Frequently asked questions
Common questions about migrating recurring plans to Fundraise Up
General questions
Is migration an automatic process?
No, the migration process requires certain actions from the organization, including providing recurring plan data, contacting legacy processor/s, and specifying a stop processing date.
How much does a migration to Fundraise Up cost?
Fundraise Up provides the migration service for free. Your current donation platform vendor may charge a fee to transfer payment tokens from their system to Stripe.
What are the prerequisites for a migration?
To successfully complete a migration, the following conditions must be met:
- Organization onboarding: the organization must be fully onboarded with Fundraise Up and exclusively use our fundraising software on its website. This ensures that new recurring plans won't populate in legacy systems during the migration process.
- Vendor platform considerations: be aware that some vendor platforms may impose restrictions or charge fees for transferring payment tokens. While you can obtain this information during your communication with the legacy processor, a list of some such processors can be found here.
- Payment method and currency considerations: kindly note that certain payment methods or currencies may not migrated to Fundraise Up.
How long does a migration take?
In most cases, a migration is completed within 4-6 weeks, depending on the migration size, complexity, validity of data, communication timeline and other factors. This timeline is possible when your existing platform vendor is willing to transfer your payment tokens to Stripe and completes the operation in a timely manner.
Can we initiate the payment token transfer ourselves, without notifying Fundraise Up?
We strongly advise against this, as improper actions may lead to extensive reversals of changes, such as payment tokens being transferred to an incorrect Stripe account or multiple legacy processors causing duplicates in your Stripe account. It's crucial to always contact us first to ensure a smooth and efficient migration process.
How can a migration process be expedited?
To expedite the migration process, ensure that all recurring plans data are accurately added and formatted. This includes having the correct format for all fields, reasonable values, and matching unique identifiers with their respective recurring plans. Always communicate with us for any clarifications or updates on the migration process, and we will strive to make it as streamlined and quick as possible.
Will any recurring plan installments get skipped during the migration?
No. Fundraise Up processes any installments that were due during the migration period once the migration is complete. In some cases, a migration may reveal some recurring plans that have issues with their payment methods. Fundraise Up provides a report of any failed charges and the decline code provided by Stripe.
Does Fundraise Up have access to sensitive payment information during or after a migration?
No. As a merchant processor, Fundraise Up does not have access to payment information like credit card details. All sensitive data is managed by our primary payment processor, Stripe.
How can I ensure the supporters will not be charged twice?
Most importantly, the last donation date, time and timezone in the recurring plans sheet must be correct, the plans must be correctly matched with their relevant Stripe customers / PayPal Agreements, and the stop processing date, time and timezone should be accurate.
What is the gap between the stop processing date with our legacy processor and the creation date in your system?
It is usually from a few hours to one business day.
What happens to plans that were supposed to be charged between the stop processing date and creation date?
They are going to be charged the time they were created in our system, and the following installments are going to fall on the date and time specified on the recurring plans sheet.
What date and time is recommended to schedule a stop processing date?
In order to reduce the lag between the stop processing date and creation date, we recommend scheduling the stop processing date between Monday and Wednesday - all migrations that fall on Friday (and partly on Thursday), are going to be processed on Monday of the next week.
What actions can be taken if migrated recurring plans have been charged inaccurately/double-charged due to incorrect matching, donation frequency, or amount?
Although this is extremely rare, as we thoroughly review and validate the received data, in such situations, the supporters will receive refunds, the problematic migrated plans will be removed from Fundraise Up until the inconsistencies are resolved, and a new migration date will be scheduled.
Can we conduct a test migration with a limited number of recurring plans before migrating the entire batch?
Yes, we can certainly perform a test migration for any type of migration.
After migration, do subscription dates stay the same, or does Fundraise Up set new ones?
Subscription dates remain the same.
Can recurring plans to be migrated be assigned to a Fundraise Up campaign/designation?
Yes. Once the payment tokens are imported in your Fundraise Up Stripe account / PayPal Billing Agreements are extracted, we will provide instructions on formatting the data. During this process, you can select which Fundraise Up campaign the donation will be associated with, as well as any relevant designations.
Supporters
Are supporters impacted by the migration?
No. The transition from your existing platform to Fundraise Up is seamless and there is no action that supporters need to take.
What emails will recurring supporters receive through Fundraise Up?
By default, there are types of emails that recurring supporters will receive after they have been migrated to Fundraise Up:
- Installment receipt: this is the email that is sent when a recurring plan is successfully charged. It includes a PDF receipt and a link to the transaction in the Donor Portal.
- Installment failed: this email is sent when a recurring plan cannot be successfully charged. The email includes a link to update the payment details used for the recurring plan.
Supporters whose recurring plans are migrated to Fundraise Up will not receive a confirmation-type email when the migration is complete. This ensures that the transition to Fundraise Up is seamless.
