While Slate can work with certain external payment processors, Slate Payments provides the most complete payment experience for Slate for Advancement. It keeps donors, gifts, and payments together in Slate, and it enables functionality not otherwise available through external, integration-based payment providers.
⭐ Best practice
We strongly recommend that Slate for Advancement institutions use Slate Payments for gift processing. An external provider may be technically possible or institutionally required, but it introduces important tradeoffs in the donor experience and in how gifts, payments, refunds, and recurring commitments are managed.
Understanding the differences at a glance
Capability | Slate Payments | External payment processor |
|---|---|---|
Payment collected directly on a Slate giving form | Yes | No: generally requires a separate payment page |
Gift connected directly to the payment | Yes | Limited to the information returned by the integration |
Recurring gifts established and managed in Slate | Yes | No |
Apple Pay, Google Pay, and supported digital wallets | Yes | Provider-dependent and not embedded on the Slate form |
In-person Payment Terminal and Tap to Pay | Yes | No |
Telephone and mail order/manual-entry payments through Slate | Yes | No |
Refunds initiated and recorded in Slate | Yes | No: managed in the external system and manually recorded in Slate |
Built-in payout and reconciliation reporting | Yes | You must build your own reconciliation process |
Self-service setup and testing | Yes | Generally requires an integration project and coordinated testing |
Keep the gift and payment connected
With Slate Payments, the gift is connected directly to its payment. The giving form, constituent record, gift details, payment record, and associated fund or designation remain part of the same transaction in Slate. This connection gives advancement and business office staff the supporting information they need for reconciliation. They can review the payment alongside its underlying gift, rather than rely on standalone payment activity returned by an external provider.
Payment History and queries let you review transactions, reconcile payouts, and create scheduled exports for an ERP or general ledger using familiar Slate functionality.
Keep donors on the giving form
Slate Payments can collect payment information directly on a Slate form. The donor selects the gift amount and designations, enters payment information, and submits the gift without being sent to another website.
An external payment integration generally requires a handoff: the donor submits information in Slate, visits a third-party payment site, completes the transaction, and is then returned to Slate. Even when that process works as designed, it introduces additional steps and separates the giving form from the payment experience.
Unifying payment capture with your giving form reduces friction and helps prevent a donor from submitting the giving form but abandoning the separate payment process before the gift is complete. Slate Payments also supports modern payment methods through the Stripe payment element, including Apple Pay, Google Pay, and other methods made available based on the donor's location and device.
Manage recurring gifts natively
Recurring gifts can only be established and processed in Slate through Slate Payments. A donor can select a frequency and schedule directly on the giving form, and Slate maintains the recurring commitment alongside the constituent's other giving activity.
Staff can review upcoming and completed payments, update the amount or frequency, adjust the next payment date, and suspend the recurring arrangement from the constituent record. Each successful payment is recorded as an individual gift according to the established schedule.
If you’re moving from another recurring giving platform, you may also be able to migrate stored payment methods through a PCI-compliant processor-to-processor transfer. The available path depends on the current provider, but the process can help preserve existing recurring relationships while bringing their ongoing management into Slate.
Support in-person, telephone, and mail-in giving
Slate Payments extends beyond online giving forms. Advancement offices can use Payment Terminal or Tap to Pay for:
Event payments and in-person donations
Phonathon and engagement center gifts
Credit card information received by telephone
Mail order and return-solicitation gifts
Dedicated terminal hardware supports tap, dip, swipe, and manual-entry transactions using secure, PCI-compliant payment capture. Payments can be associated with the constituent and appear in Payment History alongside online transactions.
📝 These capabilities are only available with Slate Payments. An external payment provider cannot be used with Slate Payment Terminal or Tap to Pay.
📖 In-Person Payments with Terminal
Manage the complete payment lifecycle in Slate
Slate Payments keeps more than the initial charge in Slate. Staff can manage refunds from the payment activity or Payment History, review payout details, investigate disputes, and report on payment activity without moving between separate administrative systems.
With an external processor, the initial successful payment may be returned to Slate, but the external provider remains your payment system of record. Refunds must be initiated there and are not transmitted back to Slate. If the refund needs to appear on the constituent record, staff must add it manually.
⭐ Keeping the complete lifecycle in Slate reduces staff overhead, and creates a more reliable record for advancement, finance, and donor services staff.
Can we still use an external processor?
Yes. Some institutions have policies, contracts, or campus payment requirements that require the continued use of an external provider. Slate can integrate with certain processors when a supported integration is already available. You can also use Slate Payments for some payment types while retaining another provider for others.
For example, you might use a campus processor for tuition or student-account transactions while using Slate Payments for gifts, alumni events, and other advancement activity. Payment providers can be assigned by payment type, letting you adopt the approach that fits each business process.
Before selecting an external processor for advancement, consider the full workflow rather than only the initial transaction. The decision affects the donor's experience, the connection between gifts and payments, recurring giving, in-person collection, refunds, reconciliation, and the amount of ongoing coordination (and staff overhead) required across systems.
For most advancement use cases, Slate Payments keeps that experience simpler, more complete, and more deeply connected to the constituent record.
📖 Using an External Processor to Collect Payments through Slate