Connect Stripe so that supporters can give by card, once or regularly, on your Engage forms. Stripe handles card details and verification; card data never reaches ThirdSectorBee.
Before you start
- Stripe must be switched to Enabled on the Integrations overview. See enable a service first.
- Connecting, continuing onboarding and disconnecting need beehive administrator access (
account:admin:team). Without it the page says “Only a beehive administrator (account:admin:team) can connect, onboard or disconnect Stripe.” and shows no status. - Have your organisation’s details to hand for Stripe’s onboarding: Stripe asks for them, not ThirdSectorBee.
Connect and finish onboarding
- Open Integrations → Stripe. The page is headed Stripe payments.
- Choose Connect with Stripe. You’re taken to Stripe to provide the details it asks for.
- When Stripe sends you back, the page checks your status again. If it hasn’t changed yet, choose Refresh status.
- If the status is Onboarding incomplete, choose Continue onboarding, finish the remaining steps in Stripe and refresh again.
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Not connected | No Stripe account is linked yet |
| Onboarding incomplete | Stripe still needs details from you. Choose Continue onboarding |
| Pending review | You’ve submitted everything and Stripe is reviewing it. Choose Refresh status to check progress |
| Active | Your account can take payments. You can now add a payment field to your Engage forms |
What happens when someone pays
Add a payment field to an Engage form to collect card payments; see build a form. When Stripe confirms a payment, the form submission is completed and recorded in ThirdSectorBee using the amount, currency and date Stripe confirmed, never the amount typed into the form. A failed card payment marks the submission as failed.
For a regular card gift, the first payment completes the submission. Later monthly or annual charges aren’t added by the form. To reconcile them against the supporter’s recurring payment, connect Stripe for reconciliation under Provider connections in Relationships settings, and use Reconciliation.
Stripe doesn’t add touchpoint types, payment methods or custom fields to your beehive, and it doesn’t record consent: ask for consent with a consent question on the form.
Disconnect
When the account is Active, the page offers Disconnect. It acts straight away, without a confirmation step, and your forms can no longer take card payments. Disconnecting doesn’t refund any payment or cancel a supporter’s regular card gift in Stripe: manage those in your Stripe dashboard.
If something goes wrong
| What you see | What to do |
|---|---|
| “Only a beehive administrator (account:admin:team) can connect, onboard or disconnect Stripe.” | Ask someone with account:admin:team to do it |
| “Something went wrong talking to Stripe. Please try again.” or a message from Stripe | Try again; if Stripe gave a reason, act on it in Stripe |
| Stuck on Pending review | Stripe is still checking your details. Refresh later |
| Stuck on Onboarding incomplete | Choose Continue onboarding: Stripe still needs something |
| A form can’t take card payments | Check this page shows Active and the form has a payment field |