Help centre

• make your first $X raised fee-free — for example the first $500 carries no platform fee;
• reduce the platform fee after that (5% + GST less the discount), and
• do both, sometimes only for a set period.

Your dashboard shows how much fee-free fundraising you have left and when a reduced rate ends. Anything outside the code's benefit is charged at the standard 5% + GST, and Stripe's card processing fees always apply as usual.

• Almost there: the bar shows how much is left to go, which encourages supporters to help you cross the line.
• Goal reached 🎉: the bar celebrates, your supporters are emailed, and an update is posted to your campaign automatically.
• Extend the goal: once you reach it, you can raise your target from your dashboard — this resets the "almost there" urgency and lets the celebration fire again at the new goal.

• Use it on posters, flyers, receipts, newsletters or anything printed.
• Click Download QR (PNG) to save a high-resolution copy.
• The code always points to your live /f/… page, so it keeps working even if you redesign your campaign.

• Your selections show as badges on your public page so supporters and businesses can see your cause at a glance.
• Our AI checks your story against your selections in the background. If a tag isn't supported by your story it's removed (and the campaign is reviewed), and tags your story clearly describes are added.
• Some businesses choose not to fundraise for certain causes. If you're raising for one of those, their catalogue items show as not available for your fundraiser.

Prefer a helping hand? Type a few sentences in the story box (who you are, what happened, what the money is for), then tap ✨ Generate with AI to expand your notes into a full draft — the button unlocks once you've written enough detail, and you can edit the draft before publishing.

• At checkout you enter the delivery address, including the 4-digit postcode. We work out the correct zone from the postcode and add the right delivery charge to your order.
• The AI double-checks the address against the postcode and the supplier's coverage. If something looks off, the order is checked by a human before it's fulfilled.
• If the supplier doesn't deliver to your area, the order can't be placed and you'll see why.

• Pickup — add a pickup location so buyers know where to collect.
• Courier — add metro and rural delivery charges if you charge for shipping.
• Local delivery — describe the area you cover (e.g. within 20 km of Christchurch CBD).
• Digital — for vouchers; nothing to ship.

• Set the delivery or collection date.
• Choose the courier (NZ Post / CourierPost, Aramex, or Other) and enter the tracking number.
• Click Save & notify to email the buyer the update, or mark the order shipped / complete.

• Donations and items the fundraiser sells themselves are paid to the fundraiser.
• Wholesale items are paid to the supplying business (they're the seller of record and they fulfil the order). The business then pays the fundraiser's share automatically from a card they save once.
• Receipts show the seller's name — the business for wholesale items, the fundraiser otherwise.
• The platform fee is not taken from the payment. It's invoiced to the fundraiser separately (see “Understanding platform fees”).

• Wholesale items are sold and fulfilled by the supplying business. Their name shows on the listing, on the Stripe checkout page and on your receipt, and your purchase contract is with them.
• Everything else is sold by the fundraiser or organisation who listed it.
• We run the platform only. We never receive or hold your payment, so we are not the seller and cannot refund a payment ourselves.

If a business closes or stops trading before your order arrives, your claim is against that business. Refunds and chargebacks come from their Stripe balance — and if that isn't enough, Stripe may attempt to debit their bank account. You can also raise a chargeback with your card issuer; keep your receipt, and contact us — we'll suspend their listings and send you the order and fulfilment records we hold.

See the Refund Policy for the detail.

• Fundraisers get their first $250 raised fee-free — no platform fee until $250 has been raised. After that, the 5% + GST fee is invoiced weekly and charged automatically to the payment card they save in their dashboard. Add the card once — we handle the rest.
• Donors can choose to “cover fees”, which adds the fee amount to their gift so the fundraiser keeps more of it.
• Businesses pay the fundraiser's share (minimum 10%) from a card they save once, plus a 5% + GST platform fee on the sales generated through fundraisers — invoiced weekly and charged to the same card. Your first $1,000 of sales are free (no platform fee), credit can be applied, and there's no charge if there are no sales.

• We batch the fundraiser's share and automatically generate an invoice from the fundraiser to you.
• The invoice is charged to the payment card you add once in Billing (Dashboard → Wholesale → Billing).
• The money goes straight to the fundraiser's Stripe account — it never passes through us.
• You also receive a separate weekly platform-fee invoice (5% + GST of sales generated), charged to the same card.
• Refunded or disputed orders cancel the fundraiser's share on that order.
• Direct sales: if a buyer purchases your product straight from the catalogue (no fundraiser), the share is paid to the Generous.nz Community Campaign using the same automatic invoicing. If the buyer came via a fundraiser that added your product, that fundraiser gets the share instead.

Add your card in Billing.

• The buyer is emailed the voucher code(s) automatically, with a printable page and a PDF download.
• Codes are single-use — once sold, they are never reused.
• The voucher shows what it's for, who it's from (the business), the fundraiser it supports, how to redeem, and the conditions.
• Gift purchases email the voucher to the recipient too.

• Sign in and open My purchases (in the top menu) to see every order: item, campaign, amount and status.
• Delivery — expected date and address, courier, tracking number and a direct track link.
• Vouchers — your codes, gift details, how to redeem, and "Download PDF" / "View & print" buttons.
• Bought something as a guest before? Signing up with the same email links those orders to your account automatically.

