Almost every church needs a way for church members to give online with their credit card or bank account. There are so many tools it can be overwhelming, especially for smaller churches or new church plants. The good news is it’s never been easier to collect donations online, and you don’t need a big fancy tool. This guide will work best for small churches and church plants.
What is Stripe?
Stripe is a payment processor, which means it doesn’t charge extra fees on-top of traditional credit card or bank transaction processing fees. From companies like Netflix and to small mom and pop online tools, Stripe is used to process billions in payments. Unlike complex giving tools, Stripe allows you to collect donations via a simple page then deposit those donations into your church’s bank account.
Why does everyone take a % of each transaction?
The short answer is credit card companies. It’s typical for credit card companies to charge merchants (i.e. your church or a business down the street) around 3% + $0.30 per transaction. That’s how the companies make money. Instead of charging merchants a flat fee per month, it’s usage based. Unfortunately a lot of church giving tools have also adopted this model. Some church giving tools end up taking up to 5% of every donation. It’s a very profitable business.
Why use Stripe?
Well, a lot of these church giving tools are built on Stripe to begin with. So in effect you’re avoiding the extra fees a complex giving tool would be charging you. You’re also vastly simplifying things. This is super effective at streamlining your ministry, especially for small churches and church plants. Instead of worrying about ‘Can my tool do this, can it do that, etc’ you simply have one page for online giving that supports almost every payment method known to man.
Step 1: Sign Up for Stripe
If you don’t already have an account head to dashboard.stripe.com/register to sign up for an account. You’ll just need an email and password.
Step 2: Activate Payments
After signing up, you’ll be redirected to the dashboard. Find the ‘Activate Payments’ button. Here you’ll have to enter your legal info for your church. You’ll need info like your EIN (Employer Identification Number), legal address, bank info, etc.
Make sure you select ‘Nonprofit Organization’ as your business type when activating payments.
When it comes to the sales tax section, you can skip that. As long as your church is a 501c3, you won’t need to collect sales tax on transactions.
Step 3: Create a Payment Link
Now that you’re set up, it’s time to create a payment link. A payment link is the webpage Stripe creates to allow your people to donate with their credit card or bank account. You can customize this page with your church’s brand.
1️⃣ Head over to the payment links page.
2️⃣ Then create a new payment link.
3️⃣ And enter your settings.
Step 4: Share and Embed
After you’ve got your link set up, you’re ready to start collecting payments. Simply share the link or embed the payment page on your website to start collecting payments. It’s never been easier! There’s no reason to pay crazy fees or deal with a system that makes you want to pull your hair out. After donations start coming in, you’ll be able to find them in the ‘Payments’ section of Stripe.
Here's an example of a stripe payment page embedded into this website. 👇
Advanced: Integrate with Your People System
If you already have a people management system, you can integrate it with Stripe via an Automation tool like Zapier. See this article for an overview on how to sync donation data with various tools via Zapier.
How can I lower processing fees?
The good news is, if you get creative, there are strategies to save some money. Here’s 3 ways you can lower the fees your church is paying for online donations.
1. Switch to a processor like Stripe and avoid using legacy giving tools
If your giving tool is charging more than 3% of each donation, it’s time to switch. Especially if you’re a small church. A lot of tools (including Stripe) make it so easy to change and will save your church a lot of money.
2. Stripe’s non-profit discount
Many payment processors like Stripe offer great discounts for non-profits. Stripes discount will save you in the neighborhood of 1% per transaction. That will add up quickly!
3. Use ACH
ACH is a bank to bank transaction. You can cut the fees down to less than 1% if you get your people to give via a bank account instead of a credit card. Stripe is one of the most secure payment processors in the world so there’s no need to worry.
Should you use Stripe for your church?
Stripe is super quick and easy to get started with. It's a great option for church plants to get up and running quickly or for smaller ministries to focus on what matters. That being said, as your ministry grow you will run up against some 'scaling' concerns. Because it's so easy to get started with, Stripe does lack some church specific features that other tools have built in. That being said, it's not impossible to use Stripe as your payment processor even if you have thousands of transactions per month.
As always, if you need any help with Stripe or other church tools feel free to reach out to me.