Refunding Online Giving

There are times that you may need to issue a refund for a Form Payment received for an upcoming event, or refund a member who accidentally gave more than they intended to.  

3 ways to issue payment refunds in Breeze.

From Online Giving:

1. Navigate to "Giving" > "Online Giving."
2. Find the payment you would like to refund in the "Payments" tab. 
3. Click the dollar amount of the gift you'd like to refund.
4. Click (Refund) beside the dollar amount on the Payment Details popup. 
5. Select if the refund is a full or partial refund, and click Refund.

If you have not associated payments with a profile yet this will be the best place to find the payment and refund it.  

From Giving Reports:

1. Navigate to "Giving" > "Reports."
2. Use Report Filters to find the payment you would like to refund. 
3. Click the dollar amount of the gift you'd like to refund.
4. Click (Refund) beside the dollar amount on the Payment Details popup. 
5. Select if the refund is a full or partial refund, and click Refund.

If you have associated payments with a profile this may be the best place to find an individual's payment and refund it.  If you have not associated the payments you are wanting to refund yet with a profile, the unassociated gifts will show as anonymous in the reports section. 

From a Profile:

1. Navigate to a person's profile using the Search Bar in the upper right corner of Breeze. 
2. On the left - hand side of the profile click "Giving"
3. Find the Payment you would like to refund. 
4. Click the dollar amount of the gift you'd like to refund.
5. Click (Refund) beside the dollar amount on the Payment Details popup. 
6. Select if the refund is a full or partial refund, and click Refund. 

If you have associated payments with a profile this may be the quickest way to find an individual's payment and refund it. 

What happens after a gift is refunded?

Giving Report and Donor Profile is Updated with a Refund

After a gift is refunded, Breeze will retain the original transaction and add a negative journal entry to account for the refund. This negative entry will have a note that provides the giving method it has been returned to, as well as the date of the original transaction. 

Email is Issued to Donor

An email is also sent to the donor, informing them that a refund has been issued for their payment, with a method and amount as reference. This email also informs the donor that they should expect to see the refund back to their account within 10 business days.

What happens when there’s a partial refund on a split-fund gift?

If a donor has given one gift to multiple funds (i.e. $100 gift split between two funds, $50 to General and $50 to Missions), and a partial refund is issued, the fund allocation will be proportionate to the refunded amount. 

Example: If a donor gave $100 ($50 to General and $50 to Missions), and a partial refund of $30 was issued, $15 from each fund would be refunded. The new fund breakdown would be $35 to General and $35 to Missions, for a total gift of $70. 

What happens if a gift is refunded before it has been associated with a donor’s profile?

If a gift is refunded from the Online Giving section before it has been associated with a Breeze profile, both the original transaction and the refund will be listed in the Unassociated Gifts list. 

What happens if I'm unable to issue a refund?

If you are unable to issue a refund, it may be that you've recently refunded large amounts of money. This message will advise you of this (see below). We are unable to change this refund limit. Please check back in a few days to process additional refunds. Refunds requiring funds beyond the amount available (from incoming donations) in Breeze will draw funds from your church's bank account used for transfers.

Additional Information on refunds

• Refunds can take 5-10 business days to completely process and appear back in the giver's bank account/credit card. 
• Our best recommendation for refunding an ACH payment is to wait until the ACH transfer clears before you issue a refund.
• When a gift is refunded, there will not be an additional processing fee added to the transaction.
• When a partial refund is initiated, the processing fee is adjusted to reflect the new amount. However, the "per transaction" fee will remain the same.
• The original processing fee will be credited or reimbursed back to your account, and this will show in your Online Giving Reporting as an Adjustment. 
• Refunds for ACH gifts can be issued for 90 days after the payment. If after 90 days you will see a warning letting you know that this cannot be done.
• Refunds refunded from the form entries do not send a refund email.
• If you have a refund or dispute that is greater than the existing transfer balance, a withdrawal from your bank account will happen immediately to cover the difference. You are only able to refund up to $10,000 a day, above your current transfer amount.