What is a Bank Transfer (ACH)?
Bank transfers, also known as ACH (automated clearing house), are transactions processed using bank account and routing numbers instead of a credit/debit card number. These are direct debits from a donor's bank account.
The greatest benefit to ACH donations is that they have relatively low processing fees when compared to credit/debit card donations making this payment method ideal for large dollar amount donations. However, they do require a verification/authorization step that the donor must complete to use their bank account for donations, and ACH donations take longer to process.
Setting Up a Bank Transfer Donation
How Donors Set Up ACH Donations
A donor can create an ACH donation through your Harness fundraising pages by selecting the Bank Transfer payment method on the checkout page. They will then need to select Add a new bank connection from the Select Bank Connection drop-down menu* then continue by selecting Link bank account.
The donor will then be asked to agree to connecting their bank account to Harness through Stripe and must select Agree to continue to move forward.
The donor will then be asked to select their bank. Several common financial institutions are available to select from, or the donor can use the search bar to look up their bank if it's not listed on screen.
If the donor selects one of the common banks or searches and their bank comes up in the search results, they will be prompted to log into their bank account to complete instant verification. After completing this instant verification step, their bank account will be ready to use for ACH, and their donation will begin processing immediately.
When searching for a bank to connect with, if there are no results the donor will be asked to manually enter their bank account information by selecting Don't see your bank?
The donor will be required to manually enter their bank account and routing information. Since their bank was not found and will not qualify for instant verification, the donor will also be required to manually verify their account.
After manually entering their bank account information, the donor will be advised that they must complete a verification step. Within 1-2 business days, Stripe will send one micro deposit to the donor's bank account. The donor will then receive an email from Stripe asking them to confirm a code found in the description of micro deposit on their bank account statement (code format is SM-XXXX).
From the time the micro deposit is sent, the donor will have 8 days to verify their account by confirming the code in the micro deposit's description. If the donor does not complete this verification step, their donation will not be processed, and the verification process would need to be restarted. Once verified, their donation will be processed. If an invalid email address is used for/provided by the donor, this verification process cannot be completed.
How Admins Set Up ACH Donations
As an admin, you can set up ACH donations on behalf of your donors using our Add a Donation tool found within your Harness Dashboard. For more information about creating ACH donations on behalf of donors, check out our Add a Donation guide.
FAQs
What are the processing fees for ACH donations?
Stripe's processing fees for ACH are 0.8% or $5, whichever is lesser. You'll find a full breakdown of Harness & Stripe fees here.
How long do ACH donations take to process?
The donation will be initiated once the donor's account has been verified. From there, the donation will take up to 4 business day to clear.
When will an ACH donation be included in my Payout Report?
Because of the longer processing time for ACH donations, the donation will not be included in your Payout Report until after the donation has cleared the donor's bank account, after which, it will be included in the next applicable payout according to your payout schedule with Stripe. Remember too that the donor must first verify their bank account before the donation can be processed, so the average 4 business day processing time is on top of the time it takes for the donor to verify their bank account.
How do ACH donations appear in my Donations Report?
ACH donations will show as Bank Transfer in the Type column.
Why does an ACH donation show as "Pending Verification" in the Type column of my Donations Report?
To use ACH, a donor must first verify their bank account. While waiting for the donor to complete this verification step, the Type column reads "Pending Verification" so that you know the donation hasn't been processed yet because the donor hasn't verified their bank account. Once verified, the Type column will update to show "Bank Transfer"
Will I be notified when an ACH donation is made?
If you have your donation notifications enabled, then we will send you an email notification when the donor's ACH gift clears. Because of the longer processing window and the required verification step, we wait to send the notification until the donation has successfully cleared rather than when it's initially created.
When will the donor be sent a donation receipt?
The donor will receive an emailed donation receipt once their gift has successfully processed & cleared their bank account. If verification is not completed or the donation fails/is declined, they will not be sent a donation receipt.
What code does a donor need to verify to complete the registration of their bank account for ACH? (does not apply to instant verification)
The micro deposit to their bank account will have a code found in the transaction description. The code will be in the formatSM-XXXXand the donor will need to verify this code through the email they received from Stripe.
A donor says they did not receive the email from Stripe to complete their verification step. Can you resend this? (does not apply to instant verification)
Since the email is sent by Stripe, Harness is unable to resend the email to the donor. However, if the donor created a donor account, they can log into their donor account where they can complete the verification step from the Billing section.
A donor says they have not received the micro-deposits needed to verify their bank account. Can you send the micro-deposits? (does not apply to instant verification)
The donor will receive a "Verify your bank account" email from Stripe to complete their ACH setup. In that email, there's a "Verify deposit" link where they would enter the verification code found within the description of the micro-deposit, or the amounts of the micro-deposit, depending on what Stripe is asking them to verify. From there, the donor also has the option to indicate that they did not receive the micro-deposit. Using that option will prompt Stripe to resend the micro-deposit and will also reset the time allowed for the donor to complete their ACH setup.
As an admin, you can also help the donor to have the micro-deposit resent. From the View as Donor tool, go to the Billing section, select the verify account option, then select the option that the donor did not receive the micro-deposit.
Why hasn't an ACH donation been recorded in my CRM through my Harness-managed integration?
ACH donations have a longer processing time on top of first requiring a donor to verify their bank account. Because of this, and because the donor may not complete the verification step or the donation could fail, we do not record the donation to your CRM until the date the donation actually goes through. This date may differ from the donation date shown in your Donations Report.