Use the Virtual terminal to take a donation on a donor's behalf. For example, when a donor calls and gives you their card details over the phone. You fill in your own donation form for them, inside the backoffice.
The page is for charity and foundation accounts. Fundraiser accounts don't have it.
Who can use the Virtual Terminal?
If you sign in with the charity ID number, you can use it.
If you sign in as a user, you need the Terminal permission. An account admin can give it under Settings › Organization › Users and Permissions. See Create and manage users.
How do I take a donation?
Go to Manage › Donations › Virtual terminal.
Answer Do you have the donor's email address?
Choose Yes if the donor gave you their email.
Choose No if they didn't. No is selected when the page opens.
In Select the donation page or campaign that you'd like to attribute the donation towards, choose where the donation should be recorded:
General - a general donation to your organization.
One of your campaigns. Inactive campaigns show (Not active) after the name.
One of your donation forms.
Your donation form opens on the page. Fill it in with the donor's details, the amount and the payment details.
Complete the donation on the form, just as a donor would.
The donation then appears in Manage › Donations › All donations, under the page or campaign you chose.
The page says that donations processed here have a reduced transaction fee of 1%.
What changes when I answer Yes or No?
Yes | No | |
Email field on the form | Shown. Enter the donor's email. | Hidden. |
Donor's email on the donation | The email you entered. | A unique placeholder address that we create. |
Email confirmation to the donor | Sent, like any online donation. | Not sent to the donor. The placeholder address isn't a real inbox. |
Each donation taken with No gets its own placeholder address. This keeps donors without an email apart. Otherwise, two donations with the same email are treated as the same donor, and the second name replaces the first. See Why do two of my donations suddenly have the same name?.
Which payment methods can I use?
The form shows the same payment options as the page or campaign you chose. The Virtual Terminal is meant for taking a card payment on the donor's behalf.
Did you receive the donation another way, such as a check, a bank transfer or cash? Don't charge it here. Record it with Manage › Donations › Add a donation instead. See Manually adding an offline donation.
Will the donor get a confirmation or receipt?
You answered Yes: the donor gets your usual email confirmation, the one you set up for that form or campaign. See Creating custom email confirmations.
You answered No: the donor doesn't get an email from us. To give them a receipt, open Manage › Donations › All donations, find the donation and use Receipt in the Action column. Then send or print it yourself.
Common questions
The form didn't appear. Choose a page or campaign in the list. The form loads only after you choose one.
I chose the wrong answer to the email question. Change the answer before you fill in the form. The form reloads, so start filling it in again.
I can't open the Virtual terminal page. You're signed in as a user without the Terminal permission. Ask your account admin to add it.