Connect GoCardless so that supporters can set up a Direct Debit on your Engage forms, and so that the money GoCardless collects is matched against their recurring payments in ThirdSectorBee. You spend less time ticking off bank statements, and only the collections that don’t match need your attention.
Before you start
- GoCardless must be switched to Enabled on the Integrations overview. See enable a service first.
- Seeing the connection needs
relationships:read:fundraisingactivities. Connecting, pausing, changing the date tolerance and deleting need bothrelationships:write:fundraisingactivitiesandrelationships:admin:settings. - Have a GoCardless access token for the account you want to connect, and know whether it’s a live or sandbox account.
- Set up the bank account GoCardless pays into and the payment method you want collections recorded under, in Relationships settings. Both are required.
One GoCardless account can be connected to a beehive.
Connect your account
- Open Integrations → GoCardless.
- Enter a Name for the connection, for example “GoCardless — main account”.
- Paste the Access token. It’s stored securely and never shown again.
- Choose the Environment: Live, or Sandbox for a GoCardless test account.
- Choose the Bank account and Payment method. Every payment that reconciliation creates from this connection is recorded with them.
- Choose Connect GoCardless.
You’ll see “GoCardless connected. Reconciliation will pick it up on the next run.” The connection then appears at the top of the page, and the form is replaced by a note that one account can be connected.
How collections are reconciled
About every six hours, ThirdSectorBee reads the payments GoCardless has collected and matches each one to an expected collection on a supporter’s recurring payment, using the mandate the recurring payment is linked to. A match is recorded as a payment with the connection’s bank account and payment method. Each run re-reads the previous week too, because GoCardless can report collections late; re-reading doesn’t create duplicates.
A collection that can’t be matched becomes an exception for someone to look at, rather than a guess. You’ll find these on the Reconciliation page. The reasons include a mandate that belongs to no recurring payment, no collection due within the date window, an amount that doesn’t match, or two equally good candidates.
Date tolerance (days) sets how far a collection’s date may be from the expected due date and still match. It starts at 5. Change it on the connection and click away from the field to save.
Direct Debits from Engage forms
When a form offers Direct Debit, a supporter choosing a regular gift is sent to GoCardless to authorise the mandate. GoCardless then tells ThirdSectorBee, which creates the recurring payment and records a Direct Debit sign-up completed touchpoint. If the supporter doesn’t finish, a Direct Debit sign-up abandoned touchpoint is recorded instead. When GoCardless reports that a mandate has been cancelled, has expired or has failed, the recurring payment is lapsed. See build a form for adding the Direct Debit option.
These notifications reach ThirdSectorBee through a webhook that has to be set up in your GoCardless dashboard with an address and a signing secret specific to your connection. This page doesn’t yet show that address or let you enter the secret, so ask whoever manages your ThirdSectorBee set-up to complete it. Until it’s in place, Direct Debit sign-ups on your forms won’t create recurring payments in ThirdSectorBee. Reconciliation of collections against existing recurring payments doesn’t depend on the webhook.
GoCardless doesn’t add touchpoint types, payment methods or custom fields when you enable it, and it doesn’t record consent.
Pause or delete the connection
- Turn Enabled off to pause. The connection shows Paused, reconciliation stops reading it, and its settings and mandate links are kept for when you turn it back on.
- Choose the delete icon to remove it.
Deleting stops reconciliation attributing collections for every recurring payment linked through this connection, until each one is linked to another connection. If you only want to stop for now, pause it instead. Confirm in the Delete this connection? dialog by choosing Delete connection.
If something goes wrong
| What you see | What to do |
|---|---|
| “Name, bank account and payment method are all required.” | Fill in all three, adding a bank account or payment method in Relationships settings if the list is empty |
| “A GoCardless connection needs an access token.” | Paste the access token before connecting |
| “Access token not saved” | The connection was created but its token wasn’t stored. Delete the connection and add it again |
| “Failed to load the GoCardless connection.” | Refresh the page; check you hold relationships:read:fundraisingactivities |
| “This beehive has N GoCardless connections…” | Only one is supported, and Direct Debit sign-up on Engage forms fails while there’s more than one. Delete the extras |
| Collections aren’t appearing as payments | Check the connection is Enabled, wait for the next run, then check Reconciliation for exceptions |
| A collection is an “unmatched mandate” exception | Use Link mandate on the Reconciliation page to connect it to the supporter’s recurring payment |