Refunds and Chargebacks

This article walks treasurers and church admins through what happens when an online donation is refunded, when a donor disputes a charge, or when a card issuer files a chargeback. TimelyChurch now handles the heavy lifting for you: you can issue a refund directly from the donation page, and the platform automatically syncs the change into your records — donation, allocations, accounting transactions, pledge fulfilment, and giving statements all update within seconds. No manual cleanup needed.

Refunds auto-sync.

When a Stripe online gift is refunded — either with the in-app Refund button or from the Stripe Dashboard — TimelyChurch processes the refund and then:

1. Marks the donation as refunded, recording the refund amount, reason, and status.
2. Reverses the pledge fulfilment by the refund amount.
3. Creates offsetting accounting entries dated today (we never edit historical reconciled or closed-year entries — instead we post a contra-entry that nets out the refund in current-period reports while preserving the original audit trail).
4. Reverses the platform fee proportionally and credits your books.
5. Excludes the refunded donation from giving statements automatically — donors won't see refunded gifts on tax-deductible records.

The in-app Refund button is available on the donation detail page for any Stripe online gift that hasn't already been refunded.

When You Might Need to Refund a Donation

Common scenarios:

• A donor entered the wrong amount (e.g., $1,000 instead of $100).
• A donor double-clicked and was charged twice.
• A donor designated the gift to the wrong fund and asked the church to redo it.
• A donor requests a refund for personal reasons (within your church's refund policy).
• A pastoral or fraud concern requires reversing a charge.

For a Stripe online gift, the easiest path is the in-app Refund button (see below) — it issues the Stripe refund and updates all your records in one step. For offline/manual gifts (cash, check, or any donation recorded by hand with no Stripe charge), there is no card payment to reverse, so you adjust the record directly with Edit or Delete.

How to Issue a Refund in TimelyChurch (Stripe Online Gifts)

1. Go to Finances > Giving in the sidebar.
2. Search by donor name, email, or Giving ID (e.g., DON-2026-00123) and open the donation detail page.
3. Click the Refund button at the top of the page. (This button only appears for Stripe online gifts that haven't already been refunded.)
4. In the Refund modal, leave the amount blank to refund the full amount the church received, or enter a smaller figure for a partial refund.
5. Optionally choose a reason (Requested by donor, Duplicate charge, or Fraudulent).
6. Click Issue Refund to confirm.

TimelyChurch sends the refund to Stripe, which returns the money to the donor's original payment method (typically 5–10 business days), and then automatically updates the donation, fund allocations, pledge fulfilment, campaign totals, accounting entries, and giving statement.

About the processing fee: Card processing fees are charged by Stripe (the payment processor), not TimelyChurch, and Stripe does not return its processing fee on a refund. The refund is therefore capped at the net amount the church actually received (gross minus the Stripe fee). The platform fee TimelyChurch would otherwise take is returned proportionally and credited back to your books.

How to Issue a Refund from the Stripe Dashboard (Alternative)

You can also refund from Stripe directly — the result syncs back into TimelyChurch the same way.

1. Open the Stripe Dashboard. The link is on the Finances > Stripe Connect settings page in TimelyChurch (look for "Stripe Dashboard").
2. Navigate to Payments and locate the payment. You can search by amount, date, or the donor's email.
3. Click into the payment, click Refund payment, choose Full refund or Partial refund, and confirm.
4. Stripe processes the refund back to the donor's original payment method.

When the refund completes, Stripe notifies TimelyChurch, which runs the same automatic cascade described above.

What TimelyChurch Updates Automatically After a Refund

This used to be the part that surprised new treasurers — in older versions, none of this updated and you had to clean it up by hand. That is no longer the case for Stripe online gifts. When a Stripe gift is refunded (via the in-app button or the Stripe Dashboard), the following are all handled for you:

In short: for a Stripe online gift, refunding is a one-step action and your books stay accurate on their own. You no longer have to manually delete the donation, reverse accounting entries, or re-issue a statement.

