This article helps Administrators understand the basics of online giving in order to help troubleshoot common issues donors encounter.
Donors can give online using your church's donation form, the Church Center app, and Text2Give, if enabled.
Your church's donation form for Planning Center Giving is hosted on ChurchCenter.com, using the unique web address created when you signed up for Giving. You can find the link to your donation form on your Church Center page in Giving.
Tip
Your donation form will only be available to accept donations after you have enabled Giving on Church Center.
You can share the link to your donation form on your church's website, social media page, or in an email.
Tip
Select Shareable Code at the bottom of your donation form to view and download a QR code. You can scan this QR code to go straight to the donation form without typing the URL.
Download any of these online giving videos from the export button on the toolbar to share with your donors!
How to Give Online
First Time Donor
Returning Donor
Give with the Church Center App
You can also see how the donation process works from a donor's perspective in this article on Giving Online.
The best way to understand the donor experience is to try it yourself! Log in and give as a donor to see how the process works. If you or a donor needs help, check out one of the sections below for help.
Donors can give using their bank account, debit/credit card, and Apple Pay. If they've donated before, they can log in to give with a saved payment method.
Donors can verify their bank account by logging into their bank account if their bank supports instant verification; if not, micro-deposits are used to confirm the bank account is correct.
Notice
See the ACH Bank Transfer Donations article for more information on micro-deposit verification and the ACH donation lifecycle.
If the micro-deposits do not appear in their bank account or are entered incorrectly, the bank account will not be added as a payment method. The donor will need to start the verification process over and will have three chances to enter the correct deposit amounts before the verification process fails. If the process fails, the donor will have to start at the beginning.
Donors can view and manage their Giving information from their profiles! Donors can access their profiles by signing in to the Church Center app directly or when they visit your donation form.
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Depending on your church's setup, select your photo in the top right or the Me tab in the navigation.
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Under Activity & involvement, select My giving.
In My giving, a donor can manage the following from their profile:
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Donation History: View each donation and download transaction history by year.
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Recurring Donations: Add, update, or delete recurring donations.
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Payment Methods: Add or delete Apple Pay, bank accounts, or debit/credit cards.
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Statements: Download any statements already sent to donors.
Available on Church Center Web only:
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Text2Give: View their connected phone number and manage their Text2Give payment methods.
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Pledges: View their progress on pledged donations and see how much has been raised towards the overall goal.
Notice
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 any card without a 3 or 4 digit CVC code is not.
If a donor reports an error, the solution can be found in your Stripe account. Here are some common errors we've seen donors report:
Error: This account cannot make live charges.
This error indicates that something within your Stripe account requires an Administrator's attention. Stripe has likely sent an email to the email address on your Stripe account requesting some information be updated or verified.
Solution: Contact Stripe's support team directly to resolve this issue.
Error: Your card was declined.
This error indicates that the transaction has failed. Stripe will post an error message regarding the declined transaction in your account. Find the failed donation on your Payments page in Stripe. If you have additional questions, contact Stripe's support team directly.
Solution: Donor can reach out to the bank to find the reason for the decline.