When your ID verification is mandatory to start fundraising with Zeffy
The ID verification process is mandatory for long-term fundraising with Zeffy. It is crucial for us to confirm specific details about your organization to safeguard the security of our users. However, there are situations where you may not need to furnish all the necessary information right away. In such cases, you can initiate payment collection without completing the entire ID verification process.
Canadian Accounts
For Canadian accounts, the ID verification is always mandatory to start accepting payments and payouts on the platform. You will not be able to accept any transactions until your ID verification is fully completed.
A guide to completing your Stripe verification - Canadian Accounts
US Accounts
For US accounts, you will have the opportunity to search for your organization name and EIN from the "organization" dropdown.
My EIN does not feature on the list (Manual EIN verification)
I was able to verify my EIN through the dropdown search (Automatic EIN verification)
➡️ Manual EIN verification
If your EIN cannot be verified through the dropdown options, you will be required to finalize the verification in its entirety to start accepting payments. This means, verifying your EIN number through an upload of an SS-4 or 147C form as well as completing the ID verification for a representative of your account.
Your onboarding checklist will indicate that completing the verification (setting up payments) is required before you can accept your first payment.
For more information, please consult the documentation here: A guide to completing your Stripe verification - US Accounts
➡️ Automatic EIN verification (beta)
If your EIN was automatically verified through the search option, you might be eligible to start accepting payments right away while completing your ID verification at a later time.
Please be aware that the automatic EIN verification feature is currently in beta testing. This means that while some users may successfully verify their EIN through the dropdown search, the feature is not yet universally available to all users. Consequently, even if your EIN is automatically verified, you may still need to complete the full ID verification process to start accepting payments.
You'll know that you are eligible to start fundraising without having completed your ID verification if your onboarding checklist lists "accept your first payment" before "set up payouts."
What this means:
- You can initiate fundraising for amounts up to $2500 without completing your ID verification.
- Once you've accepted your initial payment, you'll have a 90-day window to finalize your ID verification.
- Failure to complete ID verification within 90 days of receiving the first payment will result in Zeffy refunding the collected payments. Rest assured, you'll receive multiple reminders.
- Payouts will remain disabled until you have completed the ID verification. In other words, while you are able to start collecting payments, they will only be disbursed to your bank account once the ID has been verified.
For more information on accepting payments before having completed your ID verification, please consult the instructions here: Deferred Banking: Accept payments and complete your ID verification later