If you utilize Stripe or WePay, your donors will have the choice to make their gift with a bank account instead of a credit card.
If a donor wishes to make their gift with a bank account, they have two options: (1) they can verify their bank account information instantly (by logging in with their online banking credentials) or (2) they can manually verify their account information by entering their routing number and account number and confirming the amounts of one small deposit (aka "micro-deposit") that will be deposited into that account.
If a donor chooses the first option, there is no further action required. If a donor chooses the second option, the donor must confirm the micro-deposit amount before the gift can be processed. Here's how the micro-deposit verification process works:
- The payment processor makes one micro-deposit into the bank account provided by the donor. The micro-deposit is one small deposit under $1. It can take 1-4 business days to show up in the donor's bank account.
- The donor receives an email with instructions on how to verify the micro-deposit. Until the donor completes this verification, the gift is not processed and the funds are not transferred (this is to prevent fraud and prove that the donor owns the bank account they used). The donor has 30 days to complete this verification; after 30 days, the gift authorization is cancelled.
- -- If you use Stripe, the email that the donor receives comes from info@givecampus.com.
- -- If you use WePay, the email that the donor receives comes from support@wepay.com and has the subject line "Microdeposit on the way." At the bottom of this email, it says "The deposit should appear in your bank account within the next few days. When arrived, confirm your bank account by visiting this link: [link]." Donors must click that link and confirm the micro-deposit amount to complete their gift.
- Donors receive a series of reminder emails (containing the same instructions and link) until they confirm the micro-deposit amount. If they do not confirm the micro-deposit amount within 30 days, the gift authorization is cancelled.
NOTE: if a donor would like to cancel their gift and has not yet received the micro-deposit, please email support@givecampus.com and we will be happy to cancel the transaction. If they have received the micro-deposit, then the gift will need to be processed and then refunded.
Bank gifts that are set up for manual verification immediately show up in your donation report, with a "state" of "pending_authorization"; at this point, the donor has not confirmed the micro-deposit and no funds have been transferred to your bank. The "state" of the gift transitions to "paid" when the donor confirms the micro-deposits. If the donor does not confirm the micro-deposit within 30 days, the authorization on their account is cancelled -- and the "state" of the donation in your reporting will transition from "pending_authorization" to "pledged_failed" or “revoked.” At this point, that gift is no longer recoverable through GiveCampus.
The vast majority of bank account donors take the required action within five (5) business days. We recommend that you contact any donor who has not taken the required action (i.e. confirmed the micro-deposit) within 7-10 business days, to ensure the gift can be processed within the 30-day timeline.
FYI: Some of the reasons donors occasionally do not take the required action and confirm the micro-deposit(s) within 7-10 days include:
- The donor mistyped their email address on the giving form, and thus is not receiving the emails that prompt them to confirm the micro-deposit.
- The emails are being ignored by the donor or are being filtered into Spam.
- The donor has not set up online banking and therefore cannot confirm the micro-deposit until they receive their next paper statement in the mail.
- The donor does not remember which bank account they used and therefore which statement they need to check.
Please don't hesitate to contact support@givecampus.com if you/a donor is having trouble taking the required action to finish making a bank account gift!