Setup Process - Using Stripe Connect in the CauseMatch Dashboard
- Log into your CauseMatch Dashboard
- Follow the steps in the follow images:
1. Go to edit your campaign:
2. Navigate to the "Financials" tab:
3. Click on "Connect with Stripe":
4. Select "Connect New Account":
5. Sign in to your Stripe account or enter your email and create a new account:
Setup Process
- Go HERE to the Stripe/CauseMatch Dashboard
- Sign into your existing organization's account or create a new one!
- Repeat Above Step for different COUNTRIES (*not currencies- this is per country-due to specific tax receipts and laws)
- Please send Acct_ and EIN to your campaign manager.
- Watch the setup tutorial below:
Process for a NEW Account
*Please be aware Stripe will ask you for the following:
Email address (ideally, it should be a generic organizational email address that is not associated with one person in case of departure- ie office@ or finance@).
Legal Organization Name (& DBA)
Registered Business Address
EIN
Bank account details (User ID & Password) and possibly the routing & account number for payouts
Personal information: License/ID and SSN (for identity verification), phone number for 2-step authentication
You will also need your Charity#/SS EIN letter (for applying to the nonprofit discount)
Tax receipts
After a donor donates, CauseMatch will send a tax receipt on your behalf as part of the thank you email. This thank you email is a valid tax receipt in the US and the UK (as long as it contains the donor’s name, donation date, donation amount, and name of the issuing entity).
In order to issue tax receipts in a specific country, two conditions MUST be present:
- There must be a registered nonprofit that can issue recognized tax receipts in the relevant country.
- The money must be received in the country where the receipt is issued. You must have a bank account in that country. For example, to issue tax receipts in the US, the money must be received in the US by an S501c3 non-profit that is willing to issue receipts.
Important notes
The Stripe account is fully owned by you and must be set by an authorized person at the non-profit.
Please note that ALL information entered when creating the Stripe account must be 100% accurate as per the nonprofit’s legal records in the relevant country.
If the account is restricted for any reason (like lack of information), CauseMatch won’t be able to launch the campaign.
Please keep an eye out for emails from Stripe requesting additional information or verifications. If Stripe asks for information and doesn’t receive a response, they will freeze your account.
In the process of creating the account, you will be asked to create a username and a password. Please make sure to save those credentials for logging into the account.
Stripe will ask you for very confidential and sensitive
information when setting up the account so it is ideal that this account should be set up by the main person in the organization
Stripe has a very strict refund policy that you can see
HERE
. In the case that a donation is refunded (because of an accidental duplication or mistake on the part of the donor) you are able to refund the entire amount to the donor or the amount minus the fee. If you choose to do a full-refund to the donor, you are taking responsibility for covering the Stripe fee. We will refund you the portion of the fee that would otherwise be owed to CauseMatch.
Example: A donor accidentally donates $10,000 instead of $10. Stripe takes 3% and CauseMatch takes 7% in fees. You can refund the full $10,000 to the donor or refund minus the fee (in this case it would be $300). CauseMatch will NOT charge the 7% on this donation ($700), but you are still responsible for the $300.
In the case there was an extremely large error (like above) you can contact Stripe directly and explain the situation.
Question:
If Stripe is so similar to PayPal, why don't we just use PayPal instead?
Answer
:
While we are integrated with PayPal, we do not recommend using PayPal as a primary credit card processor because:
- It redirects customers away from your website during the checkout process, increasing the likelihood of donation abandonment
- Can’t move all your customer data to another payment processor if you choose to change processors in the future
- No Recurring Billing
- Higher Chargeback Fee ($20)
- Inconsistent support quality
- They are more likely to refund donations/deny payouts if they deem the account is breaking their terms and conditions (which can happen after your campaign, with little notice).