External Payments

External Payments allow you to track and manage donations that were processed outside of your connected Stripe account. This feature enables you to maintain a complete record of all donations to your organization, regardless of where they were originally processed.

What Are External Payments?

External Payments are donation records that represent transactions processed through third-party platforms like ActBlue, WePay, EveryAction, or other fundraising services. External payments come from People Import, 'Record a payment' on a profile, the Users API, Zapier, or ActBlue.

Unlike Stripe payments, external payments cannot be refunded through Solidarity Tech, and payouts are handled by the external platform. Only ActBlue and Zapier add them automatically.

Adding External Payments

Via a Person's Profile (Manual Entry)

You can record a cash, check, money order, or other off-platform payment directly from a person's profile.

1. Open the person's profile in the People section
2. In the Dues Membership section, click the + button (Record a payment). The button needs the 'Update Advanced Person Details' permission.
3. Choose a Payment Type. Dues Payment (the default) can update the person's dues dates. Donation records a one-time donation without affecting dues fields.
4. Enter the Amount, Payment Date, and Payment Method
5. For a Dues Payment, also set the required Covers Through date. It can move Paid Dues Expires At later, never earlier.
6. Optionally add a Note and click Record Payment

Via API Integration

You can add external payments with the Users API (Professional plan). When you create or update a person, put the payment in a donation_charge object. The API reference lists its fields.

Via Import Process

You can import external payments in bulk through People Import. Map your CSV columns to Donation Amount and Donation Date (required), and optionally to Donation Source and External Donation ID. When you map any donation field, the Details step asks for a 'Donation Source'. It fills only the rows whose source cell is blank.

Via Zapier Integration

Zapier sends donations from apps such as PayPal and Square into Solidarity Tech with no code. Each Zap run creates or updates the person and can add the donation. The Zapier integration requires a Standard plan or higher.

1. Navigate to Settings → Integrations → Zapier in your Solidarity Tech dashboard
2. Copy your organization's API key from the integration page
3. Visit the Solidarity Tech Zapier app page, connect your Solidarity Tech account, and paste your API key when prompted
4. Create a Zap with your fundraising platform as the Trigger and Solidarity Tech → Create or Update Person as the Action
5. Map the donation fields from your platform to Solidarity Tech

Via ActBlue Integration

The ActBlue integration adds donations to Solidarity Tech automatically as ActBlue processes them. It needs the Standard plan or higher and shows only for US organizations. Each integration has its own credentials and covers an organization or one chapter.

1. Navigate to Settings → Integrations → ActBlue in your Solidarity Tech dashboard
2. Create an integration with New integration. Then click its key icon (View Credentials) and copy the Contributions Webhook URL, the Cancellations Webhook URL, the Username, and the Password.
3. In your ActBlue dashboard:
   • Under Tools, open Integrations > Webhooks
   • Click Create a new webhook and select ActBlue Default
   • Paste the Contributions Webhook URL, not the Cancellations Webhook URL
   • Enter the provided credentials
4. After ActBlue's first webhook, the Activity column shows Last: ... ago instead of Never.

New donors are added to People automatically, and donations are marked with source "ActBlue". Refunds happen in ActBlue. When ActBlue reports a refund, Solidarity Tech records it on the donation.

Where External Payments Appear

To list external payments, open Finances > Payments and pick 'External Donations' in the account menu. The Finances Overview shows them only as separate 'External Today' and 'External Yesterday' amounts.

External payments also appear in the person's activity timeline and in the Dues Membership section of their profile. They count in the 'Recent Donations' tile of the Activity Overview and in the 'Donations' metric of Graphs.

Exporting Payments

The Payments export follows the current view, so open Finances > Payments with 'External Donations' selected before you click 'Export'. The CSV has a Source column (the platform where the donation was processed) and an External? column (whether the payment was processed outside of Stripe).

Refunds

External payments cannot be refunded through Solidarity Tech since they were processed elsewhere. Contact the original platform for refunds.