NGP VAN Payments in ActionKit¶
Overview¶
NGP VAN Payments is a new donation platform, now available in ActionKit. Powered by Stripe, NGP VAN Payments offers great rates out of the box -- 3.25% introductory pricing -- and Stripe’s secure payment experience, optimized to drive conversions and help you raise more money for your organization.
Unlike other payment processors supported by ActionKit such as Braintree, you create and manage your NGP VAN Payments account entirely within ActionKit. You can create an account through the ActionKit admin and then run reports on your data without leaving the tool. And it’s all backed by Stripe’s cutting-edge platform – the industry leader in payment processing.
We're working hard to make this the most competitive fundraising platform available to your campaigns – with plans to expand payment types, add support for one-click donations, and more in the coming months.
Get Started¶
You can create NGP VAN Payments accounts in ActionKit and run reports on your account and transactions, all without leaving the tool.
Here's how to get started:
- Create an NGP VAN Payments accounts for your organization.
- Create a donation page using the new account, and process real charges for testing and reporting purposes.
- Run reconciliation, balance, and payments list reports for your NGP VAN Payments account.
- To use PayPal on NGP VAN Payments pages, configure a PayPal account for use with ActionKit.
Account List¶
The NGP VAN Payments Account List shows the accounts that already exist in your instance. It's also where you start the process of creating a new account.
Navigate to the account list from the Pages tab, click the Donations drop-down on the sidebar, and then "NGP VAN Payments".
For each account, you'll see the account name and the following details:
Bank Account - The external bank account of your organization that receives payouts.
Charges Enabled - Whether this account can be used to collect donations. For accounts that are incomplete, charges will not be enabled.
Payouts Enabled - Whether this account can pay out to the bank account of your organization. For accounts that don't have an external bank account configured, payouts will not be enabled.
Account Status - 'OK' if there are no issues with the account, otherwise lists any issues will be listed.
Onboarding¶
To create an NGP VAN Payments account, go to the NGP VAN Payments Account List by clicking "NGP VAN Payments" from the sidebar of the Pages dash.
Once you click "New NGP VAN Payments account", You'll be asked for some basic details, such as your organization's name and address. To complete the process, a representative of your organization, such as an Executive Director or Senior Manager, must provide their personal details and confirm their identity. Your bank details will also be necessary to receive payouts from your NGP VAN Payments account.
If you'd previously started to sign up for an account, you can pick up where you left off by clicking "Finish account setup". For completed accounts, click "Update account" to update contact or address details.
Only NGP VAN Payments accounts created through ActionKit can be used on ActionKit. Stripe or NGP VAN Payments accounts created on different platforms can't be brought to ActionKit.
Payouts¶
Donations, less processing fees, are added to the balance of your NGP VAN Payments account.
Payouts are made from your NGP VAN Payments account to your bank account on a 2-day rolling basis.
Reporting¶
Balance, reconciliation, and payments-list reporting gives you a clear view of what's happening with your donations.
With each report type, specify the dates and select an account.
The balance and reconciliation report pages both start with the same Balance Summary.
Reconciliation¶
The reconciliation report then has sections on payout reconciliation and ending balance reconciliation.
- Payout reconciliation: breaks down the balance summary's total payouts, including a downloadable list of the charges that went into each payout during the dates of the report.
- Ending balance reconciliation: breaks down the balance summary's ending balance, including a downloadable list of charges that haven't been paid out yet.
Balance¶
The balance report then has sections on balance change from activity and payouts.
- Balance change from activity: breaks down the balance summary's account activity, including a downloadable list of each action (charge, refund, transfer) except payouts.
- Payouts: breaks down the balance summary's total payouts, including a downloadable list of payouts during the dates of the report.
Payments List¶
Use the Payments List to see details on all payments that happened between the dates of your report. This screen shows basic details about each charge, including date, status (succeeded, refunded), amount, and basic details of the donor.
Click a row for more details about the donation and the donor, or to initiate a refund.
Donation Pages¶
Once you've created an NGP VAN Payments account, you'll be able to configure donation pages to use the account. Donation pages using NGP VAN Payments work the same as other donation pages, however, only US / USD donations are supported at this time.
Note
Don't use NGP VAN Payments pages for public-facing fundraising yet, an upcoming release will introduce new templates for these pages.
Secure donations can be made today via NGP VAN Payments and the Original templateset, however we suggest you do not use NGP VAN Payments on live pages yet. An upcoming release will include a new donation template exclusive to NGP VAN Payments, which will utilize Stripe functionality for the donation form and PCI compliance and take advantage of Stripe's functionality and optimizations. At that point donation pages using an NGP VAN Payments account will automatically use the new templates.