Donations can be given through several different payment methods and tracked in Giving. When donors give a physical donation, it is tracked as a cash or check donation in Giving. When donors give online, their payment method information is saved in their donor profiles.
The table shows how people can donate and how the payment methods are entered into Giving.
|
Payment Method |
Processing Method |
|---|---|
|
Cash |
Counted and entered in batches |
|
Check |
Counted and entered in batches |
|
Credit or debit card |
Stripe (online donation) or manual entry |
|
ACH bank transfer |
Stripe (online donation) or manual entry |
|
Text message |
|
|
External payment source |
Tracked with batches |
Expand the section for more information about supported payment methods.
Cash donations in donation envelopes usually identify the donor and fund designation. Loose cash can be counted as an anonymous gift and designated to a general fund.
Cash donations are counted in batches.
Card donations can be initiated by the donors themselves, privately and securely, from your donation form. Stripe processes these donations and then immediately adds them to the dashboard.
If a donor requests an administrator to add a card donation, you can manually process that donation from the donor's profile.
Canadian Customers: While all major credit cards are supported for Canadian organizations, only a limited number of debit cards will work. Visa Debit is supported, but Interac ATM cards or cards without a 3 or 4-digit CVC code are not.
United States and Australian donors can donate using bank transfers. This is a cost-efficient way to give because the Stripe fees are lower.
-
Australian administrators must request access to the Bulk Electronic Clearing System (BECS) Direct Debit in Stripe so their donors can use bank transfers.
-
United States donors must verify their bank account credentials in Church Center. If a donor requests an administrator to initiate a donation with a saved bank account, an administrator can manually process that donation from the donor's profile.
Donations made using an external donation platform (like PushPay, PayPal, Fellowship 1, Tithe.ly, etc.) aren't initiated through Giving. Still, they can be tracked using payment sources in batches or imported using the Giving API.
See the Giving Product Integrations article for more information about integrations supported for Planning Center Giving.
Saved payment methods can be viewed or edited by the donor on Church Center or by administrators on the Admin side of Giving.
When donating online, donors can enter their payment method information and save it to their profile.
If they've saved a payment method in the past, they can log in to manage their previous payment methods. Donors also complete ACH bank verification here.
In Giving, the Pay Methods tab in a donor's profile shows the credit cards, debit cards, or bank accounts that donors have saved to their donor profile. All payment methods except ACH can be added to a donor's profile. Admins can delete payment methods, but they cannot modify them.
Caution
Handling payment methods subjects your organization to PCI compliance and your donors to a greater risk of fraud. To avoid these issues, encourage donors to add payment information to their donor profile instead of giving account numbers and card details to an administrator.
-
Add a card at the request of the donor.
The donor's profile must include an email address so donors can be contacted in the case of a problem.
-
Log into Stripe to view more payment method details.
-
Delete a payment method.
-
If an ACH bank verification is in progress, the status will show here.
ACH payment methods must be added and verified by the donor in Church Center.