Bonterra Payments - FAQ
Updated over a week ago

What is "Bonterra Payments"?

Bonterra Payments is one of the options available for processing payments collected through your Bonterra products, such as Fundraising Pages or Auctions.

Bonterra Payments is powered by Stripe, and provides a quick and secure way to process - and then disburse - your organization's collected donations and other transactions.

What is Stripe, and how does it power Bonterra Payments?

Stripe is an alternative payment processing option available to help process transactions made through your Bonterra products and services. Stripe provides faster disbursements for your organization’s donations and ticket purchases and includes added flexibility for your tax receipts and for the transactions your organization may be collecting.

For more information on Stripe, please check out their helpful resources here.

What are the benefits of using Bonterra Payments as a payment processor?

There are several benefits:

  • Bonterra Payments works with all of our fundraising products, including Fundraising Pages, Essential Events, Events Lite, and Auctions.

  • Bonterra Payments includes additional payment options, such as Apple Pay and Google Pay.

  • Bonterra Payments is fully supported by Bonterra staff (with no third-party support involved)

  • Bonterra Payments offers payout reports in both Fundraising Pages and Auctions, for your reporting needs

  • Bonterra Payments provides payout information, available in both exported files and transaction-level details within Donor Management

What is the disbursement process like for transactions processed through Bonterra Payments?

Bonterra Payments disburses funds on a five-business-day rolling window from the date of the transaction. That means that if a transaction is made on a Wednesday, the funds will be disbursed via Bonterra Payments on the following Wednesday.

How can I create or view reporting on transactions processed through Bonterra Payments?

Please check out our related guide on how to create customizable filters and reports for those transactions here!

How do I set up my Stripe account for Bonterra Payments?

We have a detailed walkthrough on how to set up your account here!

What if I have an existing Stripe account? Can I use that?

No, you will need to create a new business account for use with your Bonterra services.

Why can’t I proceed past the first step when setting up my account?

Most often, the reason that you are not able to move past the first step in the setup process is because your organization does not have an EIN or is fiscally sponsored by another organization. If this is the case, please contact our Support Team so we can investigate further.

Why does Stripe need to know the last four digits of my Social Security number?

Stripe’s website states that “This information is required as part of Stripe’s mandatory identity verification requirement: Stripe must collect, verify, and maintain information on the individuals associated with every US Stripe account, as required by our regulators and financial partners. This is intended to promote transparency and prevent individuals from using complex company structures to hide terrorist financing, money laundering, tax evasion, and other financial crimes.”

For the full article from Stripe, please click here.

How do I set up the ability to use Google Pay or Apple Pay with Bonterra Payments?

By using Bonterra Payments as a payment processor, your donors have the ability to use either Google Pay or Apple Pay (as well as credit cards) to complete their payments through your platform. For more information on these payment options, please click here.

(Please note that these additional payment options are not available for use with recurring donations, or with our Auctions platform.)

With the use of Bonterra Payments, Google Pay will be immediately available to all donors during the checkout process. Donors will be presented with the option to pay with Google Pay, or with a credit card.; if they select Google Pay, they will be directed to log into Google via a pop-up window to proceed.

For any questions on how to use or setup Google Pay, please refer to this official resource.

The ability to use Apple Pay will depend on qualifying with Candid's Seal of Transparency. Once your organization has at least a Bronze seal, Apple Pay should be available for your donors the following day.

Here are some additional details on how to obtain the Seal of Transparency.

I’m having an issue with my Bonterra Payments account. What can I do to resolve this?

We first recommend navigating to Settings, then Payment Profile in your Fundraising Pages account to add or update any missing information.

If you are still experiencing issues, we recommend contacting our Support Team for further assistance.

How do I change the bank account linked to my Bonterra Payments account?

Supervisor-level admins are able to change or update this information by clicking on the Settings tab in Fundraising Pages, then selecting Payment Profile from the drop down menu.

Once the page reloads, you can click on the blue Actions button in the top-right corner, and selecting Stripe Account Update from the dropdown options.

Please note that initially, only the Supervisor-level admin who initiated the Bonterra Payments setup process will have the ability to make these changes; however, other admins can also be given access to make those changes by contacting our Support Team for assistance.

How can I process a refund for a transaction made through Bonterra Payments?

Please contact our Support Team directly to process a refund for transactions made through Bonterra Payments They will be able to submit the refund on your behalf to the appropriate parties, and will work with you to ensure that the donation is marked as "refunded" within your system.

Refunds will typically be processed within a business day, but it can take 5-10 business days for the charge to be reversed on your donor's statement.

NOTE: If refunds are processed more than 4 business days after the transaction, the donor/cardholder will have to work with the organization directly to get a refund. This is because funds officially transfer to the organization’s bank account after 5 business days.

Can I process a partial refund for a transaction made through Bonterra Payments?

No, at this time only full refunds are available for those transactions.

We recommend that in these situations, donors are refunded the full amount and then make a second, corrected contribution once the refund has processed.

Is the fee for a transaction made through Bonterra Payments refundable?

No, the transaction fee is non-refundable after the funds have been disbursed to your organization. If you wish to refund a donor for that transaction fee, you can do so at your discretion directly through the funds disbursed to your organization.

How will my payouts via Bonterra Payments show up on my bank statements?

Donations received through Bonterra Payments will pay out with a statement descriptor of "BonterraTech.com", approximately 5 business days after the date of donation. These payouts also occur on a rolling basis.

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