Frequently Asked Questions

Create a free account, enter your organization's details, and you can start using your records, people directory and member hub the same day. To receive online giving, you complete a merchant application so donations can deposit directly to your church's bank account. StewardKit walks you through it in plain church language, field by field.

Not at all. StewardKit is designed for ministry leaders, not developers. The admin dashboard is intuitive and easy to navigate. You can configure funds, manage donors, generate reports, and customize your giving page without writing a single line of code.

Your account, people records and giving page take minutes. The merchant application takes about 15 minutes with your documents ready (your EIN, a signing officer's details, and a bank account), and approval usually follows within a few business days. You can set up everything else while you wait.

Yes. The smart importer reads the CSV your current platform exports, with no rigid template to fill in. It works out the columns, flags anything ambiguous for review, and brings your people and households across cleanly. Giving history from your old platform stays accessible there, and all new activity is tracked in StewardKit from day one.

StewardKit supports truly anonymous donations. When a donor gives anonymously, the gift is recorded and counted, but it appears as "Anonymous Donor" in your organization's reports and dashboards; leadership never sees the giver's name. We still collect the donor's email address so we can send them a tax receipt directly. Your ministry honors the donor's privacy while they keep the documentation they need.

Yes. During checkout, donors can choose to add a small amount to their gift to cover the processing fee. This is entirely optional and clearly disclosed. When a donor covers the fee, 100% of their intended gift amount goes to your organization.

All major credit and debit cards (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover) plus ACH bank transfers, which carry a lower fee and suit larger or recurring gifts. Payments are processed on secure, PCI-compliant infrastructure, and card numbers are tokenized so they never touch StewardKit or your church.

Donors can set up recurring gifts on a weekly, biweekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly schedule. Gifts process automatically on the donor's chosen schedule, and each one generates the same receipt and reporting as a one-time donation. Donors can update or cancel their recurring gifts at any time through their donor portal.

Yes. Each donor has access to a self-service portal where they can view their giving history, download tax receipts, update their payment method, and manage recurring gifts. Donors access the portal through a secure magic link sent to their email, no password required.

Yes. StewardKit includes a tag designer where you lay out printable NFC tag artwork with your colors and logo, exported as a vector file for any tag printer. Each tag carries a smart link, so a tap opens your giving page (or your member hub, a connect card, or an event), and you can repoint what a tag does at any time without touching the physical tag. QR codes work the same way for phones without a tap.

Donations deposit directly to your church's bank account at their full amount: nothing is withheld per gift. Processing fees are settled once a month as a single, separate debit, which makes reconciliation straightforward: the deposit matches the giving, and the fee is one line your treasurer can check.

Yes. This is one of StewardKit's distinctive features. You can configure your giving page to be available only on Sundays, specific days of the week, or keep it open 24/7. This is especially valuable for organizations that emphasize Lord's Day giving or want to align online giving with their worship schedule.

You can create as many designated funds as your organization needs: general fund, missions, building fund, benevolence, and more. Each fund can have its own name, description, and optional goal amount. Donors select which fund to give to during checkout, and all reporting can be filtered by fund.

StewardKit supports fund-level goals, which work well for capital campaigns and special offerings. You can set a target amount for any fund and track progress over time. Detailed reporting shows you who has given, how much has been raised, and how close you are to your goal.

Absolutely. StewardKit is hosted on Google Cloud Platform with enterprise-grade security. All data is encrypted in transit (TLS) and at rest. Your organization's data is isolated and never shared with other organizations. We perform regular security reviews and follow industry best practices for data protection.

Payments run on CardPointe, a platform from Fiserv, one of the largest payment processors in the world and PCI Level 1 certified. Card numbers are tokenized by the processor at the moment of entry: StewardKit and your church never see or store them. Your donors' financial information is protected by the same infrastructure that processes payments for banks.

Because payment fields are hosted and tokenized by the processor, sensitive card data never touches StewardKit's servers. This is the simplest and most secure compliance posture: the processor handles the heavy lifting for payment security, so your organization can accept donations with confidence.

The Free plan is genuinely free: no monthly fee, no trial that expires, and everything a church needs to receive and record giving, manage people, and run a member site. The Growth plan adds coordination tools like kids check-in and a lower processing rate for a monthly subscription. Current prices and rates are always on the pricing page.

None. There are no setup fees and no StewardKit cut on top of processing: the processing rate you see on the pricing page is the whole per-gift cost. On the Free plan, processing fees are the only cost of using StewardKit at all.

Card gifts are 2.9% + 30¢ on the Free plan and 2.4% + 30¢ on Growth. Bank transfers (ACH) are 1.0% + 30¢ on Free and 0.8% + 30¢ on Growth. Donors can optionally cover the fee at checkout so your organization receives the full gift.

Yes. Every new organization can try Growth free. The trial starts from your dashboard, and the trial length and current price are shown on the pricing page. If you decide not to continue, you move to Free and keep all of your data, your donors, and your giving page.

You move to the Free plan. You do not lose your data, your donors, your giving page or your records. Growth features pause, and everything you built with them is waiting if you come back. Your giving keeps working the whole time.

During checkout, donors can optionally add a small tip to support StewardKit's development and operations. This is entirely voluntary: donors can set the amount to zero or skip it altogether. The platform support amount is clearly separated from the donation and is not tax deductible. It does not affect the donor's gift to your organization in any way.

Yes. StewardKit provides each organization with a unique giving page URL that you can link to from your website, email newsletters, or social media. You can also embed the giving page directly into your site for a seamless experience. The giving page is fully responsive and works beautifully on desktop and mobile devices.

A public API with outbound webhooks is on our roadmap. Most organizations find that the built-in tools (reporting, donor management, exports, and the giving page) cover everything they need, and your data is always exportable. If you have a specific integration need, reach out and tell us about it.

StewardKit works in all modern browsers including Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge. The giving page is fully responsive and optimized for mobile devices, so your donors can give from any smartphone or tablet. We recommend keeping your browser up to date for the best experience.