When do migrated recurring supporters get access to the Donor Portal?
When the migration is complete.
Should our organization notify supporters about the migration?
Fundraise Up does not recommend doing this as it could result in confusion and may lead to some supporters cancelling their plans. Alternatively, this may lead to increased retention by informing supporters that they can manage their plans and review donation history through our Donor Portal.
Is it possible for migrated recurring plans to automatically have transaction fees covered by supporters?
The migrated recurring plans will not have supporters fee coverage when they are migrated, because we cannot impose the same fees from the previous platform, nor can we apply new fees without supporters consent.
How can supporters cover transaction fees for their recurring donations?
Once recurring plans have been migrated, supporters can cover transaction fees through the Donor Portal.
Migration Data
What installment intervals (frequencies) are supported?
Fundraise Up can migrate recurring plans that are billed on the following intervals:
- Daily
- Weekly
- Biweekly
- Every 4 weeks
- Monthly
- Bimonthly
- Quarterly
- Semiannually
- Annually
If a timezone is missing for the last donation time in the recurring plans sheet, what timezone will be applied to these plans?
The timezone specified in your Fundraise Up account, to which the recurring plans are being migrated, will be applied.
What is the difference between a regular and anonymous donation?
While the supporter information is still visible to the organization in the dashboard, it will not be used publicly (e.g., in publications, reports, or infographics) for anonymous donations.
Why is specifying an email address important in the recurring plan sheet?
Including an email address in the recurring plan sheet is crucial for accurately matching recurring plans with their corresponding Stripe customers or PayPal Billing Agreements. Furthermore, omitting an email address will prevent supporters from accessing the Donor Portal, limiting their ability to manage their donations.
What should be considered when filling in the Fundraise Up account, campaign, and designation in a recurring plans sheet?
Ensure a valid account ID is specified, the campaign is available for the account, and the designation is accessible for the campaign. Clients must provide the ID for these fields (not the name).
Why is the recurring plans sheet necessary if payment tokens already exist in Fundraise Up Stripe account?
The information in Stripe and PayPal extractions is often incomplete and missing some required fields. Migration data consists of two parts: sensitive payment data in Stripe or PayPal for charging supporters, and recurring plan data needed to migrate those plans to Fundraise Up. The recurring plans sheet contains essential details such as the donation frequency, amount, last donation date and time, currency, and the Fundraise Up account, campaign, or designation to link the plans. It also includes unique identifiers needed to match recurring plans with Stripe customers.
Why is it essential to consult a migration specialist before filling in custom fields?
It is crucial because they will confirm that the custom fields have been properly set up within your Fundraise Up account.
Does "Last Donation Date" in the template sheet represent the first or most recent date of a recurring donation?
It represents the most recent donation date.
Migration Scope
What currencies can be migrated?
Fundraise Up can migrate any currency supported by Stripe.
Are there any types of payment methods that can’t be migrated?
Yes. Recurring plans that use the following payment methods can’t be migrated to Fundraise Up:
Can I migrate recurring plans that use BECS Direct Debit as the payment method?
Yes. As a prerequisite to migrating recurring plans that use BECS Direct Debit, your organization must first notify impacted supporters of the platform change 14 days prior to the first installment charge made using Fundraise Up. The notice must mention that the supporter’s Direct Debit Request (DDR) and Direct Debit Request Service Agreement (DDRSA) will be updated. The notice must also include a link to Stripe’s BECS Direct Debit Request Service Agreement.
Can I migrate recurring plans that use PayPal as the payment method?
Possibly. Recurring plans (subscriptions) are created in PayPal using one of two methods:
- With a billing agreement: if a subscription was created in PayPal using a billing agreement, Fundraise Up can migrate the recurring plan.
- Without a billing agreement: if a subscription was created in PayPal without a billing agreement, it is not possible to migrate it to Fundraise Up.
Is it possible to migrate recurring plans from multiple processors to Fundraise Up?
Yes. We can achieve this by creating several migration requests within our system and processing them concurrently but separately.
Are there any limitations on the number of recurring plans that can be migrated?
No, there are no limitations on the number of plans you can migrate. However, for larger migrations, we recommend dividing them into smaller batches for a smoother process.
My payment processor doesn't support encrypting payment data with Stripe's PGP key. Can Fundraise Up handle this?
No, Fundraise Up cannot act as a third party to process sensitive payment information.
Miscellaneous
When migrating ACH payment methods, which type of representation should I select and how should I answer the question about holding mandates for these ACH payment methods?
You should select "Payment Methods" as the Stripe ACH representations. Regarding mandates, if you're unsure whether you hold mandates for all of your ACH payment methods, choose "I'm not sure" and later clarify this with Stripe during your conversation.