Connecting your Stripe account (Pro and Political)

Who this is for

Pledgix Pro and Pledgix Political campaigns run on your organization's own payment gateway rather than Pledgix's built-in processing. If your gateway is Stripe, your existing Stripe account gets connected to your campaign — and from then on, donations settle directly into your Stripe account. Pledgix never holds your money on this model.

(If you're on a Pledgix Go or Pledgix One campaign, this article doesn't apply — see How you receive the money you raise instead.)

Before you start

• You need an active Stripe account for your organization. If you don't have one yet, create it at stripe.com first — Stripe will take you through its own identity and banking verification.
• Gateway connections are initiated by the Pledgix team — there's no self-serve "connect Stripe" button in your settings. Your campaign super admin can view the connection status and refresh it, but starting or switching a connection is handled with our staff.
• Pro and Political campaigns are set up with the help of our team — if you requested one through the campaign wizard, we'll review it and guide you through gateway setup.

Connecting your account

1. The Pledgix team sends a "Connect with Stripe" invitation to the campaign creator's email. The link is single-use and expires after a set time — if yours has lapsed, just ask and we'll send a fresh one.
2. Opening the link takes you to Stripe's own secure authorization page.
3. Sign in to your Stripe account (or create one) and approve the connection.
4. Stripe sends you back to Pledgix, the connection is saved and assigned to your campaign automatically, and your connection status appears.

Pledgix never sees your Stripe password — the entire authorization happens on Stripe's site.

Connection statuses

• Enabled — your Stripe account is authorized and able to accept charges. Donations flow immediately.
• Onboarding — you've completed Stripe's form, and Stripe is finishing its own checks before enabling charges.
• Pending — the link is established, but Stripe still needs something from you (usually remaining verification details on the Stripe side). Log in to your Stripe dashboard to complete any outstanding requirements.

If your status seems stale, your campaign super admin can use the manual status refresh — it re-queries Stripe on the spot, and Stripe's own updates also flow through automatically.

How you get paid on this model

Because donations settle straight into your Stripe account:

• Payout timing is governed by Stripe, following the payout schedule configured in your Stripe dashboard (daily, weekly, or monthly to your bank).
• Pledgix's platform fee is collected automatically on each donation as an application fee — nothing to reconcile or pay separately.
• Refunds and disputes are handled through your own Stripe account, with your Stripe balance.

Tip: Keep your Stripe account healthy — respond to any Stripe verification requests promptly. If Stripe pauses charges on your account, your campaign's donation processing pauses with it.

Not on Stripe?

Some Pro and Political campaigns are connected through Pledgix's Sola processing partner instead, with a merchant account boarded in your organization's name. The setup is likewise handled with our team, and the same principle applies: donations settle to your organization's own account.

Disconnecting or switching

If you ever need to disconnect your Stripe account or switch gateways, contact our team through Help & Support. Connection changes affect live donation processing, so we handle them together to avoid any downtime for your donors.