How Churches & Nonprofits Use Studio for Donations

Studio is a donation platform built around Stripe Connect — every organization (church, ministry, nonprofit, agency) connects their own Stripe account, and funds flow donor → Stripe → your bank directly. Studio never holds donor money, never needs your banking credentials, and doesn't require a separate merchant account. The entire money path lives inside your Stripe.

What You Get

• Public donation page at /donate/your-slug with customizable branding
• 6 pre-built form templates — Simple Tithe, Multi-Fund, Campus-Aware, Campaign Goal, Missions, Memorial
• One-time and recurring giving — monthly, quarterly, or annual
• Funds — split gifts across categories (General, Missions, Building, Youth)
• Campuses — for multi-location orgs, donors pick which campus
• Designations — "In Memory Of", "In Honor Of", capital campaigns
• Cover-the-fee option — donors can cover processing so you keep 100%
• Fundraising goals with a public progress thermometer
• Donor self-service portal — tokenized links let recurring donors update amounts, swap cards, or cancel without an account
• Offline donation recording for Sunday cash, mailed checks, Zelle, crypto
• Year-end tax statements aggregated per donor
• Unlimited donations on every plan — no per-transaction caps, no monthly limits

What It Costs

• Stripe fee — standard 2.9% + $0.30 per card transaction (1.5% for ACH). Reduced nonprofit rates available with Stripe.
• Studio platform fee — a small percentage per donation (plan-dependent). Waived on some plans.
• No subscription caps on donation volume — you can take $10 or $10M through Studio on any plan.

Your Roadmap — Signup to Live Donations

Day 1 — Signup + Connect Stripe (~20 minutes)

• Sign up for Studio, complete the 5-step onboarding (role, team size, org name, services, how you heard)
• Go to Settings → Payments → Connect Stripe
• Either reuse your existing Stripe account (if you've used it with Eventbrite, QuickBooks, etc.) or create a new one
• Stripe walks you through KYC — EIN, bank routing, beneficial owner info (federally required for all payment processors)
• ~5 minutes if you have your EIN and bank info handy

Day 1 — First Donation Page Live (~20 minutes)

• Pick one of the 6 form templates
• Customize branding — logo, color, background image
• Set amount presets and a minimum
• Publish — your public URL is /donate/your-slug
• Share via link, QR code, HTML embed, or a Studio-generated button for your website

Week 1 — Operational Setup

• Create funds — General, Missions, Building, Youth, or whatever categories you track
• Add campuses if multi-location — donors pick which one at checkout
• Define designation options — reusable list for "In Memory Of", "In Honor Of", capital campaigns
• Turn on cover-the-fee if you want donors to have the option

Month 1 — Fundraising + Operations

• Set fundraising goals per fund — public thermometer renders on your donation page
• Monitor recurring donors — manage subscriptions, handle failed payments
• Record offline gifts — Sunday cash, mailed checks — counts toward totals with no processing fee
• Issue refunds when needed (full or partial, platform fee refunded too)
• Monitor payouts in Donations → Payouts — typically 2 business days rolling to your bank

Year-End

• Pull aggregated year-end statements for all donors — they get a single receipt covering every gift
• Export donation data for your accountant or 990

What Studio Is Not

• Not a custodian — we never touch donor money
• Not a merchant account — Stripe is; you own it
• Not a CRM — though we track donor giving history, we're not a replacement for specialized donor-management software like Blackbaud or Bloomerang (yet)
• Not tax-exempt software — we don't file your 990. We generate donor receipts and statements; your accountant handles the rest.

Common Questions

• "Can we reuse our existing Stripe?" Yes — one Stripe account can power multiple platforms.
• "Can donors give without creating an account?" Yes — all donation pages are public. Recurring donors get a tokenized self-service link via email.
• "Do we need a website?" No — your donation page IS your page. Or embed it into an existing site.
• "Can we migrate from Givelify / Tithe.ly / PayPal?" Contact us for a CSV import plan. Recurring migrations require donor re-authorization (Stripe limitation, not ours).
• "501(c)(3) required?" Not for Studio, but Stripe's nonprofit rate requires it.