Receipt email already sent. A receipt email that was already delivered cannot be unsent. If a donor has a receipt for a gift that was later returned, you may want to send them a short note. Their year-end giving statement, however, will correctly exclude the refunded amount.

Offline and Manual Gifts (No Stripe Charge)

The in-app Refund button and the automatic sync apply only to Stripe online gifts — gifts that have a Stripe charge on file. For cash, check, or other manually recorded donations, there is no card payment to reverse. To correct one of those:

1. Go to Finances > Giving and open the donation.
2. To void the whole gift, use Delete Donation (in the "More actions" menu). This soft-deletes the record and removes its allocations and related accounting transactions. Reconciled transactions are preserved to protect your reconciliation history.
3. To reduce the amount (a partial correction), click Edit, lower the total, and adjust the fund allocations to match. Add a note explaining the change and the date.

If you deleted a manual donation whose accounting transaction was already reconciled, that transaction is preserved. In that case, go to Finances > Accounting, find the income transaction tied to the donation's Giving ID, and create an offsetting expense or adjustment entry for the corrected amount, dated when the correction was made, with a clear description.

Chargebacks

A chargeback is when a donor disputes the charge directly with their card issuer (instead of asking your church for a refund). The card network reverses the funds from your church's Stripe balance, and Stripe charges a dispute fee regardless of the outcome.

How TimelyChurch Handles Chargebacks

TimelyChurch is notified by Stripe when a dispute changes and reacts automatically:

• When a dispute is opened, the donation is marked refund-pending so it stops counting toward giving totals, and any linked pledge and campaign tallies are reversed for the duration of the dispute. Church admins are alerted in-app.
• When a dispute is closed:
  • If the church won, the refund-pending state is cleared and the donation, pledge, and campaign totals are restored.
  • If the church lost, the funds were withdrawn by Stripe, the donation stays marked refunded, and the matching offsetting accounting entries are posted so the ledger reflects the lost funds.

You'll still want to keep an eye on the Stripe Dashboard, which shows the dispute reason and lets you respond, but TimelyChurch keeps your donation, pledge, campaign, and accounting records in sync as the dispute progresses.

Responding to a Chargeback

1. Check Stripe immediately — The Stripe Dashboard shows the dispute reason (e.g., "fraudulent," "duplicate," "product not received"). For donations, "fraudulent" is the most common.
2. Decide whether to dispute or accept:
   • If the donor genuinely intended to give and there has been a misunderstanding, contact the donor directly. They can withdraw the chargeback through their bank.
   • If you accept the chargeback, Stripe debits your account and the case closes. You will lose the funds plus the dispute fee.
   • If you dispute, you submit evidence in Stripe (donation record from TimelyChurch, receipt email, prior giving history, donor's contact details, fund allocation, etc.). Stripe forwards your evidence to the card network.
3. No manual cleanup needed — Whether you dispute and lose or accept, TimelyChurch automatically brings the donation, allocation, accounting entry, pledge, and statement into alignment when Stripe closes the dispute. Just confirm the records look right afterward.

Preventing Chargebacks

• Make sure your church name and statement descriptor in Stripe is recognizable. A vague descriptor leads donors to think the charge is fraud.
• Send a prompt receipt email so donors have a record (TimelyChurch does this automatically when an email is provided).
• Keep your giving page branded so donors clearly know whom they gave to.
• Respond quickly to any donor inquiry about a charge. A 24-hour reply often heads off a chargeback.

Document Internally

Even though the records sync automatically, it's good practice to note significant refunds and chargebacks in your church's finance log:

• Original Giving ID
• Refund or chargeback date
• Amount
• Reason
• Who authorized the refund (for in-app refunds, this is recorded with the admin's user account)

This protects the church if the refund is ever questioned by the donor, an auditor, or a board member.

Related Articles

• Stripe Processing Fees
• Setting Up Online Giving
• Recording Donations
• Giving Statements