SEPA Direct Debit

This article will walk you through the steps needed to enable SEPA in Fundraise Up, including the steps you’ll need to take in Stripe to ensure that transactions are processed and handled correctly. It will also give you an insight into the donor experience when giving via SEPA in your Checkout form.

Processing fees

The fees for SEPA donations are 0.8% + 0.30 USD, capped at 6 USD.

Step 1: Enable SEPA in Stripe

In order for BECS to work in Fundraise Up, it must first be enabled in Stripe.

1. Go to your Stripe dashboard.
2. Click the gear icon in the top-right corner of the screen and click Settings.
3. In the Payments section, select Payment methods.
4. Locate SEPA Direct Debit and click Turn on.

Step 2: Disable Stripe's SEPA emails

Stripe has a series of emails to assist with account verification and payment confirmation, which are unnecessary if you're using our SEPA solution as we allow you to customize versions of those emails from Fundraise Up. If you don’t disable the Stripe SEPA email set, supporters will receive two sets of emails that will contain differing content.

Take the following steps to disable Stripe's SEPA debit emails.

1. Go to your Stripe dashboard.
2. Click the gear icon in the top-right corner of the screen and click Settings.
3. Scroll down to Business settings and, in the Your business block, click Emails.
4. In the Customer emails section, toggle off Send SEPA debit initiation emails.

Step 3: Set your Statement Descriptor in Fundraise Up

Fundraise Up's SEPA flow uses Stripe's Creditor ID, meaning that the top-level label that will show up on bank statements will be Stripe Payments. As such, it's important that you ensure your Statement Descriptor in Fundraise Up is set to something identifiable to your organization, so that supporters looking at their bank statements see a sub-label indicating that the Stripe Payments direct debit is to your organization. To set your Statement Descriptor in Fundraise Up:

1. Go to the Fundraise Up Dashboard.
2. Click your name in the top right, and choose Settings from the dropdown menu.
3. Click Account in the left-hand menu.
4. Scroll down to Statement Descriptor. If not already set, add a Statement Descriptor then click the Save changes button.

Step 4: Enable SEPA in Fundraise Up

To enable SEPA payments in Fundraise Up, your Fundraise Up account must be connected to a Stripe account based in any of the following countries:

If your Fundraise Up account is connected to a Stripe account based in any of these countries, you’ll be able to enable SEPA in Fundraise Up by following these steps:

1. Go to the Fundraise Up Dashboard.
2. Click your name in the top right, and choose Settings from the dropdown menu.
3. Click Payment methods in the left-hand menu.
4. Click on to SEPA Direct Debit.
5. Confirm that you've done the following, as instructed on the setup screen and as covered above:
   • disabled Stripe's default SEPA emails.
   • enabled SEPA within Stripe.
   • set your Statement Descriptor on the Account page of your Settings.
6. Click the Enable SEPA button to start allowing supporters with EU bank accounts to donate directly from those bank accounts using your Fundraise Up Checkout forms.

Step 5: See how supporters pay with SEPA

When a supporter gets to the Payment Options screen of the Checkout form, as long as their donation is 2 EUR or higher (which most donations will be, as the default minimum amount is 5 EUR), they'll see a Direct Debit button.

If they click the Direct Debit button, they'll be taken to a screen where they can provide their IBAN and confirm their understanding of how the flow is managed.

SEPA in the Virtual Terminal

This experience is mirrored in the Virtual Terminal: for donations made in EUR, you can select SEPA Direct Debit as the payment method and provide the supporter's IBAN, name, and email to process their payment via SEPA.

Step 6: Customize confirmation and verification emails

When supporters make SEPA donations, they will receive emails from Fundraise Up. These emails can be managed and customized from your Fundraise Up account. They can be adjusted both centrally from the Emails section of your Dashboard Settings, and on a per-campaign basis using the controls in each campaign's Emails tab.

Supporters giving via SEPA will always receive the "Bank Mandate" email containing the details of their mandate, as an email containing this information is required by regulators. It also includes legal text (sourced from Stripe) below their agreement, outlining the donor's entitlements in regards to their SEPA payment. The mandate details are added below the content configured in the Bank Mandate email settings tab.

The "Donation in progress" email is separate and can be turned off if desired. To configure and view this template, go to the Emails page of you main Fundraise Up Settings, click Donation in progress in the left hand menu under the Donations dropdown, and click the Preview button.

If, at any point in time, a supporter has their bank remove their Direct Debit permission associated with a recurring plan, Stripe will receive notification within a few days, will then notify Fundraise Up, and the plan will then be marked as failed (as the associated payment method has been revoked). At that time, the donor will receive the "Plan failed" email (if it is enabled), notifying them that their recurring donation can no longer be processed and that they can reactivate their donation by providing new payment information if desired.

Receipt delivery timeframes

Supporters will only receive the applicable "Receipt" email templates once their donation is marked successful in Fundraise Up.

As such, for new donations and first installments of new recurring plans, receiving the applicable "Receipt" email can take up to eight business days, as the initial charge can only be run two days after authorization, after which there is a gap of 6 business days during which the donation can either succeed or fail.

For subsequent installments of recurring plans, receiving the "Recurring installment receipt" email can take up to five business days, because the initial authorization is already complete.

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