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Foundation settings

The Foundation Settings page is the control panel for everything that powers your public donation pages, donor receipts, and Stripe processing. It lives at Foundation → Settings and is organized as three stacked cards: General Configuration, Receipt Template, and Payment Processor.

If you are setting up Foundation for the first time, start with the Foundation Admin onboarding walkthrough — it covers the full bootstrap flow end-to-end. This page is the deep reference for what each field does and what changes downstream when you touch it.

General configuration​

This card holds the identity of your foundation: the names, IDs, and contact details that appear on every receipt and every public donation page.

Foundation Settings — General Configuration card filled in. Foundation Settings — General Configuration card filled in.

Foundation Name​

The display name shown to donors on the public donation page and at the top of the receipt PDF. Often distinct from the parent organization — for example, "Alpha Educational Foundation" rather than "Alpha Fraternity, Inc."

The legal entity that issues tax receipts. If a legal name is set, it is used in place of the display name on the receipt header, with the display name reserved for donor-facing communications. If you leave this blank, the display name is used everywhere.

EIN​

Your 501(c)(3) tax identification number, formatted XX-XXXXXXX. Printed on every receipt PDF. Required for IRS-compliant receipts — leave it blank only if your foundation is not a registered nonprofit and you have disabled tax deductibility (below).

Mailing Address​

Free-form multi-line address. Printed under the legal name on every receipt. Multi-line values render with line breaks preserved.

Contact Email​

The reply-to address used when GreekManage sends receipts or bulletins on behalf of the foundation. If left blank, mail falls back to your platform default sender. Donors who reply to a receipt or bulletin will reach this address, so use a real inbox that someone monitors.

Logo URL​

A public URL to your foundation's logo image. The receipt PDF generator downloads this image when building each receipt and places it in the header next to the title. If the URL is unreachable or returns an error, the receipt still generates but without the logo — there is no error toast for a broken logo URL. Test it by issuing yourself a small donation after a save.

Tax Deductible toggle​

Controls which legal statement appears on receipts:

  • On — receipts include the IRS Publication 1771 statement, the tax-deductibility statement you set in the Receipt Template card, and language about consulting a tax advisor. This is the right setting for a registered 501(c)(3).
  • Off — receipts include a "this donation may not be tax-deductible" disclaimer instead. Use this if you are running a non-deductible scholarship pool, an event registration, or any foundation that is not a registered nonprofit.

The toggle does not affect whether donations are accepted — only what text the receipt PDF carries.

Hit Save Configuration at the bottom of the card to commit changes. The save button is only visible to Foundation Admins.

Receipt template​

This card lets you override the boilerplate text on every donation receipt PDF and email without touching the layout. Six fields are configurable, each with a sensible default.

Foundation Settings → Receipt Template card with all six fields and the Reset to Defaults button Foundation Settings → Receipt Template card with all six fields and the Reset to Defaults button

Header Title​

The big bold text at the very top of the receipt PDF. Default: "Donation Receipt". Common overrides: "Charitable Contribution Receipt" or "Annual Giving Acknowledgment".

Organization Tagline​

A small italic line that prints under the organization name on the receipt body. Default: empty. Use this for a foundation motto or chapter affiliation, e.g., "Supporting brothers since 1968."

Tax Deductibility Statement​

The IRS-required statement that confirms no goods or services were exchanged for the contribution. Default: "No goods or services were provided in exchange for this contribution." You must customize this if you ran a benefit event where donors received something of value — IRS Pub 1771 requires you to describe and value those goods or services. The platform does not enforce this; the responsibility is on your foundation.

Footer Text​

A small grey line at the very bottom of the PDF. Default: "Please retain this receipt for your tax records."

Thank You Message​

An italic message that appears in both the receipt PDF and the receipt email body. Default: "Thank you for your generous support!" This is the easiest field to give your foundation a distinct voice in.

Custom Note​

A free-form block of text that prints near the bottom of the receipt PDF, just above the thank-you message. Default: empty. Use this for anything that does not fit the other fields — a fund-specific message, a board chair signature, an upcoming event teaser.

Reset to defaults​

Use the Reset to Defaults button next to Save if you want to start over. It clears the form back to the canonical defaults but does not persist that change until you hit Save — review the cleared form first, then save.

