Donations Setup & Merchant Onboarding

The Donations Setup section guides you through enabling your church's online giving page. This includes completing merchant onboarding—the process of connecting your church bank account to our payment processor—customizing your donation page appearance, setting up funds for targeted giving, and monitoring your merchant capabilities as they activate.

Understanding Merchant Onboarding

Merchant onboarding is the process that allows your church to accept donations directly from your members and website visitors. During onboarding, you'll provide your church's legal information, banking details, and other details required by payment processors and regulatory bodies. This process is handled securely and complies with all financial regulations. Once approved, your church becomes a "merchant" capable of processing donations independently.

Requirements Checklist

Before you can enable online giving, ensure you have the following information ready: your church's legal name and Employer Identification Number (EIN), your church's primary mailing address, a bank account in your church's name (checking or savings), and a designated church administrator email for merchant communications. Some payment processors may require additional information such as annual giving volume estimates or details about your church governance. We'll guide you through each requirement step-by-step.

The Onboarding Wizard

The Donations Setup page features a multi-step wizard that walks you through the onboarding process. Step 1: Church Information captures your legal name, EIN, mailing address, and contact details. Step 2: Banking Information collects your bank account routing and account numbers—this is required to deposit donations into your account. Step 3: Review & Submit allows you to verify all information before sending it to the payment processor for approval.

The wizard is designed to save your progress, so you can close it and return later without losing any entered information. This is particularly helpful if you need to gather documents like your EIN letter or recent bank statements before completing the application.

Setting Your Donation Slug

Your donation slug is the custom URL where donors access your online giving page. For example, if your slug is "mytown-church," your donation URL will be "donations.1stflock.com/mytown-church." Choose a slug that's easy to remember, reflects your church name, and is appropriate for sharing in bulletins, emails, and on your website. Slugs must be unique across the 1st Flock platform and can only contain letters, numbers, and hyphens.

Customizing Your Donation Page

Once your slug is configured, you can customize the appearance of your donation page to match your church's branding. Upload your church logo, select primary and secondary brand colors, add a custom welcome message, and configure which funds donors can give to. The donation page preview updates in real-time as you make changes, so you can see exactly how it will look to donors before going live.

Configuring Funds

Funds allow donors to designate their gifts to specific areas of ministry. For example, you might create funds for general operating, missions, youth programs, building fund, and benevolence. When a donor contributes, they can select which fund(s) to support, and their contribution is tracked separately in your finance system. You can add, edit, or remove funds at any time. Each fund displays with its own progress bar if you set fundraising goals.

Platform Fee Transparency

When donors give through your online page, a small platform fee is applied to cover payment processing and service costs. The Donations Setup section shows a clear breakdown of what this fee is for your tier and any promotional fee rates that may apply. Donors can see this fee before confirming their donation, and it's deducted from the gross amount they contribute, so your church receives the net amount you were shown.

Accessing Your Merchant Onboarding Link

If you need to revisit your merchant application after submitting it—to correct information or provide additional documentation—the setup page provides a direct link to your merchant portal. You can also use this link to check the status of your application, download approved documents, or make updates as your church's situation changes.

Monitoring Merchant Capabilities

As your merchant account is approved, various capabilities activate in stages. Donations enabled means your church can accept online donations. Recurring donations enabled allows donors to set up automatic weekly, monthly, or annual gifts. Higher processing limits may activate once your account has a track record of successful transactions. The setup dashboard shows which capabilities are currently active and which may be pending based on your account status and activity.

Going Live with Your Donation Page

Once merchant onboarding is complete and your donation capabilities are activated, your donation page is ready to share. You'll receive a confirmation email, and your custom slug will begin directing to your live, publicly accessible donation page. Share the URL in your weekly bulletin, email communications, on your website, and on social media. Donors can begin contributing immediately.

Updating Your Merchant Information

If your church's legal name, banking details, or other key information changes, you can update your merchant profile from the Donations Setup page. Some changes may require re-approval by the payment processor, while others (like your church logo or donation message) take effect immediately.

Tracking Donation Funds and Reports

The Donations Setup page includes summary reports showing total donations received, breakdown by fund, recurring donor count, and average gift size. You can export detailed donation records for accounting and tax purposes. If you need to issue tax receipts to donors, the system can generate and email them automatically.

Need Help?

If you have questions during onboarding or need clarification on any requirement, our support team is available at support@1stflock.com. We can walk you through the process, help gather necessary documents, or troubleshoot any issues with your application status.