or caretaker, or use an invitation from a Circle member.

![An open Stewardship Circle in the marketplace](https://cdn-test.creatures.com/2c3/f84/0ef/25855.png?width=1760)

If you do not see a Stewardship option for an animal, its caretaker may not offer it or the feature may not be available for that account.

## 2. Review the offering

Read the offering before selecting **Review and sponsor** followed by the animal's name. Check:

- the monthly rate and the total including the 5% steward service fee;
- how often the caretaker promises an update;
- how many spots are filled and open;
- the public location the caretaker chose to show;
- the caretaker, description, terms, and stewardship boundaries.

![The price, update promise, open spots, and location on an offering](https://cdn-test.creatures.com/5a3/327/210/313c1.png?width=1760)

The promise is for ongoing updates and read access, not ownership, custody, breeding rights, or guaranteed visits.

## 3. Confirm the monthly total

The checkout summary separates the caretaker's monthly rate, the 5% service fee, and your monthly total. Each Circle member has their own subscription.

![A checkout summary with the rate, service fee, and monthly total](https://cdn-test.creatures.com/ee3/d54/033/8d5bd.png?width=1760)

When you continue to Stripe, Creatures holds the spot for about 30 minutes while checkout is open. An invitation by itself does not hold a spot.

## 4. Choose your recognition

Choose one option:

- **Show my Creatures profile** links your public profile to the animal. You may want to [set up your profile](https://help.creatures.com/en/article/setting-up-your-profile-4u4ku4/) first.
- **Show a display name** shows a family, group, business, or memorial name without linking your profile.
- **Keep my public recognition private** keeps your name off public animal pages. The caretaker can still identify your account.

![The three public recognition choices and stewardship terms](https://cdn-test.creatures.com/ffe/dce/9bb/b1704.png?width=1760)

You can change this later from your stewardship dashboard.

## 5. Complete checkout

Select **Join the circle** or **Become a steward**, followed by the monthly amount on the button. Stripe collects your payment details. After checkout succeeds, the animal appears in [Animals I'm Stewarding](https://creatures.com/dashboard/my-stewardships).

You can cancel from that dashboard. Cancellation schedules the stewardship to end after the period you already paid for. If you change your mind, use **Keep stewardship active** before that ending completes. Cancellation does not automatically refund the current paid period.

If a payment fails, you keep steward access during a seven-day grace period while Stripe retries. Use **Update payment method** if the dashboard asks for attention.

### Related information

- [What is stewardship?](https://help.creatures.com/en/article/what-is-stewardship-1ubw7m0/)
- [Following your stewardship](https://help.creatures.com/en/article/following-your-stewardship-pv904s/)
- [Stewardship Circles](https://help.creatures.com/en/article/stewardship-circles-1pcb6sh/)