• Apply from your dashboard (For businesses) — free to list, no charges until you have sales.
• Set your sale price and minimum share (10%+), plus voucher codes and redemption details for vouchers.
• Fundraisers browse the catalogue and add your items to their store in one click.
• You get each order with the buyer's details, mark it fulfilled, and add courier tracking.
• Buy now: anyone can also buy a product directly from its catalogue page without a fundraiser. The business still receives the payment and fulfils the order; the share on that direct sale supports the Generous.nz Community Campaign.
• Signed-in fundraisers see a "Sell & make up to $X" figure on each product, showing what they'd earn per sale at the minimum price.

• Wholesaler application approved — apply from your dashboard; the application is reviewed (AI-screened and human-approved) before you can list anything.
• Stripe payout account connected — without it, no order can ever be placed.
• Payment card added — platform fees and fundraiser shares are charged to it automatically; without it, items can't go live.

• Tick a cause and your items are hidden from fundraisers raising for that cause — they can't add your offers to their store.
• Tick Generous.nz Community Campaign and your items won't be offered for direct purchase on the public catalogue, but fundraisers can still sell them.
• Fundraisers never see the reason — excluded items just don't appear for the causes you've ticked.

• Add a How to redeem note (the exact steps buyers follow) and conditions — both are shown on the buyer's voucher.
• Generate voucher codes or paste your own in bulk; every code is single-use. Prefer hands-free? Switch on auto-generated codes and a fresh unique code is minted automatically for every sale (up to your stock).
• When a voucher sells, the buyer gets the code by email with a printable and PDF voucher; you see the sale in Voucher sales.
• Mark codes redeemed as customers use them, so you always know what's outstanding.

You can export your orders as a CSV anytime for your own system or shipping labels.

To receive money on Generous.nz you connect a Stripe account — the same safe system used by thousands of NZ businesses. Stripe is legally required to verify anyone who receives money, so onboarding asks a few more questions than a typical sign-up. It usually takes about 10–15 minutes, done once.

What you'll need ready:

• Your full legal name and date of birth
• Your home address, email and phone number
• A NZ driver licence or passport (for identity verification)
• Your NZ bank account details for payouts
• Your IRD number, if requested
• A short description of your activity — e.g. “fundraising / selling goods for a cause” (choose “individual / sole trader” if you're not a business)

Steps:

1. Sign in and open your dashboard.
2. Click Connect your payout account (Stripe).
3. Complete Stripe's hosted onboarding — Stripe collects your details and identity documents directly and runs the checks itself (KYC/AML).
4. Wait for verification — usually minutes, sometimes a day or two.
5. Start receiving donations and sales. Money pays out to your bank account on Stripe's schedule.
6. Add your payment card from the dashboard — it's charged automatically for your weekly 5% + GST platform fee invoice.

Good to know: Generous.nz uses Stripe Connect Standard accounts with Stripe-hosted onboarding. You never hand your bank details or ID to Generous.nz — Stripe collects them directly and the platform never sees them. This is the lowest-friction setup Stripe offers for fundraisers. Businesses and wholesalers follow the same flow; they're asked for company details instead, and they also add a payment card in their Billing settings that's used to pay the fundraiser's share automatically.

If the button still says “Connect your payout account” after onboarding, the verification may still be pending — click it to continue where you left off. If you get stuck, contact support@generous.nz.

Stripe is legally required to verify anyone who receives money (anti-money-laundering / know-your-customer laws). Because fundraisers receive payments, Stripe treats them like a seller — even if you're just selling cookies for a school trip.

The verification exists to protect everyone:

• You — only you can receive the money; it can't be diverted to someone else.
• Donors and buyers — they know the money goes to a real, verified person or organisation.
• The platform — it keeps fraudsters and money laundering off the site.

Your bank details are used only for payouts. Your identity documents are used only by Stripe to verify who you are — Generous.nz never stores or sees them.

The Payments setup page (Admin → Payments setup) is the platform owner's Stripe health check. It shows configuration status without ever revealing secrets:

• Secret key — whether Stripe keys are set and valid (they live in .env on the server).
• Webhook secret — whether the payment webhook signing secret is configured.
• Webhook events — the list of events Stripe must send (payments, refunds, disputes and invoices — including events from sellers' connected accounts). Missing events appear as warnings.
• Connected accounts — fundraisers' and wholesalers' Stripe onboarding status, with a Refresh account status action to re-check after someone completes onboarding.

Use this page when payments aren't working: check the keys first, then the webhook events, then the connected account status. The full manual configuration guide is in docs/stripe-setup.md.

Drafts are always written for Generous.nz: they never mention or link another website, and they tell supporters to give on your page here — not anywhere else.

• Fundraiser referrals: the new fundraiser gets their first $250 raised fee-free, and you earn $50 of fee-free fundraising volume once they complete setup.
• Business referrals: the new business gets their first $1,000 of sales fee-free, and you earn $200 of fee-free sales volume.
• Anyone who clicks your link is tracked for 5 days — if they sign up within that window, the referral counts. The first link they open is the one that counts: later links never overwrite it.
• Your link opens a dedicated landing page that explains the offer and bonus, with a button straight to the sign-up form.
• Find your link, click stats and rewards on the Refer a fundraiser or Refer a business page in your dashboard.