Sometimes a gift needs to be reversed — a duplicate donation, a wrong amount, or a member's request. Here's how refunds work in Gracely today.
The short answer
Gracely does not process donation refunds from inside the app. To return money to a donor, you issue the refund directly in your payment processor (Stripe or PayPal), then update the record in Gracely so your reports stay accurate.
Step 1: Refund the payment in your processor
For a Stripe donation:
Log in to your Stripe Dashboard.
Open Payments and find the donation by amount, date, or donor email.
Open the payment and choose Refund.
Confirm the amount (full or partial) and submit.
For a PayPal donation:
Log in to your PayPal account.
Open Activity and find the donation.
Open the transaction and choose Refund (or Issue a refund).
Confirm the amount and submit.
💡 Tip: Processor fees on the original gift may not be returned to you when you refund. Check your processor's current policy before refunding.
Step 2: Update the record in Gracely
After refunding in your processor, adjust the matching entry in Contributions → Giving so totals, donor history, and tax statements reflect the reversal — for example, by deleting or editing the donation. Removing a gift updates your totals and the donor's history right away.
⚠️ Note: For in-person gifts (cash, check, and so on) there's no processor involved — just edit or delete the entry in Contributions → Giving.
A note on tax statements
If you refund a gift, make sure the Gracely record is corrected before you generate year-end statements, since statements reflect exactly what's recorded in Giving.
Still need help? Start a chat with us — we're happy to walk through a specific donation with you.