What are the giving transaction fees?

PayPal & Credit Card Fees

ChMeetings charges no giving transaction fees whatsoever.

You pay no fees for in-person, check or cash giving that you record manually, under New Contribution.

If you set up online giving, you will not pay fees to ChMeetings, but you will need a payment processor to collect funds online. So, the payment processor you choose will charge the fees. We integrate with Stripe, Paystack and PayPal. Their fees may change, so the best way to know them is to visit the pricing page of your chosen payment provider:

ACH Fees

Stripe ACH payments cost 0.80%, capped at $5, with no monthly or verification fees. So, a $100 payment incurs a $0.80 fee; any payments above $625 cost $5.

Why can’t I see the transactions I need under All Contributions?

This may be because your contributions list is filtered. Check the filters on the right side of the screen and make sure there’s none applied. Also, please keep in mind that this list is filtered by default to start from January 1st of the current year. So, for example, if a new year begins and you don’t have any contributions yet, the All Contributions screen won’t display any data. Alternatively, you’ll see the potentially few transactions that have occurred since the beginning of the year. You must filter the list to start from a date in the previous year to see past transactions.

How to record a returned check?

You can record a returned check in the Contributions module using one of these three methods:

1. Add a Negative Contribution

This offsets the original contribution while keeping both entries for record-keeping. ChMeetings supports negative amounts for this purpose. Here are the steps to take:

Navigate to Contributions > New Contribution.
Create a new entry for the same contributor but enter the negative amount equal to the returned check.
In the Notes field, include something like “Check returned”.

2. Edit the Original Contribution to Zero

This method keeps the recorded contribution but effectively nullifies its financial impact. Here's how to edit the record:

Go to Contributions > All Contributions, locate the original contribution, and click Edit.
Change the Amount to 0, and then use the Notes field to explain that the check was returned—e.g., “Amount set to zero – check returned.”
Save your changes.

3. Delete the Original Contribution

If you prefer to remove the entry entirely, go to Contributions > All Contributions, find the original record, and choose Delete.
Please note: Deleted contributions cannot be restored, so you’ll need to add it manually again if needed later.

Why are there contributions missing from statements?

If you expect to see specific contributions on a giver’s statement, and that contribution is not listed, it is because it is not linked to a fund that is marked as tax deductible. Statements are for tax purposes and can only include transactions that are tax deductible.

If you want a specific contribution to be listed on the giver’s statement, you must either edit the contribution and move it to a different fund that is tax deductible; or edit the linked fund and make it tax deductible.

Please keep in mind that the contributions actually need to be tax deductible according to your local legislation. So, it’s important that the funds that you mark as tax deductible only contain tax deductible contributions.

How can I shorten online giving URLs?

There are two ways to shorten your giving URLs:

Set your church URL (subdomain) as a short name in Settings > Account Settings > URL. This will make all your links shorter.
Use services like Bitly or TinyURL to create short links.