A successful online giving experience is one that encourages conversion by making it easy to give. Sometimes, this means removing extraneous steps that can slow down the process. But one choice that can increase conversion involves a question that we have been accustomed to for years in the brick-and-mortar retail world: "And how would you like to pay for that?"
Some donors may like using their credit card for online giving, while others may prefer the convenience and security of paying directly through their bank account. If you're using a Stripe gateway and accepting gifts in US currency, you can use Plaid to offer your donors the option to donate directly via their bank.
You do not need to configure a Plaid account. RaiseDonors provides the Plaid implementation for you on behalf of Stripe and your organization. For fees associated with Plaid, please see our article here.
Configuring your Stripe Account
To enable ACH payments (via Plaid), you need to ensure you've accepted Stripe's Services agreements for ACH payments. Good news, this is a very simple process. Just log into your stripe account and then head over to this url - https://stripe.com/docs/ach. You will see a button to "enable ach", all you need to do is click the button!
If you don't see this button - that means you have likely already accepted Stripe's service agreement.
Configuring your Gateway
To add this option, first you'll need to enable it for your Stripe gateway. Note that the option to use Plaid and accept ACH donations is only available for Stripe gateways set to US currency.
Start by logging in to your RaiseDonors account. Then, click on the Settings icon in the upper right and select "Manage Account." Then, on the settings screen, select "Payment Providers" from the navigation menu on the left.
There, you'll see a list of all active gateways for your account. Look for your Stripe gateway and then click "Edit."
ON the edit screen, scroll to the bottom and look for the "ACH payments" section. ON the right, toggle the switch to "ON."
And that's it! (That was easy.) You're now ready to add the ACH option to your donation pages.
Enabling ACH on Your Donation Page
Enabling ACH payments does not automatically update any of your existing donation pages. Instead, you will need to edit any page where you'd like to offer donors the option to pay with their bank account and add it as a payment option, or create a new page and select both options.
To do this, select "Pages" from the menu at the top of the screen. There, you'll see all of your existing donation pages. If you'd like to create a new donation page, click on the "New Page" button in the upper right.
To add the ACH option to an existing page, find that page, click on the menu to the right of the page name, and then select "Edit."
Whether you are creating a new page or editing an existing one, you'll add the ACH option from the Setup step, which is the second page of the process. There, scroll down to the "Donation Setup" section. Make sure Stripe is selected as the payment provider. Below that, you'll see radio buttons to select forms of payment. Select the "Credit Card and Bank Account" option to offer both. If desired, you also have the option to offer only bank account payments.
Click "Save" in the upper right to save your changes. Now, when a donor visits your donation page, they will be able to choose the "Bank Account" option, and then they can select their bank and login to their online banking account.
