Badges make your mentoring program more engaging for participants while giving you visibility into what's working, with zero extra admin. There are three types: Kudos badges (peer-to-peer recognition between participants), Achievement badges (automatically awarded by the platform as participants hit milestones), and Program Badges (custom badges you create and award to recognise program-specific achievements). All three types appear on participants' Kudos pages and in your All Badges table.
 

What badges can participants get or give?

Kudos badges are awarded to participants by participants in 1:1 and group loops, recognising mentoring behaviours like trust-building, knowledge-sharing, and commitment. They enable peer-to-peer recognition in real time. Kudos activity reveals which mentoring behaviours are most valued in your program, highlights highly engaged participants worth celebrating, and provides story-worthy examples of mentoring impact for your reporting and business reviews.

Achievement badges are automatically awarded when participants reach key milestones in their mentoring journey, completing meetings, maintaining consistent engagement, or receiving high Mentoring Quality Scores. These badges provide clear, measurable signals of program health and active participation, while giving participants visible recognition of their progress.

Program Badges are created by you and awarded directly to participants. Use them to recognise achievements that are specific to your program, such as completing a key training module, demonstrating a company value, or reaching a program milestone. Available on Enterprise plans. Learn more about Program Badges.
 

Kudos badges

Kudos badges are merit-based and can be awarded multiple times. Each new award of the same badge updates the total displayed on the badge icon.

• Trust: For building safe, trusted, empathetic relationships.
• Networking: For connecting people, resources, and opportunities.
• Expertise: For sharing knowledge with impact.
• Commitment: For consistently showing up and following through.
• Creativity: For sparking new ideas and perspectives.

Achievement badges

Achievement badges are awarded by the Mentorloop platform, they are progress-based, per loop.

• Excellence Levels: Bronze = 3 × 5/5 Mentoring Quality Score, Silver = 6 × 5/5 MQS, Gold = 9 × 5/5 MQS
• Momentum Levels: Bronze = 5 meetings, Silver = 10 meetings, Gold = 15 meetings
• Mentorloop Certified: For completing the Mentorloop Participant Course quiz in Help Hub
• Growing Together: After completing a first meeting and post-meeting survey
• Mentorloop Champion: For completing all milestones

When can participants award Kudos badges?

As soon as a participant recognises any of the Kudos behaviours within their mentoring partnership, they can award Kudos from within Mentorloop.

If a participant gives a score of 4 or 5 (out of 5) after completing any Mentoring Quality Survey or Post-Meeting Survey, they'll see the option to give a Kudos badge to their partner.

What should my program be aiming for?

Achievement badges are merit-based on participant activity within Mentorloop. Every mentorship has its own pace, but participants should aim to unlock all Achievement badges after 12 months, reaching the highest level over time.

Encourage all mentorships to share at least one Kudos badge per loop.

If your program has Program Badges configured, award them regularly to reinforce the specific behaviours or milestones that matter to your organisation, they're a low-effort way to make program values visible and tangible for participants.

How do I share and report on badges?

On the Kudos page, participants can share their Kudos summary to LinkedIn.

Program Coordinators and Program Admins can export a CSV of all badges awarded, including Kudos, Achievement, and Program Badges, for their own reporting. Awarded Program Badges also appear in the downloadable PDF program report.

How do I filter badges?

Use the All badges tab on the Kudos page to filter and search through all badges awarded in your program. This makes it easy to review specific badge activity, track recognition trends, and pull targeted data for program reviews or business cases.

To filter badges:

1. Navigate to Kudos from the left-hand menu, then select the All badges tab.
2. Click the Search or filter... dropdown to reveal the available filters.

3. Select one or more filters to narrow down the badge list. Available filters include:

   • Badge Type — Filter by Kudos, Achievement, or Program badges.
   • Badge Name — Filter by specific badge (e.g. Trust, Expertise, Momentum).
   • Badge Level — Filter by level (e.g. Bronze, Silver, Gold for Achievement badges).
   • Kudos Feedback — Filter by whether written feedback was included.
   • Date — Filter by the date the badge was awarded.
   • Recipient — Filter by the participant who received the badge.

   You can also filter by participant profile fields (such as department or other demographics) to segment badge activity across your program.

4. Click Save to keep your filtered view, or Clear to reset all filters.

Use filtered views alongside the Export button (top-right corner of the table) to generate targeted reports, for example, exporting only Kudos badges with written feedback for a specific date range to include in a program review.

Frequently asked questions

Can I customise badges?

Kudos and Achievement badges are not customisable, they're designed around best-practice mentoring behaviours and milestones. However, if your program is on an Enterprise plan, you can create Program Badges, fully custom badges with your own name, icon, and criteria, tailored to your organisation's values or competency frameworks.

Can I see the Kudos written feedback shared between participants?

Yes. Navigate to Kudos via the main menu, then select the All Badges tab. The final column displays all participant feedback. You can export this to CSV via the Export button in the top-right corner.

How do I see which badges each participant has received, or who is most awarded?

Sort the table by Recipient, or use the Recipient filter in the Search or filter dropdown to find a specific participant. You can also download the CSV for further analysis.

Can badges be used for matching?

Badges aren't required for matching, your signup form and participant profiles contain the information Mentorloop uses to create impactful, equitable matches. However, badges are displayed on participant profiles, making them visible to participants using Self Match and to Program Coordinators when manually matching. They can provide helpful context about a participant's engagement level and the recognition they've received, supporting more informed matching decisions.

When should I start to see badges awarded in a new program?

You may start to see badges appear after 6 weeks, but every program and mentoring partnership timeline is unique. Participants can begin sharing Kudos badges any time after their first meeting.

Achievement badges are merit-based, see the badge criteria above for specific requirements. Encourage all mentorships to share at least one Kudos badge per loop.
 

Need help?

For help or guidance using Kudos and badges, reach out to support@mentorloop.com or your Customer Success Manager.