Once you start accepting donations, each one is assigned a status. This article covers every donation and transaction status you may see in your account and what causes each one.
Note: Once a donation is made, the donation cannot be deleted out of GivingFuel. We recommend using filters to remove any donations from a view or export as needed.
Donation and Transaction Statuses
Canceled
A Canceled status means the transaction encountered a system error and was unable to complete, so it was canceled. This transaction status is rare. Failed transactions almost always have a Declined or Gateway Error status.
Completed
A Completed donation means the transaction was successfully processed by the payment processor. The charge or refund was successfully processed.
Note: ACH donations processed through a custom payment processor automatically receive a Completed status, even if the payment later fails. If you are using a custom payment processor, periodically check your payment processor for failed donations, such as those caused by insufficient funds.
If an ACH donation does not go through, this article walks through how to update the donation status in GivingFuel.
Declined
A donation has a status of Declined if the transaction was not accepted by the payment processor or the issuing bank. Here are the most common reasons a donation is declined:
The form of payment was not accepted
The donor mistyped their credit card details, such as the CVV, zip code, billing address, or card number
The donor's card had insufficient funds
The issuing bank flagged the charge as fraud
The transaction exceeded the fraud risk score threshold
Pro Tip: Click here to learn how to look up why a donation was declined.
Note: A declined one-time donation cannot be deleted or re-run. It is best to have the one-time donor attempt a new donation and confirm that all of their details are correct.
Declined recurring donations will attempt to process two additional times. Once two days after the decline and four days after the decline. GivingFuel will email the donor upon each decline with instructions and a link to update their billing details. This link expires after 72 hours.
After the credit card is declined a total of three times, the system will then attempt to run the card again next month. It will repeat the same pattern, attempting to run the card every other day for another three attempts. If the donor still does not update their card by the time the time the 6th attempt is made, the recurring donation will be permanently disabled. A new recurring donation would then need to be established through in order to start giving again.
Gateway Error
A Gateway Error status means there was an issue with the gateway connection, and the payment could not reach the issuing bank to be approved or declined. Common reasons for this status include:
Connection or authentication issues with the payment gateway
Incorrect address information
A connection timeout
Pending Offline
A Pending Offline donation means an offline cash or check payment has been recorded on the donation, but you have not marked the payment as received. Click here to learn how to mark a donation as received.
Pending User Action
A Pending User Action status means that GivingFuel created the donation but the donor must complete an additional step before the payment can be processed. This most commonly happens when:
A donor must verify the payment with their bank, which is common for international purchases
Note: A Pending User Action status moves to Declined after 30 minutes if the donor never completes the required action.
Processing
A Processing status means the payment was created and is being sent to your payment processor. If a transaction remains Processing for more than 24 hours, contact us so we can investigate.
Server Error
A Server Error status means the payment failed because of an issue outside the payment processor. If you see this status, take a screenshot and contact our support team for assistance.
Voided
A Voided donation means the payment was canceled before it finished processing and settling. Completed donations can typically be voided within 24 hours. Because the payment had not yet settled, the donation appears as Voided rather than Refunded.
Some gateways may show a donation as Voided instead of a Refund depending on the timeframe surrounding the refund. Refunded offline payments also appear as Voided.