ACH US Direct Debit

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Organizations within the United States can implement ACH US Direct Debit as a donation option to enable supporters to give using their bank details.

ACH is a popular choice for larger donations due to its lower fees of 0.8% per donation, capped at 5 USD, compared to Stripe's standard fee for card and wallet payments, which is 2.9% plus 0.30 USD per donation.

Prerequisites

To enable ACH US Direct Debit in Fundraise Up, you first need to enable it in Stripe. This requires accessing your organization’s Stripe account using an account with either the Administrator or Developer role.

Enabling ACH

Activating ACH US Direct Debit for your supporters is a simple three-part process. First, enable ACH in your Stripe account. Next, disable emails from Stripe. Finally, enable ACH in your Fundraise Up Dashboard.

Step 1: Enable ACH from Stripe

1. Log in to Stripe.
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 the ACH US Direct Debit option and click Turn on.
5. When prompted, select Turn on anyway.
6. If prompted, reenter your password and select Continue.
7. You may see a Confirm financial data access alert. If you do, select Confirm in the alert.
8. When shown the list of data types that you can use, confirm that Tokenized account and routing number is selected. This is the only data type you need to enable.
9. Select Save.
10. You may be redirected to the Settlement timing page. There are no settings that you need to configure on the page, and you can navigate away from it.

Step 2: Disable emails from Stripe

Stripe has a series of emails to assist with account verification and payment confirmation, which are unnecessary if you're using our ACH solution as we allow you to customize template versions of those emails right from Fundraise Up. If you don’t disable Stripe’s email sequence, your supporters may receive sets of emails both from Stripe and Fundraise Up.

1. Go to your Stripe dashboard.
2. Click Settings.
3. Scroll down to Business settings and, under Your business, click Emails.
4. In the Customer emails section, toggle Debit emails off.

Step 3: Enable ACH from Fundraise Up

1. In your Fundraise Up account, click the name of your organization in the top-right corner and click Settings.
2. In the left-hand menu, click Payment methods.
3. Select ACH US Direct Debit from the list.
4. Click Enable.

Verifying supporter bank accounts

Once you’ve enabled ACH successfully, you’ll be able to choose verification methods. There are three ways your supporters can verify their donations when they choose to make their donation with ACH.

Online banking verification

The first verification method involves online banking login. Supporters confirm payment instantly by logging into their online banking. This method is automatically enabled for ACH payments in the Fundraise Up Dashboard, indicated by the Allow donors to donate by logging into online banking checkbox.

Manual verification

The second verification method requires donors to input their account and routing numbers into the Checkout form during donation. Stripe then sends either two microdeposits or a single microdeposit with a confirmation code to the donor’s bank account. Donors will get emails with a link to confirm the received amounts or code. Similar to online banking verification, this method is automatically activated upon setting up ACH as a payment option in the Fundraise Up Dashboard.

Automatic verification

This verification method streamlines the process by automatically confirming all valid bank accounts, eliminating the need for manual verification through microdeposits or codes. During checkout, if a supporter enters account and routing numbers that match an existing bank account, the payment is verified instantly. Likewise, supporters can add ACH as a payment method in the Donor Portal using the same verification process.

However, this approach does not verify if the supporter actually owns the bank account they are using to make a donation. Therefore, automatic verification is based on trust and involves certain risks.

Verification fees

In addition to Stripe's processing fee, which is 0.8% of the transaction (with a maximum of 5 USD), there is also a small verification fee for donations made from a new bank account.

This fee is charged by Stripe the first time a supporter pays with a new bank account (for example, the first installment of a new recurring plan) and chooses Automatic verification.

Disputes

ACH US Direct Debit allows supporters to dispute donations through their bank. For personal accounts, disputes can be made up to 60 days after a donation. For business accounts, the window is up to 2 business days.

Refunds and cancellations

• Donations made via ACH US Direct Debit can be refunded up to 180 days from the donation date.
• Refunds take a minimum of 3 business days to process.
• Donations can only be canceled before they are verified. This means that only donations that require manual verification can be canceled, while donations verified through online banking and automated processes are confirmed immediately.