Donor Management | Entry 37
Depending on location and configuration, nonprofits may offer cards, digital wallets, and regional bank-debit methods through HubSpot Payments or a connected Stripe account. The right mix should balance donor convenience, recurring-payment needs, settlement timing, fees, and reconciliation.
These methods may be available through payment links, payment-enabled forms, invoices, quotes, subscriptions, supported contracts, embedded checkout, and website payment modules. A nonprofit can set defaults and override them for an individual checkout when needed.
| HubSpot Payments | Connected Stripe |
|---|---|
| HubSpot's built-in processing option for eligible organizations in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada that have a paid HubSpot subscription, an eligible local bank account, and approval. | Lets the nonprofit use HubSpot revenue tools while an existing Stripe account processes transactions. This can preserve an established processor relationship, transaction history, custom pricing, or approved nonprofit pricing. |
Connecting Stripe as the processor is different from simply syncing Stripe data with HubSpot. Confirm that Stripe is configured as the actual payment-processing option when donors should pay through HubSpot checkout.
Supported card networks may include Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, Diners Club, and JCB. Cards can provide familiar checkout, fast confirmation, one-time and recurring payments, wallet availability, automated receipts, refunds, disputes, and CRM payment records.
Complete cost may include a percentage, fixed transaction fee, international-card fee, conversion fee, platform fee, chargeback fee, and processing fees that are not returned after a refund.
Digital wallets can help mobile donors and campaign, event, social, or email traffic complete a payment without typing card details. They may appear automatically when card payments are enabled.
Availability still depends on the donor's device, browser, region, stored card, wallet setup, processor, currency, and checkout configuration. Apple Pay is not available through HubSpot's website payment module or embedded checkout, so hosted and embedded experiences may show different options.
Test Google Pay and Apple Pay on representative devices and browsers. A method enabled in settings may remain hidden when the donor, wallet, card, region, or checkout does not meet its requirements.
ACH can support major gifts, large sponsorships, recurring donations, memberships, program fees, organizational contributions, and transactions where percentage-based card fees would be significant.
Bank-debit fees may be structured differently or capped, but settlement can take longer. Submitted or processing does not mean final. A payment may later succeed, fail, or be returned, so acknowledgments, benefits, access, accounting, and reconciliation must use the appropriate status.
| Method | Primary use |
|---|---|
| ACH | United States bank accounts and USD transactions |
| PADs | Canadian bank accounts and CAD transactions |
| BACS | United Kingdom bank accounts and GBP transactions |
| SEPA | Eligible euro-denominated bank accounts and EUR transactions |
ACH is not a general label for every bank payment. Confirm the merchant and donor countries, currency, settlement currency, transaction limits, processing time, failure and return rules, refunds, and international fees.
Offering every method on every checkout can create unnecessary complexity. Choose options based on donor needs, gift size, recurring requirements, settlement speed, fees, refunds, reconciliation, and geography.
| Example checkout | Possible configuration |
|---|---|
| $25 event ticket | Card and digital wallet |
| $5,000 sponsorship | Card and ACH |
| Monthly donation | Card and supported bank debit |
| Canadian membership | Card and PADs |
| United Kingdom recurring gift | Card and BACS |
| Euro campaign | Card and SEPA |
Rates change. Review current written pricing before selecting or changing processors. A lower advertised processing rate can still result in a higher total cost once platform and transaction-specific fees are included.
Stripe may offer discounted pricing to qualifying nonprofits in supported regions. Eligibility generally requires a documented nonprofit and an account used primarily for tax-deductible donations, with at least 80% of payment volume coming from qualifying donations.
Membership fees, tuition, ticket sales, registration fees, and auction payments do not count toward that donation-volume threshold. Approval is not automatic. When comparing connected Stripe, include the approved Stripe rate, HubSpot's platform fee, and any international or conversion fees.
Cards and wallets may provide a fast, familiar mobile experience for smaller gifts. Bank debit may offer lower or capped costs for larger gifts and avoid card limits. For recurring giving, bank debit may also reduce card-expiration problems.
The lowest-cost method is not always the one donors will choose. Compare preference, completion rate, settlement speed, failure rate, processing cost, and staff effort.
Confirm that the method supports recurring billing, the donor authorizes future charges, credentials remain secure, payment methods can be updated, failures trigger recovery, notices are configured, bank-debit timing is understood, cancellation stops future charges, and each payment receives the right receipt.
A method that works for a one-time gift may not provide the same recurring experience.
Distinguish checkout completion, submission, processing, success, failure, return, refund, dispute, payout, and accounting reconciliation. These stages matter when the payment provides event access, membership benefits, program registration, merchandise, sponsorship recognition, a tax receipt, or a donation acknowledgment.
A submission acknowledgment may be appropriate before settlement, but language confirming receipt of funds should match the actual status.
Refund timing and cost vary by processor, method, status, country, currency, and transaction date. Original processing fees may not be returned, and bank-debit refunds may take longer than card refunds.
Define approval, issuing responsibility, CRM updates, receipt changes, benefit or access changes, finance treatment, and donor communication. Monitor chargeback deadlines, evidence, return reasons, reversals, and stewardship effects. A failed or reversed payment should not remain in collected-donation totals.
Connect each transaction's gross amount, method, processor, processing and platform fees, international or conversion fees, added checkout fee, refund, dispute, net amount, payout batch, deposit date, and accounting reference.
A bank deposit may contain the net results of several transactions and may not match one individual donation. Reconciliation needs the detail to move between gifts, payments, fees, payouts, and accounting entries.
Never collect full payment credentials in forms, Contact properties, notes, emails, tickets, chats, texts, custom objects, or spreadsheets. HubSpot Payments and Stripe keep sensitive credentials within the processing environment.
Restrict who can configure processors and methods, create payment links, view payment records, issue refunds, manage disputes, change bank accounts, export data, and review fees and payouts.
Available options depend on the nonprofit's country, bank-account country, HubSpot subscription, processor approval, Stripe account, nonprofit-pricing approval, currency, donor location, device, browser, wallet, card, bank account, amount, checkout type, recurring requirements, permissions, security, accounting, and reconciliation.
Before promising a method, confirm eligibility, country and currency support, visibility in the intended checkout, wallet behavior on real devices, bank-debit suitability, recurring support, settlement timing, complete fees, refunds, disputes, reconciliation, permissions, and ownership.