When you hit Save, only fields that differ from the defaults are persisted as overrides. Fields you have not customized are left as defaults, so future default-text updates from a platform release will flow through. This means the in-form values you see may not exactly match the saved JSON — that is correct behavior.

Payment processor​

This card is how Stripe gets connected to your foundation. Until this card is filled in and saved, your campaigns cannot accept donations — the public donation page will load, but the donate button will fail.

When no processor is configured yet​

You see an amber alert reading "No payment processor configured. Set up Stripe to accept donations." and an empty form with four inputs and a switch.

When a processor exists​

You see status badges across the top: Stripe (the provider), Active (if the credentials are present and the toggle is on), and Verified (set automatically after the first successful charge confirmed by a Stripe webhook). The publishable key is shown masked — first twelve characters, then ****, then the last four. The secret key and webhook secret are never displayed back to you in plaintext after save; the input boxes for those are labeled "leave blank to keep current."

Secret API Key​

Your Stripe secret key — starts with sk_test_ for test mode or sk_live_ for production. Encrypted at rest using Fernet symmetric encryption tied to your deployment's secret key. Once saved, the field clears on success and you cannot read the saved value back; you can only overwrite it.

Webhook Signing Secret​

Your Stripe webhook endpoint's signing secret — starts with whsec_. Encrypted at rest the same way as the API key. This must match the signing secret Stripe shows you for the webhook endpoint you point at your foundation; if they mismatch, every webhook delivery from Stripe will be rejected with a 400 and donations will hang in pending state.

Publishable Key​

Your Stripe publishable key — starts with pk_test_ or pk_live_. This is not sensitive and is rendered into the public donation page's JavaScript so the browser's Stripe SDK can collect card details. Stored in plaintext.

Fee pass-through toggle​

This controls the donor-covered fees option on the public donation page:

  • Off (default) — your foundation absorbs Stripe's ~2.9% + $0.30 fee. The donor sees the amount they entered. Their Donation row in the dashboard will show amount_cents, the fee deducted, and the net amount that lands in your account.
  • On — donors can opt to cover the fee. The public donation page renders a "cover processing fees" checkbox. If checked, the charge is grossed up so your foundation receives the full intended amount and the fee shows as donor-covered on the donation record. If unchecked, the behavior is identical to the off state.

Toggling this setting takes effect on the next page load of the public donation page — there is no deployment or republish step.

Saving​

The save button reads Configure Stripe if no processor exists yet, and Update Processor otherwise. On a save:

  • If you typed a new secret key, it replaces the stored one. Leave it blank to keep the existing key.
  • Same for the webhook secret.
  • The publishable key, fee pass-through toggle, and active flag are always written.

Test your save by issuing a small donation from the public campaign page (a $1 donation in test mode is enough). If the test succeeds, Stripe fires the payment_intent.succeeded webhook back to your foundation, the donation flips from pending to completed, and the Verified badge appears.

What changes downstream​

Each setting has a downstream effect worth knowing about before you flip it:

  • Changing Foundation Name or Legal Name affects every future receipt. Already-issued receipt PDFs are not regenerated.
  • Changing EIN or Mailing Address affects every future receipt PDF the same way.
  • Changing Tax Deductible flips the language on every future receipt PDF immediately.
  • Changing the Logo URL affects every future receipt PDF. Existing PDFs are not refreshed.
  • Changing the Header Title, Footer Text, Thank You Message, or Custom Note receipt-template fields affects every future receipt PDF. Known bug in v0.62.1: overrides to the Organization Tagline and Tax Deductibility Statement fields are saved by the settings UI but are not read by the PDF generator (the frontend stores them under keys the PDF generator doesn't look up), so those two customizations silently have no effect on generated PDFs. The other four fields apply correctly. Already-emailed annual statements and per-donation receipts are never retroactively regenerated.
  • Changing the Stripe API Key affects every future charge attempt. In-flight payment intents that were created against the old key may fail to settle — issue a small test donation to confirm.
  • Toggling Fee pass-through on or off changes the public donation page on next load but does not retroactively reclassify existing donations.

Last verified against v0.62.1 (2026-05-10).