Give Lively, working through Stripe, our primary payment processor, offers a comprehensive but simplified way of processing donations made directly from a bank account, whether it is a checking, savings or money market account. Importantly, the payment processing fees are low, which allows more of your money to go toward a nonprofit’s critical work. 

Stripe Financial Connections, the Stripe tool that guides the ACH/bank-payment process, partners with thousands of US-based banks and allows you to instantly access your bank account to make your payment. State-of-the-art encryption and data protection measures ensure that your personal information is safe and secure at all times.

How does more of my money make it to the nonprofit with ACH/bank payments?

It's simple: donating by ACH/bank is by far the least expensive payment method. This means that nonprofits get more from your donations, putting more of your contribution to work to fulfill their missions.‍

Through Financial Connections, Stripe takes 0.8% of each ACH/bank transaction, capped at $5 no matter how large the donation. This contrasts with credit cards, which trigger fees between 2.2% and 3.5% of the total transaction and are never capped.

What's an example?

If you donate $1,000 via ACH/bank, the nonprofit will receive $995.

If you make the same donation via credit card, the nonprofit will receive between $965 and $977 of your payment, depending on the type of credit card. That means that $22 to $35 of your donation will be redirected to Stripe and not the nonprofit.

How does it work?

We've made paying via ACH/bank very easy by integrating with Stripe Financial Connections to power ACH direct debit payments.

With Financial Connections, you don't need to remember your bank account and routing numbers, and you don't have to wait several days for verifying micro-deposits to hit your account. All that’s required is your bank’s web login credentials.

Are there limits to ACH/bank payments?

Unfortunately, there are limits to ACH/bank payments. If you attempt a contribution in excess of a limit, you will receive an error message. You should contact the nonprofit directly and explain your desire to donate beyond its current ACH/bank payment limits. The nonprofit can reach out to Stripe and request an increase that accommodates your generosity. 

How long does it take for the ACH/bank payment to go through?

ACH/bank payments typically take about 5-7 business days to process. Once you’ve checked out on a nonprofit’s fundraising page, you will receive an email notification from Give Lively indicating that your payment is pending. Then, when your payment is fully processed after approximately 5-7 business days, you will receive an official receipt, indicating that your payment was a success.

How secure is it?

Give Lively's integration only uses the data necessary to set up your payment for processing through Stripe. Neither Give Lively nor the beneficiary nonprofit ever has direct access to your bank username or password. When Stripe Financial Connections prompts you for this information, you are interacting with your bank through a secure window in Stripe’s system. Learn about our and Stripe’s security practices, as well as what data we collect and how it is used.

Other donation methods

In addition to receiving payments via ACH/bank, nonprofits have the option of offering other payment methods (what you see on the fundraising page is what the nonprofit has opted for):

• all major credit cards or debit cards (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, Diners Club and JCB)
• digital wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay
• PayPal