Your Stripe payout account
How donation money reaches your church's bank account - the payout account, its verification, and tracking transfers.
Sanctumel never holds your church's money. Each donation goes directly from the donor to a payout account in your church's name, held by our payment provider Stripe, and is then transferred to your bank account. This page explains that account and how it works.
What is the payout account?
When you enable online giving, Sanctumel creates a payout account for your church with Stripe, a world leader in payments (used by millions of organisations). This account is in your church's name: the money passing through it belongs to you; Sanctumel has no access to it.
Verification (one time only)
Like any financial institution, Stripe must verify your organisation's identity (European anti-money-laundering rules). During activation, you are asked for:
- The organisation's details (name, address, company number if applicable).
- The identity of a representative (the pastor or treasurer, with an ID document).
- The IBAN of the church's bank account, where transfers are sent.
Verification usually takes a few minutes to a few days. Until it is complete, donations are accepted but transfers are held by Stripe.
Transfers to your bank
Once verified, Stripe automatically transfers the balance to the church's bank account on a regular schedule (usually daily or weekly, with a few days of bank processing time). Each transfer bundles the net donations of the period.
Info: in Finance, the reconciliation screen matches each transfer received on your bank statement with the donations it contains - your treasurer can check everything, donation by donation.
What it costs
Nothing beyond the commission: the payout account fees are covered by Sanctumel (see Fees and commissions).