Donation Processing and Refunds

This article explains how donations are processed in a Fundraising Campaign and how administrators can view and refund transactions. All donations are handled securely through Stripe Checkout, and donors automatically receive a receipt and thank-you email.

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How Donations Are Processed

Donors are directed to a secure Stripe Checkout session where they:

• Enter their name, email, and donation amount (either a preset or custom amount).
• Can leave an optional message for the fundraiser.
• Choose a Privacy Level:
  • Public – Name appears in the campaign’s public donation feed.
  • Fundraiser Only – Only the fundraiser can see their name.
  • Anonymous – Only administrators can see their name.

Once payment is submitted:

• The transaction is recorded and tied to the specific member (or to the campaign itself if "Donate to Campaign Only" is enabled).
• A receipt is generated via Stripe.
• Two thank-you emails are sent:
  • One to the donor (includes their donation and receipt).
  • One to the fundraiser (includes donor message and donation info, unless anonymous).

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Viewing Donation Transactions

Admins can view all transactions for a campaign in the Transactions tab of the campaign admin page.

For each donation, the following is shown:

• Member (or campaign if no member)
• Status: Paid or Refunded
• Amount
• Donor Name (if visible)
• Email / Phone
• Donor Message
• Link to Stripe receipt
• Refund status and who issued the refund

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Issuing a Refund

To issue a refund:

1. Navigate to the Transactions tab.
2. Click the Actions dropdown on a donation row.
3. Choose Refund Donation.
4. Confirm the action in the prompt.

ℹ️ You can only refund a donation once. Refunds are processed through Stripe and automatically recorded in the system.

Refunded donors will receive an email confirmation with the refund receipt and a message indicating the donation has been returned.

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Tips

• Refunds reverse the credit toward fundraising goals.
• You can refund even if the donation was made anonymously.
• Donations marked as refunded are excluded from progress bars and statistics.