Why Your Bank Deposit Is Less Than the Donation Amount
A donor gives $100 through your online form. Your bank statement shows a deposit of $97.50. The instinct is to change the Donation Amount in DonorSnap to $97.50 so the two match. Don’t. That edit puts the wrong figure on the donor’s receipt, understates their giving history, and hides a real expense from your books.
This page explains what happens to the money between the donor’s card and your bank, why the donation record always stays at the full amount, and how to see the actual fees on every deposit using the Stripe Payout report. For how the difference is handled in QuickBooks, see Reconciling Stripe Deposits in QuickBooks Online.
Please note that DonorSnap is not able to provide any consulting or advice related to accounting practices or QuickBooks. This page describes how DonorSnap records donations and what its reports show. Your accountant or bookkeeper should make the final decisions about how transactions are recorded.
What Happens to a $100 Donation Processed Through Stripe
The donor’s card is charged the full $100. Stripe subtracts its processing fee and deposits the remainder into your bank account, usually bundled with other transactions from the same day into a single payout. At the nonprofit rate of 2.2% plus $0.30 per transaction, the fee on a $100 gift is $2.50: the donor paid $100, Stripe kept $2.50, and $97.50 reached your bank.
Because part of the fee is a flat amount, smaller gifts give up a larger share. A $10 donation nets $9.48 (5.2% in fees); a $1,000 donation nets $977.70 (2.2%). ACH bank-transfer donations through your forms carry a different fee structure than cards. In every case, the Stripe Payout report shows the actual fee charged on each transaction, so you never need to estimate.
Nothing about this is unique to Stripe. Every card processor charges for the service. What differs is the timing: older merchant accounts often deposited the full amount and billed fees once a month, while Stripe nets the fee out of each transaction as it happens. The annual cost is the same either way — it just arrives as many small deductions instead of one monthly invoice.
Never Change the Donation Amount to Match the Deposit
The Donation Amount field on a record should always equal what the donor was charged. The donor gave $100; the record says $100. Editing it to $97.50 introduces errors in four places at once.
Receipts and donor substantiation
The donor’s card statement says $100. If your acknowledgment says $97.50, the two documents disagree on a form the donor may hand to a tax preparer. For any single contribution of $250 or more, the written acknowledgment is required to state the amount of cash contributed — and the amount contributed is the full charge.
Donor giving history and segmentation
A $1,000 donor recorded at $977.70 can fall below a giving society threshold, drop out of a major gift query, or miss a recognition list. The error compounds every year, and it is silent. Nothing in your reports will flag it.
Your financial statements
When the Donation Amount is reduced, that reduced number is what goes to QuickBooks. Contribution revenue is understated and your processing costs disappear. Most boards want to know what card processing costs for the year, and that number cannot exist if the expense was never recorded.
Form 990 reporting
Contributions are reported gross, with expenses shown separately. If your books carry net amounts, they will not tie to your return.
Processing Fees Are a Business Expense, Not a Reduced Donation
This is the shift in thinking that makes everything else fall into place. Your organization received $100 of contribution revenue and incurred $2.50 of payment processing expense. Those are two separate facts, and both belong in your books.
The comparison that usually helps: if a volunteer collects $100 in cash at an event and spends $2.50 on parking to bring it to the bank, you would not record a $97.50 donation. You would record a $100 donation and a $2.50 expense. Stripe’s fee works the same way — the only difference is that the deduction happens automatically, before the money reaches you.
Where to See Your Fees: The Stripe Payout Report
Go to Online Forms > Stripe Payout in DonorSnap. The report lists every payout Stripe has sent to your bank, one row per deposit, with the three numbers your bookkeeper needs:
- Donation Amount — the gross total the donors gave
- Fees — what Stripe kept
- Deposit Amount — what actually landed in your bank account
Totals for the date range appear at the bottom of the grid. Each row also shows the payout Date/Time, the Stripe Account it came from (useful if your organization has more than one Stripe account connected), and the Stripe Payout Reference, which begins with po_. That reference comes directly from Stripe and never changes, so it is the reliable way to tie a bank deposit to a specific set of donations months or years later.
Use the column menus to filter and sort, and Save Settings to keep your preferred view.
Seeing which donations make up a deposit
Click the arrow at the left of any payout row to expand it. You will see every transaction inside that deposit: the charge date, donation amount, fee, deposit portion, donor first and last name, donation date, accounting code, and whether the transaction has been Posted as a donation record in DonorSnap. The expanded rows subtotal to the payout amount.
This answers the most common question about online giving: a $470.10 deposit is not one gift, and this is where you see exactly which gifts it contains.
