Recovering Access to Your Zeffy Account if Your Admin Has Left

If the admin of your Zeffy account has left your organization or you no longer have access to the admin email address, this article explains the steps to recover access and the information our team may require to help.

Understanding Admin Access on Zeffy

Each Zeffy account has one Admin. Additional team members are invited as users with the permissions you choose, including full permissions. Only the Admin can make another user (who must have accepted their invitation) the new Admin, and the previous Admin then stays on the account as a member. This is why it matters to do this proactively before someone leaves.

Scenario 1: The outgoing admin is still reachable and cooperative

This is the simplest case. The current admin can transfer ownership directly – no need to contact Zeffy support.

Steps for the outgoing admin:

1. Log in to Zeffy and head to to Settings (click your organisation name in the bottom left)

2. Select Manage users

3. If the new admin isn't already a user, invite them first and wait for them to accept

4. Click the three dots next to the new admin's name

5. Select Make admin and confirm (you may be asked for an SMS code). This transfers the admin role to that person. You stay on the account as a member and are no longer the admin.

If the new admin hasn't received the invitation, resend it: go to Settings → Manage users, click the three dots to the right of their name, and select "Resend invitation".

Once the new person is set as admin, the outgoing admin can remove themselves or be removed by the new owner.

Scenario 2: The outgoing admin has left but you still have access to their email

If you have access to the former admin's email and password (for example, it was a shared organisational account), you can log in and follow the same steps as Scenario 1 to transfer ownership to the new admin.

Once transferred, update the password on the shared account or remove it from Zeffy.

Scenario 3: The outgoing admin has left, you don't have their login and are unable to reach them

If the former admin is gone and no one has their credentials, Zeffy support can transfer ownership on your behalf – but will need to verify the request is legitimate first.

Contact Zeffy support through the chatbot in your account and be prepared to provide:

1. The email address associated with the former admin's account

2. An explanation of the reason the admin transfer is being requested

3. Depending on the situation, we will ask for at least one of the following:

   • A confirmation sent from your organisation's official email address (e.g. [email protected]) authorising the change

   • Articles of Incorporation or an official registry filing naming you as a director or officer

   • Recent bank statements showing your organisation's name

   • A signed letter or resolution from your board authorising the ownership change

   • A live verification by the new / current representative in the Stripe verification

Scenario 4: You lost access to the email on the account, or it was compromised

Start by recovering the email account with your email provider's support. Once you can open that inbox again, you can log in to Zeffy and reset your password as usual.

If you can't recover the email, contact us. For security, we need to confirm your identity before we restore access:

1. We send a secure Stripe link to the representative who completed your account verification.

2. That person uploads a government-issued ID and takes a live selfie within 48 hours. Open the link only when you're ready to finish in one sitting: if you close it before the end, it stops working and we need to send a new one.

3. Depending on the situation, we may also ask for a recent statement from the bank account connected to Zeffy.

4. Reply to us once you've finished, so we can update the account and restore access.