At Join It, we understand the importance of flexibility in payment processing for organizations. While our primary online payment partner is Stripe, offering seamless functionality for recurring payments, we acknowledge that some organizations may prefer alternative options due to various reasons, such as board approval requirements or existing partnerships with other processors. So, we've developed a couple work arounds to support Offline Payments, if Stripe isn't an option for your Organization.
Alternatives to Stripe
Option 1: Enable Members to Join and Follow up with Payment Through an Alternative Means
For organizations unable to utilize Stripe, we provide easy workarounds to accommodate offline payments:
Create a Membership Type: Designate a membership type as "free," with a clear indication in the description that payment is required before full activation.
Manage Pending Status: Memberships can be set with a "Pending" status, allowing admins to follow up with members for payment via alternative methods, including cash, checks, or PayPal. To do this, when setting up the Membership Type, you'll want to click on the tool that says 'Display advanced options for adding membership types' (See screenshots below)
Once the payment is in hand you can switch the status to 'Active'
Screenshot #1
Screenshot #2
Option 2: Manual Member Addition
Alternatively, administrators can manually add members and note received payments:
Add Members Manually: Access the member table and utilize the "Add Member" function. More information on this can be found here: http://support.joinit.com/setting-up-your-organization/how-do-i-manually-add-a-member
Select Payment Option: Choose from various payment options, including offline methods like cash or checks, online payments via Stripe, or opt for no payment at all.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I Use Another Payment Processor?
Unfortunately, Join It exclusively supports Stripe for online membership payments. Our decision to partner with Stripe is rooted in its robust support for recurring payments, which ensures a seamless experience for both organizations and their members. While we acknowledge the potential hurdles in adopting a new payment processor, we assure you that the operational overhead of integrating with Stripe is relatively low, thanks to its intuitive user experience design.
How Can I Record in an Offline Payment for a Member?
You can find step-by-step instructions on recording an offline payment for a Member here: https://support.joinit.com/en/articles/990137-record-an-offline-payment
How Can I Pass Service Fees onto Members?
There are two methods for passing service fees onto members:
Incorporating Fees into Membership Pricing: Add the fee amount directly to your membership type's pricing so that members pay it along with their membership fee.
Setting Up Taxes: Another option is to add a tax onto memberships, ensuring that the fees are transparently passed along to members during payment.
Setting Up Taxes
Detail the process of setting up taxes for service fees:
Navigate to the Taxes & Settings page under the Finances tab in your dashboard.
Complete the form to create your specific tax rule and click 'Set Tax'.
Important: If you don't want the fees to be included in the membership amount, uncheck the option to do so under 'Include Tax'.
Once configured, the tax will be visible to members when they pay for their membership, ensuring transparency in fee distribution.
As always, if you have any questions or concerns--feel free to chat us!