Donation Migration
You have been directed to this support page because Rotessa will be adjusting the current workflow for your donation collection process to meet changes to Payments Canada compliance requirements.
Organizations that collect donations through pre-authorized debit must now, through reasonable means, verify the identity of the person they are collecting donations from. To align with these changes, Rotessa is updating its online tools for verifying the identities of donors.
We will be implementing the new donation collection process for your organization on Wednesday, May 22, 2024. Action is required by your organization to ensure there is no disruption to your donations if you are using Rotessa’s online authorization tools.
If you do not use Rotessa’s tools to obtain authorization, we recommend you refer to Rule H1 to ensure your organization is complying with Payments Canada’s requirements.
What this means for your donors
An additional step is now required to prove the person providing their banking information owns the stated bank account.
Existing Donors
Existing donors who use the online donation for the first time after the update will be required to verify their information. As long as they use the same email address used for previous donations, the system will recognize them and prompt them to verify their email address and complete their donation per usual. No additional steps are required.
New Donors
For new donors only, an additional verification step is required. This is a one-time requirement that is not repeated for future donations. Options for verifying new donors are outlined below.
Identity verification can be completed in person or online. Both methods can be initiated from your Rotessa account in the “Authorizations” section.
In-person verification - print and ask donors to complete a pre-authorized debit form, including their bank information, and submit it to you in person. Rotessa has a printable template you can use if you don’t already have one.
Online verification - Rotessa uses a third-party, online verification service called Flinks. This service is used and trusted by major Canadian banks.
Donors can be directed to the online verification service in two ways:
Email - you can email the online verification link to one or multiple recipients through your Rotessa account.
Public Link - post the online verification link on your organization’s website and direct donors to go there.
Important information regarding online verification:
This option is NOT available for donors that bank at Credit Unions. Credit Union account holders will have to use the in-person authorization. If they attempt to use the Flinks service they will be directed to contact your organization.
A one-time $2 fee per verification will be charged to your account.
How will my Rotessa account change?
Currently, every time a donor uses the online form, it creates a duplicate version of them in your account. This makes it hard to see their past donations in one central place. As part of the account changes, our Rotessa team will check for duplicates and merge each donor’s information and transaction history. This means that all donations received from the same person will now be listed under one contact. To avoid merging donors that have similar variations of the same name, email addresses will be used to identify individual donors and consolidate their information.
Important notes about merging:
If two or more donors share an email, all information will be merged onto (or use the attributes from) the most recently created version of this donor. This includes the following items:
Bank information where two or more donors had differing bank details.
Where two or more donors had schedules running simultaneously, both will be scheduled on one donor.
Transaction history will now be merged onto one donor.
Where the spelling of the donor name deviates, the most recent donor spelling will be used.
If two or more donors share the same name, but have no email, or differing emails, no merge will occur.
What does my organization need to do?
Prior to change:
We encourage you to schedule a meeting with our support team who will be happy to walk through the upcoming changes to your account. Schedule meeting.
Staff or volunteers who administer your Rotessa account should become familiar with the new verification options listed above.
Let your donors know that the online donation form and process will appear differently and to simply follow the prompts online to ensure their donation is processed.
If you have any concerns or questions prior to May 22, 2024, please reach out to our support team for assistance at [email protected].
After change:
Be prepared to make the following changes to your account as soon as possible after moving to the new authorization process to avoid a disruption to donations:
Update online links - after your account has been migrated to the new donation collection process, you will need to update your organization’s “Donate now” or similar button/link on your website. This is the link that directs people to the online donation form to process their donation.
You can find the new link for your website under “Authorization Settings” in your Rotessa account:
This is also a great place on your website to add a note for your donors letting them know that online verification is not available for Credit Union account holders and encourage them to complete a pre-authorized debit form in person.
Review and update Donor Authorization Settings, also found under “Authorization Settings” in your Rotessa account. You can also refer to our donation authorization support document. (link to support doc).
What if I have more questions?
Reach out to our support team for assistance at [email protected] or schedule a meeting here. We are happy to walk you through the changes.