Exporting the report
Export to Excel at the bottom of the page produces a workbook with three tabs:
- Payout — one row per deposit with payout date, Stripe Payout ID, Donation Amount, Stripe Fees, and Amount Deposited. This is the tab to hand to your bookkeeper.
- Balance Transactions — one row per individual transaction, with far more detail: payment method, card brand and last four digits or bank name, the name and email submitted on the form, the transaction date, and the DonorSnap Contact Key and Donation Key that tie the charge back to the record in your database.
- Criteria — the date range and user that generated the report.
The Balance Transactions tab is where to look when a donor calls about a specific charge, or when a deposit does not tie out and you need to find the one transaction causing it.
When the Donor Covers the Processing Fee
If your donation form offers a checkbox letting donors cover processing costs, DonorSnap adds a percentage your organization sets in advance — an approximation of your typical fee, not the exact fee on that transaction. The added amount goes into the same Donation Amount field, so the record shows the full amount charged.
The entire charge is a contribution. The donor receives nothing in return for covering the fee, so there is no benefit to subtract from their deduction. Record and receipt the full amount charged.
An example at a 2.5% cover rate: the donor checks the box on a $100 gift and is charged $102.50. Stripe’s actual fee on $102.50 is $2.56, so $99.94 reaches your bank. The donor’s record and receipt say $102.50. If the percentage overshoots your actual fee, the surplus is simply additional donation; if it undershoots, your organization absorbs slightly more expense. Neither affects the donor.
The Stripe Payout report is the place to check whether your percentage is set sensibly. Compare the Donation Amount and Fees totals over several months to see your real blended rate.
If You Have Been Changing Donation Amounts
Stop doing it on new donations right away. Do not start correcting historical records on your own — changing donation amounts in past fiscal years affects receipts that have already been issued and financial statements that may have been filed or audited.
Bring it to your accountant with two pieces of information: how far back the practice goes, and whether receipts have already been sent for the affected gifts. They will advise on whether to correct prior periods or simply change the practice going forward.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is my bank deposit less than the donation amount? Stripe deducts its processing fee from each transaction before depositing the remainder. At 2.2% + $0.30, a $100 donation arrives as $97.50. The donor still paid $100, and that is what belongs on their record and their receipt. Deposits are also bundled, so one deposit usually covers several donations.
Should I change the Donation Amount in DonorSnap to match the deposit? No. The Donation Amount must always be the full amount the donor was charged. Reducing it puts the wrong figure on the donor’s receipt, understates their giving history, and sends the wrong revenue figure to QuickBooks. The difference between donation and deposit is a processing expense and is handled in QuickBooks, not by editing the donation.
How do I find out which donations are in a Stripe deposit? Go to Online Forms > Stripe Payout and click the arrow to expand the payout row. You will see every transaction in that deposit with the donor’s name, the donation amount, the fee, and the deposit portion, subtotaled to the payout amount.
Where do I find my Stripe processing fees in DonorSnap? Online Forms > Stripe Payout. The report shows Donation Amount, Fees, and Deposit Amount for every payout, with totals for the date range you select. Export to Excel produces a Payout tab summarizing each deposit and a Balance Transactions tab detailing every individual charge.
What amount goes on the donor’s receipt? The full amount charged to their card, including any fee-cover amount they added. Their bank statement will show that figure, and for contributions of $250 or more the written acknowledgment is required to state the amount contributed. A receipt showing the net deposit will not match the donor’s own records.
Does the donor lose the tax deduction for the processing fee? No. The donor contributed the full amount and received nothing in return, so there is nothing to subtract from their deduction. The fee was paid by your organization out of the funds it received, not by the donor.
What if the donor covered the processing fee? Record and receipt the full amount charged. DonorSnap adds the fee-cover percentage to the Donation Amount field, so the record already shows the full charge. The donor received nothing in return for covering the fee, so the entire amount is a contribution.
What does the Posted column mean on the Stripe Payout report? It shows whether that transaction has been loaded into DonorSnap as a donation record. If it has not, the gift is not yet in the donor’s history and has not been receipted. This is the column to check when a donation seems to be missing.
Can I use the Stripe Payout Reference to match deposits in QuickBooks? Yes. The po_ reference comes directly from Stripe and never changes. Putting it in the memo of the QuickBooks deposit gives your bookkeeper and auditor a single value that matches across DonorSnap, Stripe, and your general ledger.
I’ve been entering net amounts. How do I fix it? Stop on new donations immediately, and talk to your accountant before changing anything historical. Correcting prior-year records affects receipts already issued and statements that may have been filed. Bring them two facts: how far back it goes, and whether receipts have already been sent.